A hilarious view on the MBA Ethics Oath by Jon Stewart and Jon Oliver on The Daily Show. There is a great Scared Straight piece with some MBA Students.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| MBA Ethics Oath | ||||
|
||||
Tag: humor
Dilbert on Compensation Committees
I assume this comic strip came out as a result of the Congressional hearings on regulating executive compensation.
. . . And Thus Ended Capitalism
Sunday’s Dilbert on financial reports, trusted advisors, and Ponzi schemes.
What Do Bernie Madoff, the Loch Ness Monster, and Alex Rodriguez Have In Common?
They are in the 2009 edition of Topps’ Allen & Ginter series of Trading Cards.
The set will consist of 350 cards: 230 baseball players, 30 rookies, 25 historic figures and 15 world champions. It also will include 50 short-printed cards. Among the unusual inclusions to the basic set are Old Faithful (the Yellowstone geyser), Brigham Young, Loch Ness Monster, Vincent Van Gogh, General George Custer, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Also, there will be a “world’s biggest hoaxes, hoodwinks and bamboozles” set that will include Charles Ponzi, The Runaway Bride, Enron, Cold Fusion, Bernie Madoff and The War of the Worlds.
(I believe A-Rod is part of the baseball players collection.)
Thanks to Bruce Carton of Securities Docket for pointing out The Bernard Madoff Trading Card.
See:
Combine Risky Mortgages With a Ponzi Scheme
Of course Scott Adams can find humor in Dilbert by combining the worst pieces of the financial industry collapse: risky mortgage loans, a Ponzi scheme, and misaligned executive compensation.
Simplify Your Compliance Processes
Let’s Get Ethical!, Ethical!, I Want To Get Ethical…
Those of you that watch NBC’s “The Office” see some of the best examples of what NOT to do in business every week. They also tackled what not NOT to do in an Ethics Training course. The clip shows some of the worst training skills (reading from the binder, HR-speak, etc.).
It also provides an unusual example of a compliance problem, with Meredith sleeping with a supplier in exchange for a discount.
Unfortunately, the ethical lapses are not limited to the rag-tag Scranton office, but also exist in the main office. The response to Meredith’s confession from the home office?: “I’m not sure that these circumstances warrant any action…this seems like a grey area.”
Madoff in Limerick Form
Freakonomics ran a contest for the best definition for Bernie Madoff in limerick form.
They had special guest judge Chris J. Strolin, founder and editor-in-chief of The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form announce The Winning Definition of “Madoff,” in Limerick Form.
The best of the best was #98 by sqlman:
His investments’ ascent: like a rocket.
His method: his hand in your pocket.
His scheming: detested.
His freedom: arrested.
His future: a day on the docket.With rhyme and meter perfect throughout, this limerick encapsulates a complex story in just five lines, giving the details very well and in an interesting format. This one shimmers!
Second place goes to #104 by The Tortoise:
The Madoff scam: what’s it about?
Paying Paul (and thus fending off doubt)
By robbing poor Peter;
And what could be neater?
But it palled when the funds petered outPresenting a strong summing up of the situation, this limerick ends with double wordplay in the fifth line so elegant that I can overlook the lack of an ending period.
And lastly, the title of Miss Congeniality (a.k.a. third place) goes to #78 by Robin:
With Bernie’s cachet as the lure,
Even smart folks invested, quite sure
That with Madoff, funds grow
And sweet dividends flow.
Now they find themselves swindled … and poor.More perfect rhyme and meter throughout and an accurate telling of the history of this event, but with an interesting pause for dramatic effect at the end — very nice touch!
Dilbert on Business Ethics and Online Reviews
Published February 1, 2009
Real Money Laundering
The October 2008 edition (.pdf) of The SAR Activity Review, Trends, Tips and Issues published by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, has a great story on page 29 about a marijuana smuggling and money laundering operation.
The organization was concerned that the cash smelled like marijuana. The benk tellers even noticed the smell of marijuana on the money. The organization ended up washing and ironing the cash to remove the smell.
Too late. The teller filed a Suspicious Activity Report on the marijuana money which then focused law enforcement on subsequent deposits. Law enforcement had previously been keeping an eye on individuals in the organization. Over the course of the investigation, they tracked more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana that the organization distributed into the local market.
Dirty money lead to 30 jail sentence for the leader of the organization.