...Enron Corporation case study • The Enron debacle created what one public official reported was a "crisis of confidence" on the part of the public in the accounting profession. Lists the parties who you believe are most responsible for the crisis. Briefly justify each of your choices. The debacle of Enron, a US firm is looked upon as the worst debacle and fall out in the history of US bankruptcy filed cases. There are many parties involved when it concern to Enron debacle, which was accorded to accounting instability and the compromising factor of accounting profession itself. Out of the many parties in the league and the major force behind the debacle of Enron concern Andersen's, the accounting and auditing firm that once deserved name in the industry for its conscience in accounting professional services and auditing. As the case relates to, accounting audit for Enron is attended by Andersen's since long enough. However, the interesting feature is that some compromise in the profession of accounting services by Andersen's was notable, given that there are noteworthy feature of stock manipulation, especially in financial statements of Enron attended and audited by Andersen's. The statement and restatement of Enron also gives some probable indication for manipulation of accounting, where debate and counter debate in that regard from the prying eye of the media was a common feature. Thus, the involvement of Andersen's in Enron consultancy and professional auditing makes it...
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...Ethics Audit Framework Essay # 3 Stephen Randall Texas A&M University – Central Texas Professor: Marshell J. Silva Ethics Auditing Ethics auditing by definition, an ethics audit is a “systematic evaluation of an organization’s ethics program and/or performance to determine its effectiveness.” This concept of ethics auditing is fairly new and few companies have conducted an ethics audit. However, performing such audits will likely become more mainstream as recent legislation encourages greater ethical accountability for companies to demonstrate they are abiding by the law and have established programs to improve their ethical decision making. The U.S. Sentencing Commission (the “Commission) has amended the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (“FSGO”) whereby an effective compliance and ethics program must “exercise due diligence to prevent, detect, and report criminal conduct and otherwise promote an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct and a commitment to compliance with all applicable law." The Commission noted there are seven minimum requirements of an effective ethics program, standards and procedures to prevent and detect criminal conduct; Responsibility at all levels of the program, together with adequate program resources and authority for its managers; Due diligence in hiring and assigning personnel to positions with substantial authority; Communicating standards and procedures, including a specific requirement for training...
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...Enron Corporation (Case 1.1) Most of us work from rags to riches but this is not the case of the Enron Corporation. Instead of becoming the nation’s greatest company, Enron instead laid claim to being the largest corporate bankruptcy in the history. The greediness and egotism wiped out the honesty and integrity that should instill on the persons who were involved in this case. Arthur Edward Andersen built his firm, Arthur Andersen & Company, into one of the largest and most respected accounting firms in the world through his reputation for honesty and integrity. His motto was “Think straight, talk straight” and he insisted that his clients adopt that same attitude when preparing and issuing their periodic financial statements. Arthur Andersen’s auditing philosophy was not rule-based; instead he invoked a substance-over-form approach to auditing and accounting issues. He avidly believed that the primary role of the auditor was to ensure that clients reported fully and honestly to the public, regardless of the consequences for those clients. Ironically, Arthur Andersen & Co.’s dramatic fall from eminence resulted from its association with a client known for aggressive and innovative uses of “accounting gimmicks” to window dress its financial statements. Enron Corporation was the second largest client of the firm and was involved in large, complex transactions with hundreds of special purpose entities (SPEs) that it used to obscure its true financial condition and...
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...Topic 1: Ethics (Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants) Topic 1: Ethics (Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants) ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Introduction According to the Institute of Internal Auditors a Code of Ethics is a comprehensive statement of the values and principles, which should guide the daily work of auditors. The Code of Ethics states the principles and expectations governing the behavior of individuals and organizations in the conduct of internal auditing. It describes the minimum requirements for conduct, and behavioral expectations rather than specific activities. Fundamental Principles The Code of Ethics mandates that internal auditors behave and practice with integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. These are the fundamental principles of professional ethics and all members of the professional accounting bodies are to comply with these principles (APES 110, S.100.4). Purpose of the Code of Ethics Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. A code of ethics is necessary and appropriate for the profession of internal auditing, founded as it is on the trust placed in its objective assurance about governance, risk management, and control. The Code of Ethics extends beyond the definition of internal...
