In case study 1-7 we are tasked with evaluating a situation where Kevin Lowe is struggling at
his new job as an auditor. He has been with the company only a short time and does not yet
have his CPA certification. After having a sit down with his managers to discuss his slower
than average performance, he is left with two ethical dilemmas. The first is that he believes he
will not keep his position at the company if he cannot speed up. To compensate for this, he is
deciding if he should work from home and not charge the firm or client for his time. The
second situation is the action of ghost-ticking that some of his peer’s use. Ghost-ticking is
when the auditor marks a task as complete even when it is not.
Review Case Study 1-7 from Module One. Examine the case using Kohlberg's theory on
decision making, Rest's four-component model of moral development, and the ethical
decision-making model. In your opinion, which model is best to use to analyse this case?
Why did you choose the method you chose over the other two? Be specific. In responding to
your peers, be sure to ask how they arrived at their decision. Specifically, what were the
considerations they considered when choosing a model?
The integrated ethical decision-making process is the best choice for Kevin based on the three
ethical models. The method allows Kevin to evaluate the situation from various standpoints,
weigh the pros and cons, and decide the right thing to do. The steps involved in this process
include Identifying the ethical issues, identify and evaluate alternative courses of action,
reflecting on the situation's moral intensity and virtues that enable ethical action to occur, and
acting. Although this method is the clearest, it allows Kevin to weigh his options and decide
the best choice ethically. Kevin, questioning the morality of the company shows his clear
ethical values. It is up to his moral character to have the strength to not engage in ghost
ticking as it is not ethical. He should find alternatives to finish his workload and report his
coworker for her unethical behaviour.
According to Kohlberg's theory, people develop from childhood to adulthood through a series
of cognitive stages which become more complex with development. Additionally, they help
understand how people adopt moral values and apply them to help resolve ethical conflicts.
There are stages to Kohlberg's theory of moral development broken down into three stages:
Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional. Within these stages, Kevin would face
the following outcomes: The first stage would result in Kevin taking work home and
engaging in ghost ticking to get ahead in his career. The second stage would be If he engages
in ghost ticking; he and the client both can suffer if fraud is happening, and finally, the last
stage will result in Kevin not taking work home or engaging in ghost ticking.
Rest's Four-Component Model of ethical decision-making states that ethical actions result
from various cognitive structures and physiological processes that depict how a person finds
an ethical dilemma. The four stages that make up this model include moral sensitivity, moral
judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. These stages would result in Kevin
recognizing how his actions would affect his work-life balance, and fraud could negatively
affect that. He must place his ethical values first and have a solid moral character to avoid
engaging in unethical actions.
When evaluated through Kohlberg’s theory, the responses on what Kevin would likely do are
dependent on what stage of cognitive development he falls into. There are six stages with two
steps in each stage.
The preconventional level consists of stage one and two. Stage one is about obedience to rules
and avoidance of punishment. What is right is judged by others. Stage two is about satisfying
one’s own needs. Rules and authority are important in this stage but are overshadowed by
satisfying personal needs first. In both stages Kevin would likely choose to work from home
and participate in ghost-ticking. Level two, the conventional level, consist of stage three,
fairness to others, and stage four, law and order. In stage three decisions are not only
motivated by rules but what is best for others. Stage four emphasizes the morality of law and
a duty to social order. In both of these stages Kevin would work from home but would not
engage in ghost-ticking as it is not only not fair to others but does a disservice to society. The
final level, postconventional, consists of stage five, social contracts, and stage six, universal
ethics principles. Stage five is about upholding the rights, values, and legal contracts of
society. Decisions in this stage are based on a rational calculation of benefits and harms to
society. Stage six is said to rarely occur. Individuals in this stage determine right and wrong
based on what they consider inalienable rights, universal in nature and consequence, that
apply to all people. Ethical principles in this stage outweigh other rights, laws, and social
agreements that may exist. At this level I believe Kevin would work from home in stage five
but would not in stage six. At stage six Kevin would believe the ethical course of action is to
be paid for his work regardless of the situation. In both stages he would not participate in
ghost-ticking.
