...Abstract It is fairly easy for a top executive to reduce the price of his or her company's stock. Due to information asymmetry. The executive can accelerate accounting of expected expenses, delay accounting of expected revenue, engage in off balance sheet transactions to make the company's profitability appear temporarily poorer, or simply promote and report severely conservative estimates of future earnings. And this phenomenon of accounting scandal exist in contemporary society. The integrity of the accounting profession and the credibility of financial information provided by businesses have been undermined by scandals. Accounting and business education should pay more attention to the ethical to prevent accounting scandals. And they should not be focused on the teaching of accounting techniques. Neoliberal ideology is a political movement beginning in the 1960s that blends traditional liberal concerns for social justice with an emphasis on economic growth. And it is similar to globalization. Globalization includes three elements that are difficult decreasing, quick response to alterations, and multilateral trade liberalization. And accounting professional contains individual professional judgment and professional self-regulation. Globalisation brings many benefits but also a number of problems, for instance, low price labour used by multinationals that Increasing wages for highly-skilled workers and reducing wages for less-skilled workers obviously leads to greater inequality...
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...4 Importance of Transparency 7 What Regulation Typically Covers 7 Regulatory Agencies 8 Accounting Reform 10 Conclusion 13 References 15 Abstract Within the accounting profession there are many complex ethical issues that must be dealt with quite often. It is important that the people working within the industry provide high quality financial statements and always pay close attention to ethical concerns that may arise. Since ethics is such a major concern in the accounting industry, a rules based system is in place for enforcing ethical concerns. There are many regulating bodies that exist that enforce many highly detailed regulations that people within the industry must follow at all times. Throughout history there have been several major accounting scandals that have been followed by new regulation to ensure that these problems do not come up again. CLERP 9 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are just a couple of acts that have caused significant changes to the accounting world in recent times. This paper will look at some of the different issues that accountants face as well as some of the regulations that seek to end unethical behavior. Ethical Standards in Accounting Introduction The accounting industry is an always changing and constantly growing industry. Accounting plays a vital role in society and business and up until recently accounting was considered to have some of the highest standards for ethical and moral conduct in business...
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...Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter explains the reason for this investigation and the aims of the study. An overview of the following chapters is also given. Ethical issues have been the focus of media attention in recent months. Politicians have been accused of unethical behaviour, in the way they accepted election campaign donations. Educational institutions have been in the spotlight due to unacceptable practices and Haslam (2007) reported that teachers are being pressured to help students cheat to help meet league table grades. Ethics is becoming increasingly important in business practice as well as academic and professional education. The accounting scandals in the past which involved the former energy company, Enron and former “big five” accounting firm, Andersen (Comunale et al, 2006); have led to the need to develop ethical standards in students which could then be transferred to their employment life. There is a need for ethical awareness and education for current and future accountants, as there can be serious consequences for unethical behaviour in business (Pollara 2008). The accounting scandals in the past have been a major setback for the accounting profession and confidence in the profession has been lost. Ethical behaviour is seen as a way to improve the negative perception of the profession and the information provided. Some writers have advocated the inclusion of an ethical module in academic degree programmes. According to Bampton and Maclagan (2005...
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...Ethics in Accounting and the Fall of WorldCom Alison Painter Breeden Juanita S. Edwards, CPA ACC 557: Financial Accounting 23 January 2013 Ethics in Accounting and the Fall of WorldCom In 2002, WorldCom was the second largest telecommunications company in the United States, but because of management failures and an unethical accounting culture it went bankrupt. This paper contains a discussion describing corporate ethics currently used in business; WorldCom's background, and the ethical breach; how WorldCom's ethical issue was discovered, describing how management failed to create an ethical environment; and recommendations. A conclusion summarizes the paper. Corporate Ethics If a company is driven by its responsibility to its Shareholders, then it should base its decisions and actions on the best interests of the owners, and generate more profit. If the company is stake-holder driven then its decisions and actions should be based on what is in the best interest of those impacted by the business (Gruble, 2011). Gruble (2011) further argued that "The most widely accepted definition for business ethics says that it is a set of corporate values and codes of principles, which may be written or unwritten, by which a company evaluates its actions and business-related decisions.” WorldCom was a company driven by its responsibility to its shareholders to the point where it began to behave unethically and this ultimately led to its demise. WorldCom History and...
