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Tag: Ethics
Job of the Day: Director, Ethical and Professional Standards Needed at CFA Institute
Since humans are such corruptable creatures it takes a person with near-divine qualities to teach people about ethics. Luckily, we know that we have some of the pious readers out there, thus we’re confident that one of you will snatch this gig with little difficulty.
Check out the details for the position in Charlottesville, VA after the jump.
Company: CFA Institute
Title: Director, Ethical and Professional Standards
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Description: The Director, Ethics and Professional Standards is responsible for creating, sourcing, and developing educational content for CFA Institute members and serious investment professionals in the area of ethics and professional standards.
Responsibilities: Develop ethics-related educational content (e.g., case studies, online learning courses) targeted toward members, employers, societies, and university partners working collaboratively with stakeholders within and outside CFA Institute; Support the Lifelong Learning Strategy in developing educational content in the area of ethics and professional standards; Interface with executive education clients seeking customized training material; Develop and train a network of investment professionals to provide on-site ethics training; Collaborate with colleagues and members in supporting public awareness initiatives to include increasing brand awareness and establishing CFA Institute as the “go to” resource in the area of ethics and professional standards.
Requirements: CFA charterholder strongly preferred; Master’s degree or comparable degree/designation in a related field; Proven investment industry experience; Demonstrated expertise in ethics and professional standards, such as service in a highly valued compliance role; Superior communication skills (written, verbal, and presentation); Team oriented with the ability to collaborate with others in a matrix organization; Ability to manage multiple projects successfully within various time frames; Sensitivity to and appreciation for cultural differences; Teaching or training experience strongly preferred; Up to 25% travel
See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.
California CPAs to be More Ethical Starting in 2010
The California Board of Accountancy is ringing in the New Year with some increased requirements for California CPAs including additional ethics training to maintain an active status.
With so much unethical behavior in the world today, the CBA figured a few more hours of CPE will straighten you all out:
CBA president Manuel Ramirez said the regulation changes are part of an increased focus by the CBA on ethics and education. “I believe the newly approved continuing education requirements are an important step to increasing the CBA’s consumer protection mandate, while also reestablishing CPAs’ reputations as one of the most ethical professions in the country,” he said in a statement.
Not only will California have the most ethical CPAs in all the land but the CBA is jumping on the transparency bandwagon by broadcasting its future meetings via webcast. This will “give both consumers and CBA licensees a ‘window’ into important issues and how decisions are made.” Prior to this ‘window’, anyone wanting to observe a meeting had to attend — GASP — in person. One can safely assume that the CBA’s decision was partly due to realizing that webcasts would save them the embarrassment of A) a near empty meeting and B) those in attendance snoozing through the whole thing.
California Toughens Requirements for Accountants [Web CPA]
Other California CPA News:
CalCPA Is Doing About Everything It Can to Motivate You to Reactivate Your CPA
Arnie Signs 150-Hour Rule for California
Barry Salzberg Is Proud of All of You
Somehow we missed Barry Salzberg’s latest masterpiece on leadership from last week and since you’ve all checked out, we’re sure you won’t mind.
When asked “Who was the best business leader of 2009?”, Dr. Phil — using every fiber of his being not to nominate himself — chose “Do-right employees”. It’s not about the BSDs of the world. It’s those of you that manage to not sit bare-assed on the copy machine and resist the urge to watch porn on your work computer. You’re the leaders setting the example:
Rather than single out a best business leader, I’d recognize the many unsung ethical heroes in our organizations. I’m talking about people who, even when no one is watching, consistently do the right thing. And they’ve been doing it at a time when confidence in business urgently needs to be restored.
Not only are you restoring confidence (?) in business, you’re going to lead us the charge into this recovery:
As we prepare our organizations for the upturn, we also need to prepare our people for the uptick in wrong-doing that can accompany better times.
First of all, what is this “upturn” you speak of? Also, Costanza-stache: “uptick in wrong-doing accompany better times”? Just what the hell is all this accounting fraud talk? Or how about executives’ bad attitudes about its employees? Or everything else?
Apparently you need to get even more vigilant people! This ship is turning around and wrong-doing is really going to take off. We need you more than ever.
Do-right employees [Washington Post]
Jim Quigley, Still ‘a Proud Aggie,’ Fails to Go Out on a High Note
That’s right, he’s proud. Never mind that the football team just finished their season 4 – 8. Sports aren’t everything.
The Big Q, swindler of unsuspecting journalists, took time away from calling CEOs on private jets to give a speech at Utah State (his alma mater) to faculty and students on ethics.
We won’t give you all the gory details since CNN probably is working on that piece right now. We’d hate to steal their thunder.
We will mention that Quigs is swelling with pride that USU’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business Scholars agree to “principles” which he quoted in the speech:
“I agree to conduct myself according to the highest ethical standards. I will accept personal responsibility for my conduct and any consequences for mistakes, accidental or intentional. I will be honest, truthful and fair in alof my actions and interactions with others. I will also demonstrate civil, respectful and courteous concern for and behavior toward others at all times both in and outside of the classroom.”
It seems like a fine group of sentences but I implore you: is it an oath/promise laminated on tiny cards? Hardly, dude.
Ethics and integrity aside, Quigs’ remarks seem like the standard boilerplate metaphors and clichés. Hell, he even quotes the Oracle in his conclusion, “Warren Buffett said: ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.’ And, once lost, it can take years to rebuild.”
It works well enough but we would have rather heard Quigs wrap it up with “I’ve never gone to bed with an ugly woman but I’ve sure woke up with a few.” It would’ve brought the house down. High note, Quigs. Always look to go out on that high note.
Jim_Quigley_Utah_State_remarks.pdf
>75: What am I Supposed to Do With This Ethics Exam?
Editor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on a question related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
If you are in an ethics exam state and trying to figure out how to pass it (first of all: fail), don’t worry, I’ve got some advice. An email from a reader who prefers not to expose his unethical-ness comes to JDA thusly:
I’m having trouble passing the ethics exam, I’ve failed twice. How can I pass it?
First of all, I’m going to ignore the fact that this question — by itself or to a casual observer not in public accounting — is pretty fucked up. You shouldn’t need help with this. I can understand needing an explanation on how to get your foreign degree evaluated (I still don’t quite get it) but this should be easy. However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll disregard that part.
For starters, the ethical thing to do would be a Google search on the ethics exam, not posting Craigslist ads offering to pay people to take it for you. But if you’re like most public accountants trying to get a license, you copy off of your coworkers. I shouldn’t have to tell you that. If I do, it probably means you’re not cut out for this line of work.
There are other things you can do. Some state societies of CPAs have resources like tips or even experts you can consult to help you. Again, this shouldn’t be hard, it’s supposedly your first mandate in public accounting.
It’s open book, there’s no timer and you can bring a weapon to wherever you’re taking the test (unlike the CPA exam itself). Why are you making such a huge deal out of this?
Abacus said the Wisconsin ethics exam, while being tough, just needed some diligence to get through. What’s scary about that?
If you absolutely run out of ideas, some ethics exams have a “Lifeline”. Here in California, if you bomb three times, you can call CalCPA’s Education Foundation and they might give you a hint or two along with three more chances to pass.
Give it enough time and understand the subtle nuances of the questions, don’t just try to barrel your way through it and you might pass this time. Good luck.