Since this is an general MBA content blog, I thought you might enjoy watching the PBS Frontline video about the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme. I've introduced this video into several of the courses I teach as a springboard for discussions about accounting, information systems, and quantitative reasoning. This is an optional activity that takes about an hour. Students need high bandwidth Internet.
I ask students to try to identify what went wrong with "Wall Street" to allow Mr. Madoff to run such a fraudulent enterprise and evade detection for decades, including some of the following questions:
Did you notice that Madoff's investment firm had a fake information system that was used to produce simulated trades and client statements?
Who was to blame? Investors? Accountants? SEC Regulators? News Media? Mr. Madoff's Employees? Fund Managers? Who?
Do you see how helpless investors can be when even truthful information is reported by publicly-traded companies...?
Here is the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/
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