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...Assignment 1: Review of accounting ethics 1 Assignment 1: Review of Accounting Ethics By February 1, 2013 ACC 557: Financial Accounting Oleksii Morgun Strayer University at Arlington Campus School of Business Administration (M.S. Accounting Program) Assignment 1: Review of Accounting Ethics 2 Abstract This research writing is to describe the following: 1. Given the corporate ethical breaches in recent times, assess whether or not you believe that the current business and regulatory environment is more conductive to ethical behavior. 2. Based on research, describe organization, the accounting ethical breach and the impact to the organization related to ethical breach. 3. Determine how the organizational ethical issue was detected and how management failed to create ethical environment. 4. Analyze the accounts impacted and/or accounting guidelines violated and the resulting impact to the business operation. 5. As a CFO, recommend which measures could have been taken to prevent this ethical breach and how each measure should be implemented in future. Assignment 1: Review of Accounting Ethics 3 Before the Enron and Andersen scandals, relatively little public attention was paid to the truthfulness of financial reporting. Of course, no one believed every...
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...Review of Accounting Ethics ACC557 Financial Accounting Ethics in Accounting and the Fall of WorldCom In 2002, WorldCom was the second largest telecommunications company in the United States, but because of management failures and an unethical accounting culture it went bankrupt. This paper contains a discussion describing corporate ethics currently used in business; WorldCom's background, and the ethical breach; how WorldCom's ethical issue was discovered, describing how management failed to create an ethical environment; and recommendations. A conclusion summarizes the paper. Corporate Ethics If a company is driven by its responsibility to its Shareholders, then it should base its decisions and actions on the best interests of the owners, and generate more profit. If the company is stake-holder driven then its decisions and actions should be based on what is in the best interest of those impacted by the business (Gruble, 2011). Gruble (2011) further argued that "The most widely accepted definition for business ethics says that it is a set of corporate values and codes of principles, which may be written or unwritten, by which a company evaluates its actions and business-related decisions.” WorldCom was a company driven by its responsibility to its shareholders to the point where it began to behave unethically and this ultimately led to its demise. WorldCom History and the Ethics Breach In 1983, two business men, Murray Waldron and William Rector, created a plan...
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...A Review and Analysis of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Megan Allen Jason Pratt Mike Sogunro LaShaunda Person University of Maryland University College This paper was prepared for AMBA 630, taught by Professor Little and Professor Riley Introduction The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law to protect investors by mandating processes that improved the accuracy and trustworthiness of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes. The law was also enacted in response to several major corporate and accounting scandals; two of the most infamous cases are Enron and WorldCom. This research paper will focus on the analysis of four issues and discuss how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act affected the following subjects: A. 1. Audit committees of public company board of directors responsibilities since SOX 2. Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 on internal control 3. The accuracy of public company financial statements and the cost of capital for public companies 4. The main advantages and disadvantages of Sarbanes-Oxley Act B. Can legislation guarantee the accuracy of public company financial statements? Why have previous laws failed? Why CEOs and CFOs are paying so much attention to this law? Audit Committees of Public Company Board of Directors Responsibilities since Sarbanes-Oxley Act Since its enactment, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has significantly increased the authority and responsibilities of audit committees and the board of directors...
