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Jeff Smith: What lessons can be learned from imprisonment for lack of ethics?

Photo of prison bars
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By Alex Burden, Professional Development

2 October 2018

Key points:

  • In this video, Jeff Smith relays the positive direction he has taken after imprisonment for an ethical crime.
  • Ethics have the potential to influence behaviour, and expose the business or your practices to financial irregularities, fraud and other illegal activities.
  • Jeff discusses his move towards trying to harness the potential of ex-offenders and cut re-offending.

What can we learn from those who have committed ethical crimes and served time in prison?

Through their ethical behaviour, CAs are a force for good in the organisations in which they work. They can also influence those around them, and thereby help shape the culture and values of their organisation, but what about people who have admitted to and committed a wrongdoing?

You might have heard of Jeff Smith; he is a former Democractic member of the Missouri State Senate from 2007-2009, before he was convicted for hiding an election law violation. In 2004, he submitted a false affidavit to the Federal Election Commission, and an FBI investigation was opened in 2009 for attempted obstruction to the Commission.

He was imprisoned for the felony of conspiracy to obstruct justice, and avoided a potential 40-year prison sentence, receiving one year and one day in jail, with a $50,000 fine.

Now no longer in federal custody, Jeff is relaying his experiences and lessons learned from his incarceration and works as a political commentator, writer, professor and prisoner advocate. In this talk, Jeff discusses the business sense of some inmates, which he compares to the instincts of CEOs: "The business concepts that [inmates] talked about weren't unlike those which you would learn in a first-year MBA class in Wharton."

Jeff is now living a life free of crime and ethical violations, and questions why we don't nurture potential and any entrepreneurial spirit to cut re-offending and increase contribution to society.

Ethics and The Power of One

ICAS calls on every CA to place ethical leadership at the heart of their professional responsibilities

Business ethcis

Does your business have an ethical code?

By Alex Burden, Professional Development Editor

18 November 2018

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The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

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