This is the last case of the course and it deals with a financial analyst, her duties and ethical responsibilities to her firm, her clients, and her profession. Cindy Garcia is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), one of the highest professional certifications a financial analyst can aspire to. It is extremely challenging to qualify as a CFA, as it requires a candidate to successfully pass three separate exams covering a wide range of financial, accounting, and economics topics. Moreover, CFAs are expected, indeed required, to maintain very high ethical standards in their work. If they fail to do so, they can lose their certification.

It is not always easy in work (or in life for that matter) to do the 'right thing'. We often face competing demands from a variety of agents and conflicts of interest can easily arise. Maintaining your sense of professional ethics and personal integrity can be difficult under such circumstances, but it is essential to do so if you are going to be seen as a credible and trusted expert in your field.

In this week's case, you will be asked to consider the analyst's role in evaluating and reporting on financial information that may have a significant impact on a number of different company stakeholders. You will have to weigh the analyst's responsibilities to the different stakeholders and decide on an appropriate professional and ethical approach to the situation.

Please have a read and then answer Questions 1, 2, 4, 5 on page 284.

Again, these are qualitative questions requiring thoughtful qualitative answers of about 200-300 words each.

CA SE 4 2 LA RESTAURANTS, INC. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS BUSINESS ETHICS Cindy Garcia was putting the finishing touches on her financial analysis for La Posta Mexican Restaurants for the 1994 Annual Institutional Investment Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dallas. The conference was sponsored by her employer, Dillon Sutton and Company, a Dallas-based regional invest- ment banking firm. Cindy was not entirely satisfied with the outcome of her analysis, and she knew that her boss, Lazar Freed, the director of institutional research, was even less satisfied with the results of her analysis. He told her that the people on the corporate finance side of the firm would be furious about her analysis and proposed recommendation. CINDY GARCIAS BACKGROUND Cindy was a senior analyst in the research department specializing in retail in- dustries including food retailing. She has a B.S. degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation, she spent two years in public accounting with Marwick, during which time she earned the CPA desig- on. She then completed her MBA at the Wharton of the University of Pennsylvania at which time she joined her current employer, Dillon Company. During her three years with the firm, she completed her Certified Financial Analyst designation and received her first promotion from fi analyst to senior financial analyst. Last year, she was named to the ond team of a prestigious national magazine's Team. compa Her current position required her to write research reports on retail im nies which have retail are especially was portant players in the Texas marketplace. She loved her work, and she