Ethics for finance professionals at all levels

"Your Career, Our Economy: Stakes are High When Finance Professionals Let Ethics Slide":

Bernie Madoff, AIG, and Allen Stanford all supply grand-scale 'teachable moments' for discussions about ethics in business. However, ethical behavior applies to all levels of professionals, not just those at the top of financial organizations. That's one of the lessons that professor Marianne Jennings at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is trying to impart to her undergraduate business students.

Jennings is also the author of the book, "The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse: Understanding What Causes Moral Meltdowns in Organizations."

"Why might some employees sabotage their companies?"

"Why might some employees sabotage their companies?" -- according to a researcher at Singapore Management University, self-esteem plays a critical role. In a working paper entitled, "When does self-esteem relate to deviant behaviour? The role of contingencies of self-worth," researchers found that it is not simply the level of self-esteem, but also whether an employee's self-esteem is tied to being a competent employee.

"They suggest that if an individual’s self-esteem is contingent upon being a competent employee – what they refer to as having workplace-contingent self-esteem – then regardless of whether self-esteem is low or high, they will be less likely to engage in deviant behaviours."

Read the article summarizing the working paper in the Knowledge@SMU newsletter.

New economics database: RGE Monitor

The USF Libraries recently added a subscription to the economics database RGE Monitor:

"RGE Monitor, named one of the world's best economic resources by Business Week, The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, delivers global economic insights to the business and academic community. Founded in 2004 by a prestigious team of economic and political experts, RGE Monitor defines key economic and strategic debates and presents arguments on all sides. Content and analysis is delivered through a variety of channels. “Spotlight Issues” are identified and set in priority order, searchable by either importance or date. “Global Daily Digests” are available on the website, through email, or by a continuously updated RSS feeds. “Working Paper Series” highlights the most relevant publications from the economic experts from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)."

Note: Requires the creation of an account. Once established, your user name is your email address.

To locate this database, visit http://www.lib.usf.edu and click on "Databases by Title/Subject" to begin.

Adopting IFRS-International Financial Reporting Standards

"Why do some countries adopt the European Union (EU)-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) when others do not?"

A 48-page working paper, available through the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge newsletter and website, explores this question. Some of the conclusions include the following:

"There is evidence that more powerful countries are less likely to adopt IFRS, consistent with more powerful countries being less willing to surrender standard-setting authority to an international body. There is also evidence that the likelihood of IFRS adoption at first increases and then decreases in the quality of countries' domestic governance institutions, consistent with IFRS being adopted when governments are capable of timely decision making and when the opportunity and switching cost of domestic standards are relatively low. We do not find evidence that levels of and expected changes in foreign trade and investment flows in a country affect its adoption decision: thus, we cannot confirm that IFRS lowers information costs in more globalized economies. Consistent with the presence of network effects in IFRS adoption, we find that a country is more likely to adopt IFRS if its trade partners or countries within in its geographical region are IFRS adopters."

Advertising Age - 100 Leading National Advertisers, 2009 edition

Advertising Age recently released its annual "100 Leading National Advertisers" database and special issue, with facts and figures on U.S. ad spending. You can access the electronic version of this advertising research 'classic' here.

The Futurist: Ten Forces Driving Business Futures

An article in the July-August issue of The Futurist magazine by Michael Richarme, from the market research firm Decision Analyst Inc., identifies the top ten social trends of the next 20 years, with implications for business:
1) the emergence of China as the world's largest economic power;
2) global demographic and migration shifts;
3) energy and water shortages;
4) managing waste, reusing products;
5) falling education standards, less-skilled thought leaders;
6) brand relationships intensify;
7) instant gratification shopping;
8) on-demand media;
9) customization, personalization, and community experiences; and
10) youth rules.

The July-August issue of The Futurist has other articles of interest, including "The automation of invention," "Assessing global trends for 2025," and "A rendezvous with austerity: American consumers are about to learn new habits." The magazine (full-text, PDF) is available through the USF subscription to the Academic Search Premier database. You can search the magazine or database as needed, or set up an alert to have the table of contents delivered to your email inbox for each new issue.

FASB Codification

"On July 1, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is instituting a major change in the way accounting standards are organized. On that date, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification™ (FASB Codification) will become the single official source of authoritative, nongovernmental U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). After that date, only one level of authoritative U.S. GAAP will exist, other than guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All other literature will be non-authoritative." (http://aaahq.org/FASB/Access.cfm)

Read about some of the changes here and here. And stay tuned for more information about access to FASB Codification for USF students and faculty.