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Locker Room Talk Ethical Case
April 18, 2010
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The Locker Room Talk Ethical Case outlines a situation that is an ethical dilemma for CPA Albert Gable who has performed personal financial planning for Larry and Susan Wilson. The Wilson’s, in their discussions with Mr. Gable regarding their personal finances, mentioned that in the past they have had marriage problems but have worked through the problems and are not seeking a divorce. Gable and the Wilson’s became personal friends due to the relationship built during their personal financial planning. Mr. Gable also performs the annual audit for one of the largest banks in the town where they all live. The sample pulled for the audit at the bank included the
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By following the above steps he protects the clients, the bank and upholds his professionalism and his business ethics.
Impact to Stakeholder
The deontology approach was used to determine the course of action. This approach to ethics emphasizes doing what one should do in accordance with rules, obligations and/or ethical principles of the profession. The impact of the decision could cost Mr. Gable the banks account but if he would have acknowledge upfront his knowledge of the Wilsons prior to beginning the audit on their loan documents the situation could have been diverted. He is also losing a client, the Wilson’s due to the bank audit and the review he completed of their loan documents. If he would have acknowledged to the bank and had the file removed from the audit all of this could have been avoided. Mr. Gable will need to take the time and explain to his client the Wilson’s but he needs to keep it at a professional level and not discuss what was discovered only that it is conflict of interest.
Conclusion
Mr. Gable used poor judgment in his decision making process and has violated the ethic rules of the accounting profession. During the audit of the bank documentation he should have immediately notified the bank of the conflict with the Wilson file. He needed to be upfront with the bank and explain the Wilson’s were also a client of his for personal financial planning
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and have the file
What is victory? What is failure? How do we know what state we’re truly in? In “Locker Room Talk” Stephen Dunn explores the conception of men boasting about their sexual encounters alongside women and persuades the audience boastful men who are presenting their victory of not yielding to the attractiveness and capability of women by not falling in love have actually failed through rhetorical strategies such as purpose, audience, and genre; pathos, logos, and ethos; and angle of vision. Dunn supports his stance on the journal by providing evidence and examples that emphasize the fear of falling in love to the general audience. Moreover, Dunn persuades the general audience through a reasonable, emotional, and credible approach on why men boast about their sexual encounters alongside women such as “Frankie made it sound dirty, something great you do with a bad girl” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk) and “A young man was telling his friend what he did to this particular young woman the night before, and what she did to him” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk). From Dunn’s angle of vision, even though boastful men feel victorious in their effort to not fall in love Dunn experiences sympathy for their actions as portrayed at the end of the passage “He thought we’d be happy for him” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk).
I have never felt more nervous than in the locker room before my region game in Pierre to advance to the state tournament. My teammates and I were gathered in the locker room before the game like we usually are, but this was different. The feeling of knowing that this was our last chance of going to the state tournament and playing for a championship was on the line. I remember it was so quite. I had headphones on, and so many thoughts were traveling my mind. The music blasting in my ears was a blur and all I could hear was my own heart beating. Coach Gardner entered the room and had the coaching staff with him preparing to give his pregame speech. After he relieved some of our stress and nerves, we were ready. We broke down the huddle and jogged down the dark hall to the court. I will never forget walking onto the court hearing the screeching cheers and seeing the sea of purple on one side of the court and red on the other.
Grant Thornton should be held liable for its reckless negligence because it ultimately prolonged Keystone bank’s ability to continue to partake in fraudulent activities. If the accounting firm would have held itself to GAAS, generally accepted as the minimum standard of professional conduct in performing an audit, Thornton would have known to exercise “heightened skepticism” during this high risk of fraud. Secondly, GAAS required written confirmations from third parties servicing assets in regards to a bank’s balance sheet. Not only did Thornton fail to obtain this written requirement, it also recklessly relied on an oral statement. GAAS also required in a high risk audit that monthly remittances of interest income on assets being serviced by
This post will discuss two ethical accounting dilemmas that could occur in the CPA profession. For each dilemma, it will explain how the dilemma could be resolved based on logic and reason. It will then support that proposed resolution through support from the American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct.