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...Relationship between Japanese Corporate Governance and Toshiba’s Accounting Scandal Ryan Shane West Chester University MGT 313-08 Dr. Fisher March 15th, 2016 Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………………3 CSR Analysis…………………………………..…………………….…………………………………………………………………………………4 Stakeholder Analysis………………..………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Consumer Analysis…………………….…………………………………………………………………………......................5 Shareholder Analysis……………...…………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Employee Analysis…………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………...7 Executive Management Analysis……………..………………………………………………………………………………..7 Role of Government, Business & Society...…………….………………………………………………………………………………8 Role of Government……………….….……………………………………………………………………………………………..9 Role of Business………………….………………………………………………………………………………………..…………..9 Role of Society…………………….……...………………………………………………………………………………………….10 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 References……………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………13 Toshiba Inc. is a Japanese multinational conglomerate that is considered one of the world’s leaders in information technology (Toshiba). In July of 2015, CEO Hisao Tanaka stepped down in light of the findings that Toshiba had been overstating its earnings for the past seven years by over $1.2 billion USD (Investopedia 2015). This scandal began in 2008 after the financial crisis and continued on until...
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...Some recent highly visible business scandals and governance failures involving relatively large companies such as Enron and its auditors, Arthur Andersen have given rise to concerns about accountants’ ethical reasoning. The research is based on the premise that accountants have a weak ethical reasoning in light of these scandals. The purpose of the research is to explore, using hypothesis, whether selection-socialization exists in accounting firms and its effect on accountant’s level of ethical reasoning. The research also investigates whether the selection of women has resulted in ethical reasoning that is similar to that of their male counterparts. This is important given the large number of women that have entered the accounting profession over the past few years. Based on the results reported in the cognitive and ethical reasoning literature the research explores two hypotheses as follows: 1. There is no significant difference between the P-scores of male and female staff accountants. 2. The dominant cognitive style among staff accountants is ST. The study employs the Myers/Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a well-known measure for assessing cognitive styles and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) for assessing ethical reasoning of newly recruited auditors from Big-Five firms. Based on MBTI adapted from Fisher and Ott and descriptions of the cognitive styles, the authors deduce a third hypothesis that order for P-scores is SF, ST, NF and NT (lowest to highest). ...
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...– 3, introduce and discuss the situation and the current state. Conduct a stakeholder analysis and make recommendations for an improved outcome, using the same resources. Support your discussion with evidence from reputable resources, as well as content and concepts from the text. ANSWER I was overwhelmed while doing the internet news search to find an example of business that has abused its power. The search came up with so many examples that it made me realize that probably all the business abuse their position in some or the other way. There were many example to choose from but I chose “Corporate accounting scandal at Satyam “, which is also infamously called as India’s Enron. The reason why I selected this particular company is that I had my cousin brothers and sisters working for this company and this scandal affected our families in a big way. The background Scandals are like an iceberg, they represent the only visible catastrophic failure. Saytam Computers was founded By Mr. Ramalinga Raju who hailed form a traditional agriculture family of Andhra Pradesh, India in 1987 with a just 20 employees and converted the company got Public in 1992.The chairman of the company was the founder himself, Mr. Ramalinga Raju (Alias Raju) until January 7, 2009 when he resigned from the board of directors after admitting to corporate fraud. (Author HT correspondent, April, 9, 2015). The company offered consulting and information technology services to the various business sectors. The...
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...financial problems? In order to prevent the losses from appearing on its financial statements, Enron used questionable accounting practices. To misrepresent its true financial condition, Andrew Fastow, the Enron’s CFO, takes his role involving unconsolidated partnerships and “special purpose entities”, which would later become known as the LJM partnership. Taking advantage from the SPEs’s main purpose, which provided the companies with a mechanism to raise money for various needs without having to report the debt in their balance sheets, Enron’s CFO directly ran these partnerships and designed them to purchase the underperforming assets (such as Enron's poorly performing stocks and stakes). Although being recorded as related third parties, these partnerships were never consolidated so that debt could be getting off its balance sheet and the company itself could boost and have not had to show the real numbers to stockholders. Andrew Fastow was using SPEs to conceal some $1 billion in Enron debt. Overall, according to Enron, Fastow made about $30 million from LJM by using these partnerships to get kickbacks which were disguised as gifts from family members who invested in them and enriching himself. His manipulation of the off-balance-sheet partnerships to take on debts, hide losses and kick off inflated revenues while banning employees' stock sales was one of the reasons triggered the collapse of the company and its bankruptcy. Did Enron’s bankers, auditors and attorneys contribute...
