Financial Performance Of Ethical Investment Funds

A recent study done at the University of Chicago by Prof. Curtis Verschoor and published in Management Accounting found that companies with a defined corporate commitment to ethical principles do better financially than companies that don’t make ethics a key management component. Public shaming of Nike’s sweatshop conditions and slave wages paid to overseas workers led to a 27% drop in its earnings several years ago. And recently, the shocking disregard of ethics and subsequent

A lot of key factors would need to be considered when determining if a company is being ran ethically

Ethical issues are becoming very essential and critical topic for examining the organization’s performance. According to Chang, (2011) nowadays, every organization has realized the vitality that ethical functionality gives to a business and need of attention to this emerging responsibility of organizations.

The second ethical problem in this case relates to the Rigas family’s use of publicly-held corporate funds as a personal “piggy bank.” The Rigases used the company jet for personal reasons “without approval of the Board of Directors”, on one occasion flying to Africa for a safari (Markon & Frank, 2002). On another, one of John Rigas’ sons used a corporate jet to pick up an actress friend of his (Grant, Young, & Nuzum, 2004). The former CFO claimed that Adelphia’s funds were used by one of Rigas’ sons to buy a condominium, and to build a $13M golf course (Grant, Young, & Nuzum,

When an organization is not ethical, this will be seen through their work, employees, etc. A customer will lose confidence in a company quickly if they realize ethics are not a main priority for that particular business. If an organization wants to be in business for the long-run, they will realize their priorities should not be on getting rich quick but on setting standards and maintaining them; by following this rule, customers will continue to roll in, and the company will prosper.

· * From the e-Activity, examine ethical behavior within firms in relation to financial management. Provide two (2) examples of companies that have been guilty of ethics-based malfeasance related to financial management and determine why their comeuppance was deserved.

How has our recent dismay, concerns, and the actions of firms concerning ethical thinking, or the lack thereof relates to the past observations and does our recent laws and directives, such as SOX create as safety net to investors, employees, and the economy as well as drives the ethical decision making of CEO’s and CFO’s of public companies? Who benefits?

Ethical organizations experience the same fluctuations in business profit as any other organization due to economic downturns. Nevertheless, the smooth operation of an organization, its viability and the

Are you aware of how the funds are invested, and level of market risk being taken?

Jeffrey Gitomer once said, “Great people have great values and great ethics.” These great people start ethical companies with great values with great ethics of course. The meaning of ethics can sometimes be unclear, but the general idea of ethics is choosing between right and wrong. There are many ethical companies that treat their company and consumers well such as Levi & Strauss Co., The Hershey Company, and 3M. Despite these companies that are successful and don’t attempt to cheat the world of business, there are others that aren’t so ethical. These include: Wells Fargo, Nestle, and Chevron.

When functioning in the corporate world, it is an essential to include moral ethics. Ethics is also particularly imperative when laboring with financial information. It is very hard to have faith in someone managing plenty of money. Corporations in the past have distorted their financial statements in regulation to look superior to stockholders, without thinking of the penalty that may be a consequence if they get caught. If a corporation does not encourage good quality ethical conduct within the business, it is

Many fortune 500 companies have implemented a ethics program (Ruddell, 2015). This paper will examine the goals associated with establishing a ethics program, some action items, and considerations of the essential elements associated with ethic programs.

Ethical conduct plays an important role in business research for a couple of reasons; one, it helps better the purpose of the organization and not for other self-serving reasons, and two, it will help safeguard the interests of those involved in the research. Ethical behavior must be a priority throughout all phases of the research project. Sekaran (2003) states, “The

Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) is one of the world's leading global investment companies with a diversified portfolio of institutional, retail and high net-work clients that form the foundation of their business model. As of the close of their latest fiscal financial reporting period of March 31, 2013, Invesco has $729.3B in assets under management (AUM), earning an adjusted operating income of $314M in their 4th fiscal quarter of the year, which results in an adjusted gross operating margin of 38.4% (Invesco Investor Relations, 2013). Invesco concentrates on generating a consistently positive increase in AUM across all three major business units, while also seeking to minimize risk to investor's capital. Invesco is also known for a series of scandals in the 1994, 1995 and most notably in the 2002 - 2003 timeframe. The Invesco scandal, combined with those of Enron, Tyco and many others, led to the creation and passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that requires greater financial disclosure on the part of publically-held American corporations (Zimmermann, 2005). Invesco was later singled out to pay damages to shareholders based on their involvement in several scandals, the most notable involved their Invesco Dynamics fund where fund managers provided information to friends and key stakeholders on market timing considerations, allowing them to earn a 110% return while

Ethics involve an individual's moral judgments concerning what is right and/or wrong. Individuals or groups of people are responsible for making decisions in an organization (shaw, 2008). Decisions within the organization are always emanate from the company's culture. However, the decision to act ethically and morally requires an individual judgment. Thus, members of staff are obligated to make decisions that reflect their right course of action (shaw, 2008). This involves rejecting the option that could lead to the greatest short-term gain. The leadership of most organizations stresses the need to adopt ethical behaviors and corporate social responsibility. Ethical dealings can earn the organization various benefits. For instance, it may attract more clients to the business thus boosting sales; employees could be motivated to stay longer in the organization thereby reducing recruitment expenditures. Ethical behaviors could also earn the business a favorable reputation that could attract investors. Categorically, a lack of social responsibility or unethical behavior may hurt the firm's reputation and scare away investors. Sales and profits could fall in the process.