WEEK 11 QUESTIONS

1. Ethical Considerations [CLO: 4]. 1 st Post Due by Day 3. Assume you are an accounting manager at a mid-size company. The CEO asks you to omit or leave out certain financial figures from the Balance Sheet that would reflect negatively on the company to investors and the public. Because this request does not involve a direct manipulation of amounts or records, would you agree to this request? What ethical considerations exist for you in determining a course of action?

Incorporate concepts from this week’s lecture in your post. Your main post should be at least 250 words in length.

2. Confidentiality Standards [CLO: 4]. 1 st Post Due by Day 3. The IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice includes a confidentiality standard that requires members to “keep information confidential except when disclosure is authorized or legally required.” In the discussion of loyalty in chapter 1, a statement is made that “your ethical obligation is to report what you have observed to your supervisor and let her take the appropriate action.” Do you think there are any circumstances when you should go outside the company to report financial wrongdoing? If so, to what person/organization would you go? Why? If not, why would you not take the information outside the company?

Incorporate concepts from this week’s lecture in your post. Your main post should be at least 250 words in length.

3. Arthur Anderson [CLO: 3]. 1 st Post Due by Day 3. Arthur Andersen LLP was the auditor for Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management and other companies that committed fraud. Andersen was forced to shut its doors forever after a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the firm charged that it had obstructed justice and lied to the government in the Enron case. One thing Andersen had done was to shred documents related to its audit of Enron before the government could get its hands on them. Some in the profession thought the government hadgone too far given the facts and mediating circumstances including top management’s deception; others believed the punishment was unjustified because most accounting firms got caught up in similar situations during the late 1990s and early 2000s (pre-Sarbanes-Oxley). What do you believe? Use ethical reasoning to support your answer.

Incorporate concepts from this week’s lecture in your post. Your main post should be at least 250 words in length.

4. AICPA Code of Professional Conduct [CLO: 1]. 1 st Post Due by Day 3. Interpretation 102-4 of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct that was discussed in Chapter 1 provides that a CPA should not knowingly misrepresent facts or subordinate her judgment when performing professional services. Explain how Rest’s model of moral development influences the steps a CPA should take to avoid subordinating professional judgment.

Incorporate concepts from this week’s lecture in your post. Your main post should be at least 250 words in length

THIS IS THE BOOK I AM USING

Mintz, S. M., & Morris, R. E. (2014). Ethical obligations and decision making in accounting: Text and cases (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.

9780077862213