Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics in Financial Healthcare

In:

Submitted By JJordan84
Words 1131
Pages 5
Financial Reporting Practices and Ethics in Healthcare
Jeanette Jordan
03/07/16
HCS-405
Prof. Adrian Parker

Abstract
Financial management is a vital part of organizational effectiveness, it is a discipline with a long and respected history. Health care service delivery is a business, and the concept of financial management assists in balancing the inflows and outflows that are a part of the business. The managers within a health care organization will generally have one of three views the financial view, the process view and, the clinical view. Health care managers must of necessity interact with one another. Thus, managers holding different views will be required to work together. So, health care managers who understand health care finance will be able to interpret and negotiate successfully such interactions between and among viewpoints. (Mohamed Refaat, 2016)
There are four elements of financial management planning, controlling, organizing and, decision making. In planning the financial manager identifies the steps that must be taken to accomplish the organization's objectives. Thus, the purpose is to identify objectives and then to identify the steps for accomplishing these objectives. In controlling the financial manager makes sure that each area of the organization is following the plans that have been established. In organizing the financial manager decides how to use the resources of the organization to most effectively carry out the plans that have been established. With decision making the financial manager makes choices among available alternatives. All types of decision making rely on information, and the primary tasks are analysis and evaluation and thus the purpose is to make informed choices. (Mohamed Refaat, 2016)

Role of Financial Management in Healthcare
Managing the finances of any health care business nowadays is like driving a car

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Nicole McLaughlin HCS/405 December 8, 2014 Jack Heinen Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper This paper will seek the financial reporting practices, ethical standards, accounting principles, corporate compliance, ethics, or fraud and abuse in the articles that was chosen to be reviewed. Financial reporting in a medical office or a healthcare organization relies on financial data to be close to real time as they can get it. The financial reporting has advantages such as analysis, visualization, and assistance in decision-making ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Chief financial officers use the financial reporting to help identify the profits and the cost of the healthcare organization. Financial reporting will lead the financial personnel to quantified, data-driven choices which will benefit them with accurate planning, forecasting, and budgeting ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Financial reporting can aid in to reduce a cost, profitability, predict and respond to changes in the market ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Ethical standards in a healthcare organization should be guided by integrity, serves as a role model, and support a culture that provides high-quality, cost-effectiveness health care which helps the ethical behavior and practices of individuals throughout the organization ("Creating An Ethical Culture Within The Healthcare Organization", 1992-2011). It does not matter if the person is a gift shop manager or a CEO of a four star...

Words: 1208 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Hcs 405

...Ethical Financial Management Dana Doody HCS 405 2 Sep 2014 Working as a financial manager comes with a lot of responsibility; and a lot of standards of practice. Just like physicians and nurses, financial managers of health care organization have a set of rules and ethical guidelines they must follow in their practices. In this paper, I will what the four elements of financial management are. There will also be a summary of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and financial ethical standards. Business’s mist follow these standards in order to comply with federal agencies such as the Financial Accounting Standard Board. I will also provide examples from articles that explain how corporations comply with these standards and deal with fraud or abuse. The four elements of financial management. The key to good financial management is to be well organized and have good finical discipline. Health care is a business and having a good concept of financial management will help those businesses run smoothly. “The healthcare industry is a service industry, its essential business is the delivery of healthcare services.”(Refaat, 2014) Having a good understanding of the elements of financial management can help to explain the financial management of that service industry. The first element is planning, planning helps identify the steps that must be taken in order to accomplish the organizations objectives. The second is controlling, this is in place to help ensure...

Words: 1023 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Yolanda Jones HCS/405 March 10, 2014 Darlene Tomlinson Page Break Reporting Practices and Ethics The healthcare industry is a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. economy, amounting to over $2.1 trillion annually. Healthcare focuses on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention among other things. Health care makes up one sixth of the U.S. GDP it is the largest source of the nation's public expenditures. With large amounts of revenue going in and out of hospitals and facilities and health care reform accounting can be challenging. To help ensure fair and accurate financial reporting, there are practices and ethical standards that must be followed when accounting for finances in health care. This paper will provide the four elements of financial management and standard accounting principles and ethics. Financial Reporting Practices The Financial Accounting Standards Board was established in 1073. It is the designated organization in the private sector that establishes standards of financial accounting for nongovernmental entities. The standards established are officially recognized as authoritative by the SEC and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The FASB also has accounting standards for health care entities. "The AICPA Health Care Expert Panel developed technical guidance on the application in consolidated financial statements of a recent accounting standards update for health care entities"...

