GeekMBA360

Concur is a publicly traded software company that provides travel and expense management solution to corporations. It was co-founded by two brothers: Steve Singh and Rajeev Singh . Steve Singh is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Rajeev Singh is President and Chief Operating Officer.

Last Friday, Steve Singh admitted that he didn’t graduate from the University of Michigan with an engineering degree as he had previously represented in corporate filings. Earlier this week, his brother Rajeev Singh admitted that he received his degree from Western Michigan University, not Kettering University as as written in financial documents at the time of Concur’s IPO .

Concur’s board has released a public statement to support Chief Executive.

By all indications, Steve Singh and Rajeev Singh are two very capable and successful entrepreneurs and executives. They co-founded the company and took it to public. Concur has a dominant position in the expense management space. It was selected as Fortune Small Business 100 Fastest-Growing Small Public Companies, Business Week 100 Hot Growth Companies, etc. Concur has also been voted as one of Washington’s 100 Best Companies to Work For .

But, is Concur’s board doing the right thing? If you’re an employee or investor, would you still trust executives who provided inaccurate information about their education?

I think this is a complex issue, and there is no black-and-white answer. I would like to share a few thoughts.

First, the Singh brothers have done so much to build and grow their business that they deserve a second chance. Plus, the mistakes they made are relatively "harmless" mistakes — they mostly damaged Singh brothers’ reputations.

Second, Concur’s Board didn’t do enough. Just imagine if a regular employee lies on his resume. Will he be punished or even terminated if the mistake is discovered by HR? In addition to correct the mistake, the board should take some actions to punish the two executives for their actions. It could be a very small punishment. But, by not taking any punitive action, the board is sending out the wrong signal — executives are treated differently than employees.

Third, if I’m Steve Singh, I’ll do a smart thing: admit it’s mistakes, apologize to the public,  and do something about it. He could turn this crisis into an opportunity to demonstrate his humility and leadership, assuming he is genuine and sincere about it.

Finally, but not lastly, this "diploma gate" incident does raise a very important question: given their past behaviors of lying about their education, would they demonstrate the same behaviors in other areas such as corporate financial reporting?

I’m not sure. I don’t know if there is any academic research on this topic — is there any correlation between financial misreporting and misrepresenting education background? In this case, I’m inclined to give people the benefit of doubts — I think sometime people lie about their education due to insecurity about their education background. But, it has nothing to do with how one conducts business. However, you could argue that the same ethics apply. I don’t have a answer on this question since I’m neither a psychologist nor philosopher

Would you trust executives who provided inaccurate information about their education? Leave a comment.