Ethics challenge win spurs MBA team to national competition – TRU Newsroom
MBA students from the Bob Gaglardi School of Business and Economics emerged victorious in the seventh annual ethics challenge organized by CFA Societies Canada. This marks the fourth time that a TRU team has won the regional championship. CFA Societies Canada is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance professional standards, integrity, and ethics for the chartered financial analyst profession in Canada.
Team Gaglardi consisted of Sahar Sheikhlari, Fatema Akter Sumi, Anu Khandelwal and Jaskaran Singh. Students were presented with a case study and had to identify violations of the CFA’s code of ethics. They shared their findings with the judges through a presentation and executive summary, followed by a question period.
“The CFA Ethics competition was an enlightening experience that honed our analytical skills and deepened our understanding of ethical practices in finance,” says Khandelwal.
“We owe a great deal of our success to Professor Dan Thompson, whose unwavering support and guidance were pivotal from the outset,” says Khandelwal. “His dedication to our development and to fostering a spirit of collaboration among us was instrumental in our achievement.”
Thompson, a teaching professor and chair of the Accounting, Law and Finance department at Gaglardi, was impressed with the students’ performance.
“Our students did an exceptional job in not only identifying the ethics violations present in the case, but also in answering the tough questions posed by the judges,” he says.
The CFA ethics challenge equips post-secondary students with the skills to analyze, debate and investigate ethical challenges they might face in their careers as investment professionals. CFA charterholders — those who have met the necessary qualifications to hold the professional CFA designation — promise to follow the CFA’s code of ethics and standards of professional conduct every year, an important foundation for building trust with Canadian investors.
The Gaglardi team competes against the University of Montreal, Saint Mary’s University, the University of Manitoba and the University of Waterloo at the national level.
“We are thrilled to represent TRU at the national challenge on May 3 and are eager to bring our best to the national stage,” says Khandelwal.
“TRU won the national championship in 2019 and will attempt a repeat this year,” says Thompson.