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...resign or to serve Background of case: The Prairieland Bank was a medium-sized, Midwestern financial institution and their management have a good reputation for backing successful deals. Since their profit was decrease, it has caused their management start to renegotiate many loans. Ben Hunt who is the audit partner on the Prairieland Bank was concern to give an opinion on the fairness of their business financial statement. This is because the provision for doubtful loans is too low even they have taken many loans. During the interview to discuss this problem with the CEO and Vice President of finance, he was told that they already know it but they didn’t want to increase the provision as their profit will decrease. In addition, Ben was told that they had approached a company that provided insurance to protect their leased equipment. So, any default on their loans was made up from the insurance company and because of this too they didn’t want to increase their provision loans. Due to this problem, Ben has find James London which his senior partner on his firm to seek consultations from him. They decided that the best course of action was to visit the client and indicate theirs intend to resign, which they did. By coincidence, James meets Jack Lane who held responsibilities similar to his own at one of the competing firm. Jack is actually is a new auditor who replace their position in Prairieland Bank. Issues from the case: The issue from this case is whether James should resign...
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...Making in Accounting Text and Cases Steven M. Mintz, DBA, CPA Professor of Accounting California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Roselyn E. Morris, PhD, CPA Chair and Professor of Accounting Texas State University-San Marcos Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque, IA Madison, Wl New York San Francisco St. Louis Bangkok Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei Toronto Table of Contents Chapter 1 Integrity: The Basis for Ethics in Accounting 1 What Is Ethics? 1 Definition 1 Application of Ethical Reasoning in Accounting DigitPrint Case 33 32 Conclusion 34 Discussion Questions 34 Endnotes 36 Chapter 2 Cases 37 2 Case 2-1: A Faulty Budget 38 Case 2-2: Better Boston Beans 39 Case 2-3: Eating Time 40 Case 2-4: Is Internal Whistle-Blowing "Right"? Case 2-5: Play Ball 43 Case 2-6: Supreme Designs, Inc. 44 Case 2- 7: The City of West Buckle 46 Case 2-8: The CPA Review Course 47 Case 2-9: The Ethics ofiPod-ing 48 Case 2-10: The Tax Return 49 Distinguishing between Ethics and Morality Religious and Philosophical Foundations of Ethics 3 Teleology 4 Deontology 6 41 Acting with Integrity Personal Integrity 8 7 The Moral Point of View 7 The Six Pillars of Character.... 8 Trustworthiness 8 Respect 10 Responsibility 10 Fairness 11 Caring 11 Citizenship 12 Chapter 3 Ethical Decision Making in Business 50 What Is Business Ethics? 51 Ethical Issues in Business...
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... | | |A |C | | | |C |D | | | |D |D | | | |D | | | | III. Cases Case 1 Nondisclosure is not considered an acceptable alternative because it makes you an accessory to the fact. Disclosure to the offending party only - with no action - may result in the destruction of part of the evidence. Probably, the first step is to report the matter to the chairman of the board. Circumstances, however, may require that the matter be referred to an external body such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department, Bureau of Internal Revenue, or the shareholders. Case 2 The appropriate action depends on the type...
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...Quindo, Rizalyn F. BSA IV-A 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. –Audit of financial statements –Inspection of accounting procedures –Professional consultancy in tax and other accounting procedures In the audit of financial statements, there are greater risks, given that one wrong accounting procedure can place the company into trouble and can also result in bankruptcy. Manipulations of these data are likely to show up when it is audited with reasonable assurance and with more precision. When it comes to inspection of accounting procedures, there are certain threats, given the decision that matter. Hence, inspection of accounting procedures makes it more treatable in case of errors that can impact the company and audit client. But the threat of SPEs (special purpose entities) displays some manipulation from the part of the audit firm that also with prior knowledge of accounting ethics, which at most times makes it more risky, given the legal involvement. Lastly, manipulations are also likely to occur as the biggest threat in the audit consultancy services. So, professional ethics are likely to arise. Hence, self-governance is largely a matter that can pose greater risk. When it matters to preparation and retention of audit work paper, the requirement prepare by auditor should be in a manner that it helps the auditors to carry out auditing services in the most appropriate way. Hence the working paper requirement at most should avoid accumulating unnecessary...
