Spring 2018 | Harbert Magazine

Doing Well by Doing Good

That key phrase is not just some random maxim tacked on to a company’s mission statement in order to stay current.

Walking the Public Relations Tightrope

Have we been completely honest with our clients? If not, how do we fix this?

Business Ethics is a Team Sport

Business Ethics is a Team Sport, says O.C. Ferrell, director of the Center for Ethical
Organizational Cultures in the Harbert College of Business.

There’s the impression that business execs and their companies are all about the buck; that “greed is good,” and that ethics and principles, honesty and integrity, often take a back seat to the single-minded pursuit of the dollar.

Living the Salt Life

Odds are you’ve seen a Salt Life logo on a vehicle or an item of apparel. But what drives the company behind the symbol?

The Dark Triad

Psychopathy, Narcissism and Machiavellianism are known as the “dark triad.” But some of the dark qualities may actually be necessary to get the job done.

Dean’s Last Word – Harbert is Hitting the Target on Ethics Education

The Center for Ethical Organizational Cultures of the Harbert College plays a key role in providing faculty with the resources and classroom materials necessary to help infuse organizational ethics education into our business curriculum.

What Can We Learn From Jelly Beans?

I pass a giant, sealed jar of jellybeans around in my Executive MBA class, asking students to guess how many beans are in the jar. Who in the class will have the most accurate guess?

Tax Fraud

Expecting to receive a few hundred dollars on your 2017 federal and state returns, you excitedly file your taxes electronically and wait for that hefty check in the mail. Except it’s not coming in the mail . . . at least not to you.

Fake News

Harbert College researcher says algorithms hold key to fighting fake news.

Many Happy Returns

Extended product return time policies attract more customers and cultivates customer trust.

Does More Monitoring Mean More Fraud

We’d like to think that strong governance can deter fraud and other acts of malfeasance, but it doesn’t always work that way.

Accounting alum, MAcc Students Reach Out to Those Less Fortunate

Thomas Stallings, a 2016 School of Accountancy graduate, serves underprivileged children in a small village in Zambia. He teaches business studies to ninth-graders and works as controller for Lifesong, a mission-oriented organization. The Montgomery native passed up a job offer at a Birmingham accounting firm for the opportunity to serve others.

New Business Incubator at Heart of Auburn’s Entrepreneur Ecosystem

The Tiger Cage Accelerator and Incubator—a 2,800-square-foot facility at the Auburn Research Park—helps students bring their business ideas to life and flex their entrepreneurial muscles.

KPMG-Supported Boot Camp will Sharpen Accounting Students

Accounting is the language of business and a sound business education requires students, regardless of their majors, to be at least conversant in it. Even, or perhaps especially, those who aren’t accounting majors need to understand basic accounting principles.