Wed February 15 2017 Companies must perform impairment tests on assets. If the future undiscounted cash flows are less than book value, the asset is written down. Now read about the massive $6.3 Billion Write Down at Toshiba. And this comes on the heels of another accounting scandal just two years ago. This would make…

Wed Feb 15 2017 Tom Sowell refers to high brow decision makers as the anointed elite. Today Holman Jenkins reveals the folly of assuming diesel engines were a climate solution. He compares this to the one child policy begun in  1979 in China. It turns out Chinese parents preferred males to females. Now there is…

Weekend Feb 11, 2017 An alert student in ACCT 5308 noticed this article about the Michigan State Football Program. As I say we never run out of bad examples for this class!   Here are a few points: 1.) allegations of sexual assault by a sports doctor 2.) allegations of sexual assault by 3 football…

Thursday Feb 9, 2017 Trump's latest tweet criticizes Nordstrum stores for dropping his daughter's fashion brand. While of course this gives more energy to his many critics, this is pretty mild stuff compared to the famous Truman letter to music critic Paul Hume. Below is Hume's critique and then Truman's prompt reply. Trump looks surprisingly…

Wed February 8, 2017 I have already mentioned Why They Do It, a book profiling White Collar Criminals. Today I checked Board Games out of the SA Public Library. This is a slim  145 page tutorial on being a better board member. And the lead author is John Montford former Texas Tech Chancellor.  

Weekend Feb 4 2017 NCAA continues its investigation of Baylor I suggested to the ACCT 5308 Ethics class this would be a good topic for a research paper. And the details just keep emerging. Baylor Scandal Bigger than You Think A female Sports Writer reflects on the Baylor Scandal

Weekend January 28, 2017 As I say we never run out of fraud examples for the spring ethics class. An alert TAMUSA student spotted the latest twist on the ever famous Ponzi Scheme. In a Ponzi Scheme, early investors are paid high returns from money deposited by later investors. The schemers then attempt to convince…

Thursday January 26, 2017 We study ethics in ACCT 5308. As you can see ethics are a topic at both the state and local level. But as you can see in Who's the Worst, efforts inevitably fail to reign in unethical behavior.  

Wednesday Jan 25 2017 Why People Elect Crooks is the topic of the book review of When Crime Pays in today's WSJ, page A 15. The book focuses on rascals elected in the world's largest Democracy, India. One politician threatened to 'feed those who cross him to the crocodiles' making most of Trump's threats look…