In the 2005 major motion picture, “Fun with Dick and Jane,” Jim Carrey plays a husband who has just been laid off by a global corporation – a corporation suffering from fraudulent accounting practices. As the end credits roll, the film sends out a special thanks to Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen.

The College of Business at the University is going beyond mere satire and head shaking – they’re going to do something about it, adding units about professional responsibility and accountability into core business and accountancy courses.

The college recently established the Center for Professional Responsibilities in Business and Society. The center is being funded by a $4 million grant from the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois. There is also an additional eight-year, $4 million commitment from the Deloitte Foundation. The center will be led by the department of accountancy in the College of Business and will be operational by summer of 2006.

“The scope of this is much bigger than business ethics,” said Avijit Ghosh, dean of the College of Business.

Ghosh stressed the responsibility business professionals have to their community, customers, co-workers and shareholders.

The $4 million grant from the court was part of a judgment entered against five former executives of Waste Management Inc. by District Judge Wayne R. Andersen in Chicago last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the five executives of inflating earnings by $1.7 billion in 2002.

The Deloite Foundation matched the grant said Howard Engle, partner and trustee of the Deloite Foundation.

“We thought (the center) was a good idea and something that could have a lot of benefits for other universities,” Engel said.

Through the center, responsibility-based units will be introduced into business courses. According to the Deloitte Foundation, the units will likely show up in core business courses normally taken during sophomore and junior years.

“It will not be a stand alone class,” said Ghosh, who feels this route is a more effective way of creating sensitivity about professional responsibilities.

Business majors have mixed feelings about the center’s effectiveness.

“In some of the required business courses, such as the core BA 300s, 310s, 320s, an ethics unit can be helpful,” said Jeff Ainsley, junior in Business. “In more technical courses, though, it may not be as relevant.”

Such units will also show up in accountancy courses taken during junior or senior years.

The center will eventually expand such units, incorporating them into courses throughout campus. The curriculum and teaching materials will then be disseminated to other colleges and universities across the country.

The center will also develop a lecture series called the Deloitte Symposia that will bring together leading academics and professionals to discuss and debate topical issues in the field.