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...continuation of Audit and Assurance 1. It intends to strengthen and enhance the students’ understanding in auditing. Among the topics that will be discussed are code of ethics, auditors’ liability and in-depth explanations on analytical procedures, computer assisted audit techniques, audit sampling, materiality and audit risk, group audit and current issues facing the auditing profession. This course will justify other activities than financial statement audit that can be performed by a public accountant like performance/operational audit, internal audit and compliance audit. 2. COURSE OBJECTIVES This course intends the student: 1. To comprehend applicable regulations, legal responsibilities and ethical standards and current issues facing the audit profession. 2. To appreciate the concepts of internal control system and the use of computer assisted audit techniques in auditing a computerised environment. 3. To understand and apply audit risk, materiality, and statistical and non statistical audit sampling techniques. 4. To be familiar with related issues in audit completion, group audit, internal audit and related audit services and other services that can be provided by the public accounting firms. 3. LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 1. Explain the professional conduct and ethics of an auditor, the legal liability environment affecting the auditors and relate it to relevant cases (C2, P2...
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...Huddleston Human Resource Management 522 Ethics and Advocacy for HR Pro March 13, 2012 Discern how a more effective ethics programs and a more viable code of conduct could have mitigated the ethical issues faced by Nike Nike leads the world in the manufacturing and distributing of its athletic footwear and accessories. Nike is the brain child of Phil Knight and his former track coach, Bill Bowerman. The duo formed a company that would eventually become the leader in the athletic industry with the sales and manufacturing of athletic wear. The Nike brand is widely recognized by its catch phrase and its logo. Their marketing campaigns specially “just do it” helped it revive its brand image. The swoosh sign is recognizable across most of the world. This alone attributes for Nike's worldwide success. Overall, Nike keeps improving its product which helps to keep the population engaged with its brand. If Nike had a more effective ethics program and viable code of conduct, ethical issues could have been avoided by Nike. In the early 1990s, sports shoe giant Nike became the target of arguably the most intensive and widely publicized of these anticorporate campaigns up to that time (Conaway, 2011). According to Ferrell, ethics programs that provide guidelines outlining board responsibilities encourage compliance encourage compliance at the highest levels of the organization. Some of the minimum requirements for ethics and compliance programs are standards and...
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...1) NZICA has set out strong fundamental principles of the code of ethics regarding what an auditor imbody while carrying out an audit. These include XRB PES 110-150; * Integrity * Objectivity and independence * Professional competence and due care * Confidentiality * Professional behavior If someone’s an auditor from a professional body, he has to follow XRB or his professional bodies’ ethical code. In this case Pearson is part of NZICA and in turn must follow the standards set out by the XRB as NZICA follow XRB standards. NZICA’s has 14 rules of Ethics that is underpinned by the above standards set out by the XRB. Although NZICA evaluation of Pearson has been through and they have found Pearson in breach of few the above standards their fine/Cost of $38,000 seems on the low side he was also banned from auditing a public issuer years with the exception of four non - specified companies. In review of the charges against Pearson set out by NZICA I find that they met expectations in the following Standards. The institute found that Pearson was in breach of professional competence in turn in breach of Rule 11 and 9 of the code of ethics. Professional competence Rule 11 1) Information available indicating collective provision for doubtful debts yet, accepting assertions from SCF management that no collective provision for doubtful debts was required. 2) Failing to assess, evaluate and document uncorrected misstatements relating to provisions...
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...Summary The article entitled “Code of Ethics for Internal Auditors Harmonised with the International Standards for Internal Audit” was written by George Calota. The article begins speaking about Code of Ethics – A condition imposed by the International Standards of Internal Audit. Ethics is defined by the article as a set of principles or moral values which people take as reference and which determines them to act in a particular way. According to the article, The Josephson American Ethics Institutes defined some ethical principles such as Credibility, which is the aggregated outcome of honesty, integrity, reliability and loyalty; Respect which represents an accumulation of concepts like politeness, manners, dignity, tolerance and acceptance; Responsibility, Equity & Justice, Empathy, Civic spirit. The Internal auditor’s code of ethics has the purpose to create the ethical framework required to undertake the internal audit profession, so that the internal auditor may accomplish their tasks professionally, loyally, correctly and thoroughly and refrain from any act which might harm the entity where they work. The article also discusses “Principles of Ethics and Professional Behaviour for Internal Auditors Harmonised with the International Standards for Internal Audit.” Under this heading it states that the internal audit activity helps the entity to achieve its objectives through a systematic and disciplined approach, by evaluating and improving the performance of risk management...
