According to FINRA, Michael MacLean was fined $5,000 and suspended for 45 days for causing his member firm to maintain inaccurate books and records by changing the representative code for trades in the firm's order entry system, causing trade confirmations to show an inaccurate representative code.

MacLean entered into an agreement with another representative and a retired representative to service certain customer accounts under a joint representative code, with agreed-upon commission splits. Although his firm's system prepopulated trades with the applicable joint representative code, MacLean changed the code to a different representative code that he shared only with the other active representative, excluding the retired representative.

MacLean changed the codes because he mistakenly believed that his agreement with the retired representative did not apply to new assets added to accounts subject to the agreement. His actions resulted in his receiving higher commissions from the trades than what he was entitled to receive pursuant to the agreement. The firm's trade confirmations inaccurately reflected the representative code that MacLean shared only with the other active representative. Subsequently, MacLean's firm reimbursed the retired representative.

While MacLean's conduct stemmed from a mistaken belief about the scope of his commission-sharing agreement rather than intentional theft, it nevertheless caused inaccurate books and records and resulted in the retired representative being deprived of commissions owed. The fact that MacLean manually changed prepopulated codes indicates he knew he was altering the default coding, even if he believed he was entitled to do so.

This case demonstrates the importance of maintaining accurate records of representative assignments and commission allocations. When records are inaccurate, it creates disputes about compensation and undermines the integrity of firm records. Investors may also be affected if confirmations show incorrect representative information.