Thursday Dec 22, 2016 Buried on page B8 of today's WSJ  is a short headline, Goldman Pays up to Settle Rates Probe. Click here to read the article. We study ethics in ACCT 5308 each spring.  One of the questions is, as Wanda Sykes asked about abusive Priests, What does it take to get kicked…

Tuesday Dec 20, 2016 The founder of Platinum Partners was arrested Monday. Hedge fund execs Arrested and Charged with $1 B Fraud I have downloaded Why They Do It and am reading it now. This is highly recommended for all accounting students and particularly for those enrolled in ACCT 5308 Ethics  this spring.  

Weekend Dec 17, 2016 I am putting together ideas for the ACCT 5308 Ethics class this spring. I suspect most of the students are unfamiliar with Harry Truman. Handily David McCullough has written the definitive book on the man. My point here is that Truman pledged never to personally profit from the Office of the…

Thursday Dec 15, 2016 I have been reading Why They Do It, an account of white collar crime. The Amazon Amazon link is here. The WSJ book review is here. The book is divided into three sections. The first reviews the history of white collar crime prosecution. Decades ago there was little to none. That…

Tuesday Dec 13, 2016 PA Congressman Chaka Fattah heads to ten years in jail. As the article states, how can the Judge be astonished at this kind of behavior.  The Congressman refused to resign in the face of a guilty verdict and had stolen thousands of dollars for personal use.

Wed Nov 30, 2016 The WSJ ran this opinion piece on  Trump's decision to not investigate or prosecute Hillary any further.     I made this comment which received several likes via e mail.   One of the most admired Presidents of this past century was Harry Truman, by both parties. An artillery officer in WW…

Weekend Nov 27, 2016 Penn State received a record $2 M + fine over the Sandusky incident. The penalty is for violating the Clery Act, a  1990 law that covers rep;orts on campus crimes and warnings to the campus community. AS I remarked in the audit class, do you suppose the large internal audit staff…

Tuesday Nov 22, 2016 A TAMUSA student correct points out that Strong has not been officially terminated. But what a mess of mixed signals. This article mentions that the VP for diversity and community engagement  showed up but not the Athletic Director who now dismisses reports Strong would be fired as a rumor but said…

Monday November 21, 2106 I am not a big football fan but I do teach the required accounting ethics class here at TAMUSA. I am a graduate of UT Austin, three times over. I sent them this short letter but doubt it will appear on the athletic website.   UT Administration and Other Sore Short…

Thursday Nov 17, 2016 Bad news just keeps coming for WFC, now a not unexpected collapse in new accounts. New account openings at Wells Fargo (WFC)plummeted 44% in October compared with last year, the bank said on Thursday. Things also worsened since September, when the number of accounts opened by customers fell by 27%.  …