Every third director has been convicted of a crime

And the company’s leaders’ background consists not only of small fines such as speeding but also of a large number of serious crimes so much so that Professor Juha-Pekka Kalonki, who led the research team behind the study, surprised him.

“We have examined Finnish and Swedish companies and according to the study, every third administrative person has a criminal conviction. This result was a huge surprise,” he told the news channel.

The most notable case concerned a listed Swedish company where not only the CEO but also all the members of the board of directors had criminal convictions in their baggage.

Repeated drunk driving, infection from the scene and violent crime are some of the examples of what led to the imprisonment of the company’s leaders.

Juha-Pekka Kallunki is an accounting professor who and her research team have spent ten years studying to examine business leaders. According to the professor, in the future companies should do more to conduct background checks. A criminal with a manager’s past is a factor that largely leads to the poor development of the company as it has been proven that there is a relationship between crime and irresponsible risk to the business.

“The profitability of these companies is lower. They are making worse acquisitions, they are at greater risk of bankruptcy, the transparency deals are tougher and can even come close to the initial signs of the law,” Juha-Pekka Kalonki said.

However, the professor believes that something important has changed in the context of employment in recent years, which is prompted, among other things, by the so-called metoo phenomenon. At the same time, Juha-Pekka Kallunki believes that an avalanche of administrative redundancy will occur if backgrounds are paid more attention.