Bethel Hosts First CFA Ethics Challenge in Midwest

A manager instructs an employee to hide pieces of information from clients. Without carefully examining the situation, it could be easy for employees to follow the manager’s directions. “Although it may not seem like a big deal at first, it would be a failure to be above board with the client, and soon become a major ethical issue,” says accounting and finance major Luke Vickers ’23.

This was the situation that students in Associate Professor of Business Amanda Carter’s Investments course recently explored, giving them a chance to apply classroom lessons to a situation they may face one day in the workplace. On Friday, November 5, Carter’s students participated in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Ethics Challenge—the first of its kind in the Midwest. And Carter and organizers hope it’s just the beginning of a project aiming to give college students first-hand experience.

For many years, Bethel teams have successfully competed in the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge, where students receive hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics before eventually issuing valuations of a company’s stock. By comparison, the CFA Ethics Challenge is relatively new, with the first challenge hosted in Toronto in 2014. The challenge at Bethel came about through a collaboration between the CFA Society of Minnesota and several Bethel groups, including the Department of Business, Facilities Management, and Conference and Event Services. The aim is to increase students' awareness of ethical dilemmas encountered in the investment industry. “Participating in the challenge prepares students for situations they may face in the future,” says Carter, who serves on the CFA Society of Minnesota Board of Directors.

For Bethel’s challenge, students in Carter’s Investments course split into teams that explored a case study highlighting an ethical dilemma. They presented their recommendations to a panel of CFA Society members, engaged in a question-and-answer period, and then the panel selected a champion. Finance and data analytics major Mallory Tidona ’22 was surprised by how difficult it was to determine the ethical and unethical behaviors in the case study. “There's definitely a gray line and it's hard to determine when it has been crossed,” she says. Vickers agreed, adding, “I also learned how easy it could be to slowly slip into ethical violations. It would be very easy to slowly begin to fail to mention certain pieces of information to clients.”

Bethel was a good fit for the first ethics challenge in the Midwest. Carter calls ethics a foundational part of Bethel’s faith-driven, liberal arts education. “Ethics are important for students as they transition to the secular workforce,” she says. “It's helpful to give them a framework from the real world and then to help them envision how they will integrate their faith into their careers.”

Tidona says that her professors frequently emphasize the importance of enacting Christian principles in the workplace. “The challenge allowed me to put what I have been continually taught and apply it to a real scenario,” she says. Vickers added that it helped him learn to think through ethical situations, and it made him consider how to respond when management acts unethically.

The challenge brought Vickers back to his days competing in speech and debate in high school. He enjoyed working with his team, thinking through ideas, and engaging with other perspectives on the case. “It is probably my favorite assignment I have had at Bethel,” says Vickers, who was part of the winning team. “It was really cool to get to present to people from the CFA Society and get their input after our presentation.” The challenge offered him a chance to practice presenting in a professional environment. And Carter noted it’s beneficial for students to interact with professionals working in the community. Students also earned three certifications through the prep process from the CFA Society, which Carter notes are great on resumes and are good preparation for students if they take the CFA Exams in the future.

Carter and other CFA Society members hope this is just the beginning. They envision growing the CFA Ethics Challenge to become an international college event similar to the CFA Institute Research Challenge. The ethics challenge is smaller than the research challenge, and Carter says students can prepare for it in about a week. The tentative plan is for three to five schools to compete next year.

And for Bethel, it also reflects continued growth in the Department of Business. “Bethel is building a reputation as an excellent finance school in the Twin Cities business community,” Carter says. “The success of the students in the research challenge and the piloting of the ethics challenges are a part of this improved visibility and credibility.”

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