Add perks and gifts to the cost of the fund scandals. Putnam Investments is reportedly capping the value of gifts of tickets to events that its employees can accept at $150.

The change in rules governing what Putnam employees can accept will take effect next week on April 1, according to a report in the Boston Herald. Currently, there is no stated cap on the value of tickets that employees can accept.

"We've recently tightened it up," Tony Ruys de Perez, Putnam's new chief compliance officer, told the paper. He added that the changes to the policy are part of the entire review of procedures at the fund firm following allegations of improper trading by Putnam employees.

The rules cover tickets to any sporting game, theater outing or other entertainment event. In addition, employees will be limited to six such events per year and they will only be able to attend two events as the guest of the same person. The event must also occur in the geographic area where an employee works.

In an added twist, the cap applies to the value of the admission to the event, not the face value of the tickets. In many cases, such as tickets to Boston Red Sox baseball games or New England Patriot football games, most events are sold out. For those events tickets often sell in the secondary market at a premium to face value. Employees would have to determine that value. One way would be to check sources such as EBay for the ticket's current value. 

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