Musical Finance: For Finance Directors, a Few Words of Caution

From the December 2009 edition of Exchange magazine

I am a groupie. I am a groupie who follows musicians from city to city. I am a groupie who collects pictures of the musicians she follows from city to city.

But this is the finance profession where we are supposed to be conservative, so the musicians I follow tend to conduct symphonies.

This weekend I am traveling to Toronto because to see the conductor Stephane Deneve, who heads the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and who has an engagement as guest conductor.  About a year ago, over the course of a series of concerts, Stephane was reported to be under consideration to conduct the National Symphony in Washington, so I got a good look at him while he was in town.

My latest heartthrob is Gustavo Dudamel, who leads the Los Angeles Symphony. Someone has sent me a poster that says "Bravo Gustavo."

Of course, my all-time favorite conductor is Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater (formerly Kirov) in Russia as well as the London Symphony. When he comes to Washington in March, I have secured tickets right in the great Gergiev's shadow. My husband knows about this, and he is cool with it.

And I used to also like the London Philharmonic, until I heard some news, which has sickened me.

The finance director of the conser-vative, publicly-funded London Philharmonic is said to have embezzled over $900,000 over the course of four years, according to a report in the New York Times. The paper said something about how he used the funds to remodel his townhouse.

This person wasn’t just a back-office clerk.  His secondary title included general manager, so he had plenty of influence on the operational side of the orchestra.

Sadly, this fraud is not particularly uncommon. Scan news for "finance director" and "embezzle" and you would be surprised what appears. This year, dozens of finance directors have been accused of siphoning cash, from small amounts up to multiple millions in the case of one casino company.

One news organization has gone so far as to speculate that the economic turmoil has led to an increase in financial shenanigans, though this doesn’t make a great deal of sense.  At any rate, looking into the New Year, finance professionals have an obligation to their companies, themselves, and the profession as a whole to keep fiscal ethics in mind.  Otherwise, you might lose your fans.

The Bottom Line column appears monthly on the last page of Exchange magazine.