User:Ymarq013/sandbox

Possible Topics

 * Ethically disputed business practices
 * Creative Accounting

Article Evaluation
The Boiler room (business) article, describes high stress business environments in which the employees are often pressured to employ suspect behavior. This behavior in turn may cause distress for the employees and the people they are targeting. This is seen in the business sales sector and most commonly used in the sale of penny stocks. Overall the article was informative, but lacked examples and in line citations. It had a lot of links that lead to terminology definitions but not enough topic support in the body. The article is lengthy and even add an "in popular culture" section which gives mention to the Wolfe of Wall Street. This article has potential for in-line quotation expansion.

The second article on Creative Accounting has the most potential as it lacks multiple view points that maintain a neutral tone. By researching additional and more reliable sources as well as discussing the finding in the body of the article, this may help fortify the article. The article does mention several high profile cases involved in creative accounting. It may help to increase the example as well as to expand on these. This one specifically has room for adding lessons learned in class as well as for the use of specific terms related to business ethics. I think I will brainstorm the different stakeholders to be able to add to this article. It only has two sources cited, which may lead to potential biased information. I can also add more links of laws that prevent the practice as well as monitor these agencies.

Boiler Room (Business) Article Edit
In business, the term boiler room refers to an outbound call center selling questionable investments by telephone. It typically refers to a room where salesmen work using unfair, dishonest sales tactics, sometimes selling penny stocks, private placements or committing outright stock fraud. The use of falsified and bolstered information along with verified company released information is often times adopted. The term carries a negative connotation, and is often used to imply high-pressure sales tactics and, sometimes, poor working conditions.

Business structure
The classic image of a boiler room is that it has an undisclosed relationship with the companies it promotes, or an undisclosed profit motive for promoting those companies.

Once the insider investors are in place, a boiler room promotes (via telephone calls to brokerage clients or spam email) these thinly traded stocks where there is no actual market. The brokers of the boiler room actually "create" a market by attracting buyers, whose demand for the stock drives up the price; this gives the owners of the company enough volume to sell their shares at a profit, a form of pump and dump operation where the original investors profit at the expense of the investors taken in by the boiler room operation.

In the 20th century, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission described boiler rooms as follows:

The brokers sat "cheek by jowl" in a room the size of a basketball court. All of their desks were lined up side by side in rows. The firm held mandatory sales meetings every morning at 8:30 a.m. at which time sales techniques were demonstrated and scripts for the firm's "house stock" … were distributed. Brokers were expected to follow the scripts and only give customers the information they contained.

Some traits of a boiler room include presenting only good news about the stock to be sold, and discouraging outside research by customers or brokers working there. The International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice states that: "There is a fairly strict division of labour within the boiler room. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the ‘qualifiers’ who try to interest customers into making an investment. They may make unsolicited telephone calls and send out newsletters. Next are the ‘verifiers’ or ‘openers’ who call customers to make them more interested in the investment and their firm, win the confidence of the victim and sell them, perhaps initially, a small amount of shares."

Victims of Boiler Room (Business) (New Section Edit)
Individuals will be targeted through the use of mediums such as the Sucker list which discloses information about those who have fallen victim to scams in the past. Another avenue, and one that is not as accessible due to it's shielded nature, is the utilization of shareholder lists. These lists provide information that links the employees of the boiler room businesses to the people most susceptible to fraud.

Victim Support
The Office For Victims Of Crimes offers monetary aid to victims of crimes throughout the United States. These funds come directly from the "federal offenders" as well as from private donations and gifts. In addition to this, it "raises awareness about victims’ issues, promotes compliance with victims’ rights laws, and provides training and technical assistance and publications and products to victim assistance professionals." It also links victims to The United States Department of Justice Victim Notification System, which was developed to maintain victims informed of case activity. Victims may register online to receive notifications regarding their relevant case.

Emotional Impact
Impacts of fraudulent boiler room business range from financial loss to decline in mental health and stability. Victims often suffer from stress, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, and depression. This decline in health and financial wealth has reportedly been linked to marriage dissolution as well as thoughts of suicide, and attempts of suicide. Victims also exhibited changes in behavior that included wariness of others and of financial transactions. On the other hand, many victims became more aware of the importance of security and as such took preventative action for the future.