Questions on Inventory Valuation
Question 1
Susan Plumb is the supervisor of her firm’s research department. Her firm has been seeking the mandate to underwrite Wings Industries’ proposed secondary stock offering. Without mentioning that the firm is seeking the mandate, she asks Jack Dawson to analyze Wings common stock and prepare a research report. After reasonable effort, Dawson produces a favorable report on Wings stock. Plumb then adds a footnote describing the underwriting relationship with Wings and disseminates the report to the firm’s clients. According to CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct, these actions are: A) | not a violation of any Standard. | B) | a violation of Standard V(A), Diligence and Reasonable Basis. | C) | a violation of Standard VI(A), Disclosure of Conflicts. |
Question 2
Jim Kent is an individual investment advisor in San Francisco with 300 clients. Kent uses open-ended mutual funds to implement his investment policy. For most of his clients, Kent has used the Baker fund, a small company growth fund based in Boston, for a portion of their portfolio. As a result he has become very friendly with Keith Dunston, the manager of the fund, whom Kent feels is mainly responsible for Baker’s performance. One day Dunston calls Kent and tells him that he will be leaving the fund in four weeks and moving to San Francisco to work for a different money management company. Dunston is seeking suggestions on housing in the area. Baker has not yet announced Dunston’s departure. Kent immediately finds a fund that is a suitable replacement for the Baker fund, and over the next two days he calls his 30 clients with the largest dollar investments in the funds and tells them he feels they should switch their holdings. Baker feels the remaining clients’ positions are small enough to wait for their annual review to switch funds. Kent has: A) | violated the Standards regarding nonpublic information but has not violated the Standards in failing to deal fairly with
Susan Plumb is the supervisor of her firm’s research department. Her firm has been seeking the mandate to underwrite Wings Industries’ proposed secondary stock offering. Without mentioning that the firm is seeking the mandate, she asks Jack Dawson to analyze Wings common stock and prepare a research report. After reasonable effort, Dawson produces a favorable report on Wings stock. Plumb then adds a footnote describing the underwriting relationship with Wings and disseminates the report to the firm’s clients. According to CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct, these actions are: A) | not a violation of any Standard. | B) | a violation of Standard V(A), Diligence and Reasonable Basis. | C) | a violation of Standard VI(A), Disclosure of Conflicts. |
Question 2
Jim Kent is an individual investment advisor in San Francisco with 300 clients. Kent uses open-ended mutual funds to implement his investment policy. For most of his clients, Kent has used the Baker fund, a small company growth fund based in Boston, for a portion of their portfolio. As a result he has become very friendly with Keith Dunston, the manager of the fund, whom Kent feels is mainly responsible for Baker’s performance. One day Dunston calls Kent and tells him that he will be leaving the fund in four weeks and moving to San Francisco to work for a different money management company. Dunston is seeking suggestions on housing in the area. Baker has not yet announced Dunston’s departure. Kent immediately finds a fund that is a suitable replacement for the Baker fund, and over the next two days he calls his 30 clients with the largest dollar investments in the funds and tells them he feels they should switch their holdings. Baker feels the remaining clients’ positions are small enough to wait for their annual review to switch funds. Kent has: A) | violated the Standards regarding nonpublic information but has not violated the Standards in failing to deal fairly with