Once again, excesses in the boardroom are putting a globally recognized organization in the white-hot glare of unwanted publicity. Nissan Motors board Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested and fired last week after an internal investigation revealed he underreported his compensation to Japanese authorities by 5 billion yen — about $44 million — over a five-year period.
It didn’t take long for critics to start asking how such misdeeds could happen and speculating as to why the board or internal audit failed to uncover it sooner. Answers may be forthcoming as additional information becomes public, but the simple answer is that there is no simple answer.…