I get that's the insinuation, but there's a leap the reader is expected to make between "this middleman made a lot of money" and "bribes were clearly happening" without further investigation. If a car salesman convinces me to pay more for a car than someone else pays that doesn't mean someone was bribed; the rest is a matter of degree.
I get that bribery happens, and I get that the SEC stepped on Microsoft employees for bribery in Hungary. I also get the impact that bribery and corruption has on lives. None of that is material to what's being said about this situation. In fact, it's relying on the reader's passion to make these leaps.
> For five (5) of 12 sample enrollments, complete End Customer pricing information was not provided and therefore we were unable to determine whether the related discounts were passed through. We requested Exceed IT Services to obtain end customer purchase order, contract, invoicing and payment proof from the additional resellers, however after multiple requests and follow ups during the audit, these documents were not made available.
And it shows $13,693,903 in discounts as "missing" for one customer. Why do you think that the "documents were not made available"?
And why do you think that MS looked the other way?
I am unsure why you're going to bat for MS here. But it's not just "passion" and "leaps", there's millions of missing dollars at play and MS isn't the least bit concerned. Why do you think that is? Does MS not care that money is magically disappearing between it and Government customers?
Are they that irresponsible?
There are two explanations here, corruption or stupidity. They're either too stupid to read the reports that the auditors wrote about the missing money, or they're corrupt and that missing money is buying them something.
This is going to be my last word on the topic, because as you say my original comment is being painted into going to bat for MS, which hasn't been my intention. I've read the Verge article, the whistleblower's original words, and looked at the PWC slides. I understand the numbers involved. You ask me why I think MS looked the other way. I don't know. This article is already speculating enough, and my comment was to call that out. I've already put more effort into clarifying myself than my investment into the issue should really dictate.
As you say, this is down to corruption or stupidity, and as Hanlon's razor goes, "never blame on malice what can be explained by stupidity." I look forward to the SEC investigating the whistleblower's accusations. Whether there's bribery or not, it's worth looking into. I don't think there's enough to convict anyone on based on what's offered here. I hope to be reading more detail on what exactly has been happening here at some point. However, I do see a world where this was stupidity. It happens quite often.
I think the other commenters have raised valid points that you seem to be willfully disregarding. It’s actually similar to when you've denied Amazon has a “hire to fire” policy, or a toxic PIP culture.
I guess engineering managers like us are trained to turn a blind eye to bad ethics. We spend most of our work time slavishly rationalizing the power structure so we build an instinct for bending the knee outside of work.
I'm not quite sure where you get those ideas. I've only ever said that Amazon absolutely has a comp structure designed to kick people out within four years, and that I thought their stated pip failure rate of ~30% was low based on my personal experience there and elsewhere.
I do tend to think individual managers are people. This is true.
We are, however, so off the plot of this thread getting into ad hominem territory now that we're moments away from Godwin's Law. Best to leave it here.
I get that bribery happens, and I get that the SEC stepped on Microsoft employees for bribery in Hungary. I also get the impact that bribery and corruption has on lives. None of that is material to what's being said about this situation. In fact, it's relying on the reader's passion to make these leaps.