Ethical Ethics Of GAAP

These three elements are important to what ethical culture the company is portraying. Management must be very clear in the code of conduct, where employees understand what the organization expects of them (Ferrell, et al, 2013). Without a clear and strong written code of conduct, employees and management can act in an unethical behavior as they did in the financial breakdown. During this time customers did not have faith in the financial world because of the unethical behavior. My belief is absent of poorly communicated code of conduct creates an environment for all parties of the organization to behave in a manner that benefits the organization or themselves over the

An ethical audit is important to establish the company’s current weaknesses and strengths concerning how it conducts itself in an ethical manner. An ethics audit will involve evaluating the company’s standard of ethic, it ethic climate, and how well the company’s employees follow ethical standards. One of the first things to evaluate in an ethics audit is if a company has a written code of ethics and how comprehensive it is. Moreover, the written code of ethics should apply to everyone in the company from the top down with a clear zero tolerance policy in place for ethics violations. Included in a comprehensive ethics code should be a method for

The CEO and all senior financial officers also have an additional code of ethics. They are responsible for full, accurate, and timely disclosure in reports required to be filed by the SEC. Each member is also required to report any material untrue fact that comes to their attention or any deficiency in the design/operation of internal controls. Each member must report any violation of their code of ethics or any violation of other laws, rules, or regulations (Walmart 9). This additional codes of ethics is important because it holds all of the executives accountable for their actions. This should aid in preventing fraudulent reporting by management because this code can be cited when looking at disciplinary action.

The survey was performed in 2010 involving members of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA). They focused on the evolution of business ethics by analyzing six other studies over a span of two-and-a-half decades. Members of the survey were ethics manager, but members on the previous studies were regular employees and management. The results of the analysis of the previous studies showed that ethics programs in companies during a time span of the 1980’s through the 1990’s was used to show social responsibilities and not necessarily to enforce it throughout the company. It showed that ethics programs now that companies follow ethical laws and they are motivated to be ethical. Another result of the study showed that ethics training at companies has increased since the 1990’s due to the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley and other laws directed at ethics. The passing of the laws in the early 2000’s has led to ethics being a major component of everyday

In addition, associated with the misapplication of accounting methods, the financial industry has been plagued with one disaster after another involving numerous scandals from top leading American companies. Consequently, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002 compromising eleven sections that are generated to insure the responsibilities of the company’s managers and executives. This act identifies criminal penalties for particular unethical practices and currently has new policies that a corporation must follow in their financial reporting. The following examples describe some of biggest accounting methods as a result of the greed and the outrage of the ethical and financial misconduct by the senior management of public corporations.

In improving a publicly traded company’s bottom line Sarbanes-Oxley can be a positive factor. By introducing ethics codes and internal controls and building an ethical mind-set in a

In difficult financial times, companies face various moral issues to try to keep up with their competitors. Although these issues have a direct impact on employee decision making, businesses rarely address how employees should assess the ethics of their actions and incorporate ethics into their decisions. Often this can be alleviated by creating and maintaining a corporate culture with a focus on

In 1991, the U.S enacted the U.S Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The purpose of the guideline was to create incentives for corporations to adjust or create strong ethical programs that detect and manage illegal behavior. The impact on American businesses is prevalent in today’s corporate environment. There are instances where the guideline is used as a model for ethics program. The impact on US companies range from creating or enhancing ethical training to creating ethics officers. Other impact decisions include the creation of ethics offices and ethics hotlines. By using the sentencing guideline, companies have strengthened their ethical programs while focusing on remaining compliant, avoiding fines or legal

It finally has been acknowledged that simply taking an ethics class does not provide the same level of experience as providing a more integrated approach to ethics within the learning process of a student within graduate business school. Gaining the ability and competence to understand ethics is only first step to what awaits the new leaders who will be required to live an ethical life but also sustain and encourage a corporate ethical environment from which staff can also make ethical decisions. The recent financial scandals along with the younger generation’s concerns for the environment has elevated and renewed the importance of corporate leadership in providing more transparent and straightforward accounting reports as well as addressing other issues that do not encourage a culture of ethics within their organization. Wrongdoing should be addressed and ethical decisions need to be encouraged and supported instead. CEOs and board members are just beginning to present themselves and their organizations as ethical decision-makers who are responsibly provide good and wise solutions for stakeholders of the company. In the Journal of Business Ethics, “Business Ethics in North America: Trends and Challenges” the authors reviewed and

Accountants and auditors are often faced with having to make decisions that bring ethics into question. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) sets the standards for professional conduct that dictates what accountants are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. However, issues do arise that have not been addressed by the AICPA and when this occurs it is up to management to use their best judgment to make a determination about the ethical implications of their actions (Allen, 2011).

The observational study shows that there are some factors that lead to ethical misconduct within the company. First, working in financial services company tends to be challenging for the employees. This makes the employees feel like being in a competitive environments that make them struggling to be more successful and do anything to be the best. Consequently, people are more likely forget about ethical behavior and undervalue code of conduct. However, business knows the importance of integrity and how it makes difference in

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

2. Ethical Issues in Business. It seems that every day in the news we are hearing of new company that has acted at least unethically and possibly illegally in the operation and financial reporting of their company's business dealings. There are many ethical issues in business. One major issue that we see is over and under reporting net income. Companies like to show that every quarter the net income of the business has an increase or profit. In order to show this they adopt unethical or illegal means in the operation and financial reporting. One such method is the indiscriminate use of stock options for employees that enable companies to take employment costs off balance sheet and inflate earnings. With the recent ethical issues we have

Today’s business world presents numerous ethical issues. In today’s world above board/moral ethics in organizations do not often materialize intuitively. Organization must strive to provide employees with a clear understanding of the overall company vision. This will aid employees in practicing the code of ethics, policies and procedures in the workplace. Companies must be unwavering in continuously delivering the uppermost ethics of provision in which customers, applicants and employees are entitled to under fair business practices. One major core value is to uphold responsible and fair business practices.

Every organization also has a profession responsibility to conduct business honestly and ethically. Our readings reported, “Experts estimated that U.S. companies lose about $600 billion a year from unethical and criminal behavior” Kinicki and Kreitner (2009). The organization could avoid having ethical issues by meeting the