Conflict Schweser - CFA (Ethics)? necessary, following, business, question, printed

sgupta0827

Hi there!
I came across the following question on Schweser’s QBank.
Wes Smith, CFA, has been working toward the completion of a Master of Science in Finance. He has passed all the necessary courses and written the necessary thesis. He still must defend the thesis in one month. Smith’s thesis advisor assures him that he will pass the thesis defense. Smith has new business cards printed with “M.S. in Finance” after his name. This is a violation of:
A) Standard VII(B), Reference to CFA Institute, the CFA Designation, and the CFA Program.
B) none of the Standards if Smith does not make the cards public until after he defends his thesis and receives his degree.
C) Standard I(C), Misrepresentation.
The correct answer (according to Schweser) is B. I also marked B and did not think about it until I reread the CFA curriculum material today. On p. 29 (Misrepresentation) it is stated that “a member or candidate must not knowingly misrepresent or give false impression in oral representations, … or written materials (whether publicly disseminated or not).”
Alright, let’s look at this question again. Wes clearly knew that he does not yet have the right to use the “M.S. in Finance”, so the “knowingly” is covered. In addition, a business card ist written material, right? Based on the CFA material, C) should be the right solution?
I don’t know what to think. Ethics can be really strange sometimes. Even though common sense tells me that it cannot be a violation to print business cards that you know you can distribute in a couple of weeks (if you keep them in your drawer), the CFA guidelines clearly state “written materials (whether publicly disseminated or not”.
I am puzzled. Any hints or comments?

kkn006

If he’s not giving the cards out at all its fine, just like if you wrote on a piece of paper your name, CFA to motivate yourself to do some study, you’re not giving it out its fine.
The publicly or not is meant to cover situations where a business card might be given out to a single person, its to reinforce that any dissemination of it will be a violation, just having them in your posession is not a violation.