James Rest’s ethical decision-making model is a four-step process developed by reversing the
decision-making process during an ethical dilemma. Rest also bases his model on cognitive
development the same as Kohlberg. Step one moral sensitivity, the ability to detect that a
situation is moral in nature, discusses that an individual must first be able to tell that a
situation is moral in nature before being able to make a moral decision. Step two is moral
judgment, the reasoning used during the decision-making process. Perspective reasoning is
used to determine what outcome would ideally take place in the ethical situation and the
outcome reflects the cognitive understanding of the individual. Step three is moral focus
which focuses on an individual’s willingness to take moral action and place ethical values
over non-ethical values. The final step is moral character. This step recognizes that intentions
and actions do not always align. An individual may want to take moral action in step three,
but may not, even if they have reasoned in steps one and two that there is an ethical dilemma,
and they know what should be done about it. People with strong ethical character are more
likely to carry out ethical intentions with ethical actions. Based on this decision-making
model, assuming Kevin is of strong moral character, I believe he would work from home, but
would not engage in ghost-ticking. In this model there is no downside to working from home.
It helps the company, the client, and himself. Ghost-ticking however, is clearly an unethical
decision and as such would be identified by Kevin and dismissed as an acceptable action.
When comparing these two models I think the best option for this case is to use Rest's
decision-making model. While the end results are the same as using Kohlberg's (except stage
6), it is difficult given this scenario to know what level of ethical cognition Kevin is at.
Because of this, it is impossible to predict how he would react under the circumstances. Using
Rest's model allows Kevin to simply ask questions that lead him to the (hopefully) correct
solution. The only possible pitfall I see is that Kevin potentially doesn't see this situation as an
ethical one which would result in him not working through the four-step process of solving
his dilemma. However, if he did, which seems apparent in the case study, he should conclude
that working from home on nights and weekends is okay, and that ghost-ticking is not.
I think the ethical decision-making process is the best option with respect to case study 1-7.
Identifying the issue is the first step. Bo and Moe have given Kevin the challenge of
analyzing the issue that his work is not as quick and effective as his predecessor. The next
step is to consult with and seek advice. When Kevin talked to his coworker Joyce about the
situation, she gave him the option of "ghostticking," which he had previously finished. In the
case study, Kevin appears at the third stage when considering long-term impacts. He is
thinking about "ghostticking," or working from home instead of recording his hours. We
determined in last week's homework that neither of these were moral decisions for Kevin to
make. The fourth step is to take other industries' rules into account. What are the criteria for
this business and its rivals? What other firms have done or how might someone else approach
this problem? The fifth step is to make a choice. Should he take his coworkers' advise and
begin "ghost-ticking" to demonstrate that he is taking his work home with him rather than
clocking the additional time? Alternatively, he might be honest with his bosses and say that
while he is doing his hardest and intends to do even better, it could take some time for him to
match the speed and precision of his forerunner. The last steps are implementation and
evaluation. When Kevin has made a choice, he must put it into practice and then share it with
his superiors at the following meeting.
According to Kohlberg's thesis, "humans go through a sequence of sequential and hierarchical
cognitive phases from birth to maturity. These phases describe how people approach ethical
conundrums. The three levels and six stages more closely align with how children develop
morally than they do with Kevin's current predicament.
Discusses how those in this level evade punishment in Level 1; Pre-conventional. They learn
that by abiding by the rules, they may avoid being penalized for their choices. Instead than
being a step that Kevin has to reflect on during his own moral conflict, I think this is a
fantastic illustration of how kids develop moral ideals.
According to Rest's four-component model of ethical decision, Kevin cannot make a choice
until all four elements are present.
Moral Focus
Moral Judgment
Moral Sensitivity
Moral Compass
You are prompted to choose whether you view the circumstance as a moral dilemma in the
first stage. It means that Kevin is unable to be either absent or oblivious to the consequences
of his actions on other people. I believe that this kind of moral decision-making would be
most effective if Kevin were a CPA and made judgments based on the potential impact they
would have on shareholders and investments, rather than just on himself.
Rest’s Four-Component Model of Ethical Decision Making because it is simple and
straightforward. Rest used Kohlberg’s theory to develop his model (Mintz, 2020). Rest broke
down his model into four stages: (1) moral sensitivity, (2) moral judgment, (3) moral focus,
and (4) moral character (Mintz, 2020). If Kevin had used this model to help make an ethical
decision, I believe the first step would have caught his attention. The first step requires you to
ask whether his circumstances are moral. It is not moral for Kevin’s bosses to expect him to
complete work for free and it is not moral for Kevin to take part in ghost-ticking. Going
through these steps would have assisted Kevin and his bosses in arriving at an ethical
decision.
Mintz, S., Morris, R. (2020). Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting (5th
ed.). McGraw-Hill Education
Mintz, S., & Morris, R. (2020). Ethical obligations and decision making in accounting (5th
ed.). McGraw-Hill Education, New York, NY.
Mintz, S. M., & Morris, R. E. (2020). Ethical Obligations and Decision-Making in
Accounting: Text and Cases (5th Edition). McGraw-Hill.
