It’s Time for Employees to Share in Corporate Profits I am not a socialist. I do not believe that the wealth of the rich should automatically be shared with the less fortunate for the betterment of society. However, the gap between executive compensation and that of the average worker has... Read more →

Should Corporations Be Encouraged to Influence the Political Process? It's well known that corporations donate to politicians of their choice. This has been going on for many years. What's not so clear is whether the concept of "woke capitalism" is ratcheting up the support in a more tangible way that... Read more →

Exploring the Costs and Benefits of the New NCAA Rules I have previously blogged about whether college athletes should be paid for their services. They shed blood, sweat, and tears in their sports competition. Universities make millions from admissions fees to sporting events, sponsorships, deals with athletic companies like Nike,... Read more →

A Cult of Personality Blinded Others to Their Schemes Today's blog is long but comprehensively addresses two of the most interesting cases of how not to run a business. For educators, it could be the makings of a case study to use in the classroom. I recently watched a streaming... Read more →

Excellence in Accounting Ethics Education Award Announced by the Public Interest Section of the American Accounting Association The intent of this award is to recognize new pedagogy for teaching ethics to accounting students. A monetary award of $1,000 and a plaque will be presented at the annual Ethics Symposium, sponsored... Read more →

Rules of the Road I first posted this piece on my "Workplace Ethics Advice" blog and received so many comments and inquiries that I decided to post on my "Ethics Sage" blog as well. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects us from the government interfering with our speech... Read more →

Objectivity and Impartiality Replaces the Strict Application of Independence Rules In June 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made amendments effective for certain rules regarding auditor independence requirements (known as Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X). The intention behind these amendments is to modernize the SEC’s rules governing auditor independence... Read more →

There Are Limits When Incorporating Ethics into AI Decision-Making Perhaps you read the article “On An ‘ethical’ AI trained on human morals has turned racist.” It claims that while machine learning software Ask Delphi allows you to ponder any moral quandary, it may not give you an appropriate response. The... Read more →

Financial Information Should Be Mandated by the SEC I have previously blogged about the importance of disclosing issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the financial statements or some other form of reporting. The SEC has examined the potential economic effects of mandated disclosure and reporting standards for CSR,... Read more →

Can a Conflict of Interest Be Avoided? Should members of Congress be prohibited from owning and trading in stocks? This question is receiving a lot of attention on Capitol Hill and in the press. The answer to the question seems to be a no brainer – Yes! The simple reason... Read more →