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...fail to notice unethical behavior in someone they do not wish or expect to find it. In fact, research suggests that it is usually difficult to report wrongdoing in an organization because most employees believe the same and fear retaliation, rejection, or disbelief from corporate leaders. Ethical principles will often offer advice for procedures and norms that can reinstate ethical concerns before unforeseen behavior damages an enterprises culture or reputation. In general, ethical systems are designed to improve the ethical behavior within an organization. To do so requires examining the interaction of many factors and forces in a working environment - which were investigated (analyzed) in this report. Executives sometimes use accounting to try to hide things from investors, society, and corporate leaders. Officers will fall prey to wall-street expectations and begin focusing on improving their performance measures at all cost; such as, manipulating earnings to report more favorable results to investors. Such manipulations often benefit corporations in the short-run but usually hurts them in the...
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...Assignment on Ethics In Organization S.R.Lutra Institute Of Management Submitted to Amruta Nag Submitted by Pratibha Chaudhari 08 Payal Khetani 17 Nikita Pereira 27 Dhara Suvagiya 31 Hetal Vaghora 32 (MBA 1st shift Academic Year 2010-11) Ethics in organization Introduction to ethics Ethics is not a recent discovery. Over the centuries philosophers their struggle with human behavior have developed different approaches ethics, each leading to different conclusions. The word “ethics” which are coined from the Latin word ‘ethics’ and greek word ‘ethikos’ pertains to character. Ethics is thus said to be the science of conduct and morals. Meaning Ethics is the branch of philosophy which is the systematic study of selective choice, of the standards of right and wrong and by which it may be ultimately be directed...
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...on ethics by the Santa Clara University, a number of years ago sociologist Raymond Baumhart conducted a survey asking people about what they think of ethics. The results showed many people linking ethics to their feelings, their religion and standards set by the society (Manuel et al, para. 2). Manuel Velasquez and other authors of an article published by the Santa Clara University on business ethics pointed out flaws in the responses. They believed that feelings sometimes deviate from ethics because a person may feel to do something that is not right (Manuel et al, para. 4). Moreover, they argued that most religions advocate high ethical standards, yet these standards cannot be identified with religion because if they were, they would have only applied to religious people (Manuel et al, para. 5). Finally, saying that ethics are standards that a society set was proved wrong as the standards of behavior in a society can diverge from ethics, considering Nazi Germany which was a society that became morally corrupt (Manuel et al.). This was what ethics are not. Then, what are ethics? Ethics are the well founded standards that are backed up by consistent and well founded reasons. These standards include rights, obligations, honesty, fairness, benefit to society or specific virtues. For example, the rights may include right to life and right to freedom whereas reasonable obligations may include abstaining from stealing and fraud (Manuel et al, para 7). The application of ethics is not...
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...Affect Being in the accounting profession for close to eight years, I have seen how large of a role ethics plays. While I have never done or been asked to do anything that could be considered unethical, I have come to realize that in accounting there is a lot of gray area. Many principles are left for interpretation and in some cases little guidance is given. In these cases ethics becomes of the upmost importance. Early in the chapter, Mark Cheffers and Micael Pakulauk raise the question of why ethics has become a part of the CPE program. This question might suggest that the accounting profession is inherently unethical or dishonest. This, of course, is not the case. Instead, ethics, or ethical behavior, is the solution to navigating through a complex and changing profession. Out of all the business disciplines, accounting must be the one that keeps all others in check. I have always felt that the role of an accountant is to safeguard the company and to provide an accurate picture of the health of a company. In order to provide this level of service, an accountant has to do it using intrinsic motivation instead of having to be compelled. Because of all the recent scandals involving accountants, it has become ever more important to have a foundation based on sound ethical practices. When confronted with a gray area in accounting and interpretation is needed, if you are bound by ethics and honesty, the outcome will be for the greater good instead of satisfying...
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