An accounting professor at Columbia Business School uses Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" as a teaching tool to highlight how ethical breaches in finance develop gradually and under pressure. Shivaram Rajgopal draws parallels between Macbeth’s decision-making and the progression of financial fraud, aiming to help executives and financial professionals recognize and resist moral compromises before they escalate.

Rajgopal, who has taught CFOs, financial directors, and compliance officers for over three decades, argues that traditional case studies on corporate scandals such as SVB, WorldCom, Enron, and Theranos often fail to convey the psychological and emotional process behind ethical lapses. Instead, "Macbeth" offers a nuanced exploration of a person's internal deliberations as they rationalize wrongdoing. Macbeth, despite fully understanding the immorality of murder, moves forward driven by ambition and external pressure from Lady Macbeth, who challenges his courage rather than his ethics.

This dynamic mirrors real-world situations where executives know the rules but cross ethical lines due to personal ambition and workplace pressures. Rajgopal notes that being perceived as weak often carries more weight than admitting moral doubts in high-level positions, making individuals susceptible to coercion or self-justification. He finds that many executives face this dilemma, with two-thirds reporting some form of pressure to compromise ethics, though fewer than half feel empowered to resist.

The progression from an initial violation to ongoing fraud is another critical phase highlighted in the professor’s lessons. Like Macbeth arranging further murders to secure his hold on the throne, financial misconduct often becomes a cycle of increasingly severe transgressions. According to Rajgopal’s discussions with his students, a significant portion acknowledge that initial compromises tend to lower their resistance over time, while some fail to recognize repeated ethical breaches altogether. He cites examples such as teams manipulating quarterly financial results to maintain performance streaks, a pattern that becomes ingrained in their professional identity.

To prevent taking the first step toward fraud, Rajgopal recommends that executives document their ethical concerns in writing and impose a mandatory delay and discussion before making decisions that provoke hesitation. He emphasizes treating discomfort as a warning sign rather than a problem to overcome, encouraging consultation with impartial advisers to maintain perspective. This is particularly relevant as the increasing use of artificial intelligence in business decision-making raises concerns about the delegation of complex ethical judgments.

By integrating Shakespeare’s portrayal of internal conflict with real-world corporate scenarios, Rajgopal aims to prepare financial leaders to identify the early signs of ethical erosion and take decisive action to uphold integrity in their roles.