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...of different provisions of this Act through notification of the Central Government in this regard. Having regard to the above development, the Council at its 333th meeting, revised the syllabus in a comprehensive manner in the following papers of Intermediate (IPC) and Final Course(s) as annexed herewith (shown in Bold cum Italics): Intermediate (IPC) Course Paper 1: Accounting (Group I) Paper 2: Business Laws, Ethics and Communication (Group I) Paper 5: Advanced Accounting (Group II) Paper 6: Auditing and Assurance (Group II) Final Course Paper 3: Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics (Group I) Paper 4: Corporate and Allied Laws (Group I) Director, Board of Studies Annexure SYLLABUS PAPER 1: ACCOUNTING (One paper – Three hours – 100 Marks) Level of Knowledge : Working Knowledge Objectives : (a) To lay a foundation for the preparation and presentation of financial statements, (b) To gain working knowledge of the principles and procedures of accounting and their application to different practical situations, (c) To gain the ability to solve simple problems and cases relating to sole proprietorship, partnership and companies and (d) To familiarize students with the fundamentals of computerized system of accounting. Contents : 1. A General Knowledge of the framing of the accounting standards, national and international accounting authorities, adoption of international financial reporting standards Accounting Standards Working knowledge of: AS AS...
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...BKAL3063 Integrated Case Study Group I A141 30 September 2014 Group Members: 1. Rose Atikahanum Binti Abdul Rahman 216666 2. Nor Amira Zuriyanti Binti Khalid 216410 3. Nurulnabila Binti Mohd Sanusi 216516 4. Peggy Liaw Wan Gene 216388 5. Willson Wong 216381 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WorldCom was a telecommunications company and formerly known as Long Distance Discount Services (LDDS). The company was handled by Bernard J. (Bernie) Ebbers, one of the original nine investors, and managed to gain profit within one year of management. In order to maintain 42% of Expense-to-Revenue Ratio, David Myers (controller) asked Timothy Schneberger (director of international fixed costs) to adjust $370 million into accruals account. Sullivan (CFO) asked Myers and Yates (director of accounting department) to order managers in the company’s general accounting department to capitalize $771 million of expenses into an asset account. In 2000, Yates told Vinson and Troy Normand (manager in general accounting) that Myers and Sullivan wanted them to release $828 million of line accruals into the income statement. Besides that, the internal audit was primarily exist to measure business unit performance and enforce spending controls, whereas the external auditors, Arthur Andersen, was an independent auditors which performed the financial audits to access the reliability and integrity of the publicly reported financial information. Cynthia Cooper, the head of internal audit, had brought an issue...
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...NIKE From Sweatshops to Leadership HRM 522 June 12, 2011 Global businesses can sometimes be difficult due to the different cultures. Not all cultures carry the same value, law and ethical standard. Nike is an international brand that has many retail accounts in over 160 countries. Being an international company can cause business ethical and legal issues. Integrity is important and sometimes a challenge when a corporation must respond to criticism or hold back on certain company details. Nike dealt with criticism from right activist, media, and face labor rights violations. However, over a period of time and after making some important adjustments; Nike is working on improving its company image. Nike used traditional advertising methods to broadcast its product. Nike public relations tactics dealt with the wage policy, visiting campuses on universities, personal letters, corporate responsibility and using celebrities as spoke person for its product. Nike launch campaigns regarding child labor, low and non- existent wages. Nike believes that the U.S dollars were meaningless because the cost of living was different in other countries. Nike held press conferences for newspaper staff at colleges. These were ways for Nike to make proactive efforts to address the concerns of activists protesting against their products. Nike made a few mistakes in handling the negative publicity. Three...
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