Bill and I are members of the same congregation. He approached me after a basic introduction class on finance that I had given to church members. He asked if I could provide him with further coaching, knowing that my mentoring as a financial coach is rooted in Christianity. Bill is a nursing consultant, whose annual income is over 100,000; to date he has a checking and saving account and no debt, he would like to better understand his financial stability. Prior to our initial counseling I asked Bill, to not only provide me with some of the basic information but to also take an online assessment known as Financial Discovery Process in addition to filling out a questionnaire that I provided to him and to bring this information to our initial counseling so I may use it as a base line for Bill’s financial coaching. I advised that Bill make a cash flow statement. I explained that a cash flow statement, is a “summary of income and expenditures of a person during a set time period usually a month or a year,” (Murphy, 2009) In addition I sent Bill information that outlined my job as a financial coach, explaining that I am a mentor and a teacher in addition that I adhere to an ethical code so it is my job to provide him with professionalism, objectivity, fairness, confidentiality, in addition to integrity, competence and diligence, however it is not my
Also Robinson is not a person of integrity. In his audit he violated SAS No.1 as well as AU sec110, AU Sec. 220 and AU Sec 230. AU 110 states that the objective of the audit of financial statements by the independent auditor is the expression of an opinion on the fairness with which they present, in all material respects, financial position, results of operations, and its cash flows in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. Roberson did accept “precise point estimates” that results in material misstatements of company financial reporting. Moreover, the AU section 220 states that the auditor must maintain independence in all matters relating to the audit. Robinson and Crabtree were close friends. In addition Robinson violated Due Professional Care, AU section 230. He forgot that the professional skepticism exist by allowing “precise point estimates” of accruals which provides a base for manipulation of financial statements. Moreover, the ET Section 102-2 states that a conflict of interest may occur if a member performs a professional service for a client or employer and the member has a relationship with another person, entity, or service that could impair the member’s objectivity. Thus, David’s integrity and independence can be questioned because he is trying to please Hansen to make partner.
Luke, an employee of ABC Company has an ethical issue that makes him go and look for advise at the Ethics Department of ABC Company. The department of Ethics Department is dedicated to advise employee and prevent any risks of losing their jobs because of unaware immoral decisions. Now that the company has decided to build an adult entertainment retail store, Luke has come across a big decision. The Department of Ethics needs to help Luke decide to whether, obey his commencement with ABC Company and keep confidentiality until they make it public, or to warn his brother, Owen (who lives in the neighborhood that would be affected) that his house would substantially depreciate and he may lose money if he does not sell the house now
Ethics in any industry is important, but for Accounting professionals and those in need of their services, it is a particularly stressed element. Information provided by accountants is used to make major decisions, including investing, downsizing, expanding, etc, so accountants are expected to be competent, reliable, and have a high degree of professional integrity. Because of these high expectations, the professional accountancy industry, like many other professions, has adopted professional codes of ethics (Woelfel, 1986). These ethical codes go above and beyond the requirements for state or federal laws and regulations. There are several professional organizations within the
This study aims to understand what effect has an ethical framework in accounting. In particular, we examine the influence of ethics on earnings management, financial reporting, and external accounting. Today, the commercial environment reveals the unethical behavior of management and accountants through the manipulation of accounting records to boost the company’s stock price, falsified financial statements to mislead investors, failure of auditors to correct errors and omissions due to client’s pressure and personal material interests.
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The ethical dilemma Bob faces in this case is a transaction that makes Bob question his and the company’s ethics and legal obligations. It’s February, business was slow, the company was $5,000 below their breakeven point, and it appeared as if a
Ethical issues have greatly transformed in our lives since the great Enron, Xerox and other huge corporations proposed big profits showing earnings of billions of dollars and yet in reality facing bankruptcy. These corporations faced great trouble with the federals and state for manipulating financial statements. But not only corporations can be blamed on this, accounting firms were involved in this as much as the corporations were. With the business stand point, ethics comprises of principles and standards that guide behavior. Investors, traders, customers, and legal system determine whether a specific action is ethical or unethical. Ethical issue is a vast subject, but we will look at the niche
In the first ethical problem selected, two separate books were kept by personnel in the Adelphia financial management department with the intent of deceiving external auditors; thus leading shareholders and the public to believe that the company was ultimately worth more than it was in actuality. In the second, the Rigas family frivolously dwindled away public money for personal selfish consumption which is clearly a violation of the public’s trust. In the weeks following the unraveling of events and divulgence of information, a number of townspeople and investors were concerned that the family was rather free with shareholder money and further believed corporate money was used to finance public generosity as previously discussed in this paper (Barlaup, Hanne, & Stuart, 2009, p. 10).
While dealing with the bank’s objectives, an efficient and proper code of conduct is expected from the workers and the directors.
Finally, we need to know if E&Y acted ethically throughout this engagement. E&Y had a close relationship with Rouse Co., one of MGR’s landlords. E&Y was soliciting business from Rouse and provided significant tax services. Also, Swidler and E&Y had participated in at least 12 different business arrangements, some of which resulted in Swidler receiving significant fees from E&Y.