Words: 1309 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper HCS/405 March 7, 2016 Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) represent the general rules, standards, and practices that are used in accounting. GAAP are required for businesses when reporting financial records. When preparing financial statements, a company’s accountant is mandated to use these principles before they issue these statements to investors and other entities outside of the business. The objective for these standards are to assist in ensuring that ethical accounting practices occur wherein investors and creditors have the confidence that companies are truthfully reporting their financial solvency. In summary, the GAAP are responsible for ensuring that companies ethically record measurements at regular business intervals, prepare and summarize economic information in accordance to ethical standards, accurately measure economic activity, and truthfully disclose information about economic activity. Corporate compliance, ethics, or fraud and abuse Medical fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry is a rampant occurrence that significantly impacts not only healthcare in America but also the entire economy. Fraud and abuse within the healthcare industry can account for approximately 15 percent of annual expenditures. This represents up to $170 billion annually being lost because of fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry. Although the federal government has consistently...

Words: 737 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Monika Kaloyanova HCS/405 August 31st 2015 Professor Joe Gazdik Introduction There are a lot of important parts in health care organizations but what sticks out the most is financial management. Financial management needs to be taken seriously and everything has to be done accurately because there are consequences if errors occur and the organization cannot function properly. It also helps to see the profit and loss that the organization is having and to see what changes need to be done to fix anything. Four elements in financial management In financial management, there are four elements that are vital to any company and those are planning, organizing and directing, leading, and decision making “…by regularly following the four-step control process, managers can make their department more effective and productive”. Lombardi, D. J., Schermerhorn, J.R., & Kramer, B. (2007.) Planning is important because the manager identifies the steps so that the organizations plans/objectives can be accomplished. Controlling is an important element as well because it makes sure that the plans are followed. The financial manager makes sure that the units/areas of the organization are following the plans that were built. There is a way you can do that and that is to compare reports from earlier times. Organizing and directing helps in financial management because the manager uses the organization to make sure that the plans have been established. The...

Words: 859 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Cassandra Pinkston HCS/405 March 4, 2012 Conway Brew Reporting Practices and Ethics Financial reporting is becoming a major problem within the healthcare organizations and the lack of morals and ethics is behind the problems with unethical financial reporting. Within the healthcare organization one must display morals and ethical standards when making ethical decisions. When reporting finances in healthcare financial managers should practice good ethical decision making by considering ethical principles such as; justice, autonomy and beneficence . The study of healthcare financial management can be so captivating and rewarding if practiced correctly. There are four elements of financial management that has been recognized and if used properly with good ethical business decisions could make financial reporting easy. The four elements of financial management are; planning, controlling, organizing and directing and decision making (Baker, J. J., & Baker, R. W., 2011). Planning is when the financial manager of a company takes the initiative to identify what steps needs to taken to reach the organizations main goal and once the steps have been identified the manager will set out to reach their goals (Baker, J. J., & Baker, R. W, 2011). Once the financial manager have identified the steps that needs to be take he/she must make sure each area of their organization is following that plan and this is considered controlling the plan that has...

Words: 975 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics

...Reporting practices and ethics Rachel Salermo HCS/405 September 3, 2012 Michael Shin Reporting practices and ethics Financial reporting practices are necessary in any successful business. They are used to keep track of a business finances, and to make sure the business is following legal and ethical standards. There are four elements to financial management; they are planning, controlling, organizing/directing, and decision making. Each of these plays a vital role in correctly reporting finances. Furthermore, there are principles in accounting for healthcare that help reiterate the reporting practices. Generally acceptable accounting principles or GAAP are certain guidelines that are used to make sure a business’s finances are reported properly. Hospitals may use some or all of them, but it is a guideline, not a requirement. One of the principles is the principle of sincerity. This means that when reporting financial activity, the accountant should sincerely picture post an accurate picture of revenue, expenses, and other monetary uses. For example, if a medical office is going bankrupt and needs a loan, if they are not sincere in their financial statements, they may lie in their records by showing they are making profit instead of being in debt. Another general principle is the principle of prudence. This means accountants should accurately put a clear picture of a company’s finances, and not try to make the companies funds seem greater than they are. This can also...

Words: 956 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Pratice and Ethics

...Practices and Ethics Erica Bolden May 5, 2013 HCS/403 Marcia Smith Practices and Ethics Two major necessities needed to manage a health care organization financially are outstanding ethical standards and reporting practices. Reporting financial data reports is important and information must be accurate and factual. Organizations obtain and maintain financial data to aid in the audits of the amounts, control, and potential uncertainties of cash flows. Keeping the financial data current is important because majority of the time the data contains information about the organization’s equity and economic resources. Developing and analyzing ethical standards carefully allows organizations to stay in compliance with those standards formed for the health care community. Poor ethics and financial planning sometimes effects consumers. According to Nelson (2011), “Basic ethics principles that make up our common morality, including respect for patients, acting in patients’ best interest, avoid bringing harm to patients and treating patients in a fair and equitable manner, serve as the foundation for healthcare values.” This paper will contain a summary of the four elements associated with financial management, generally accepted accounting principles, and general financial ethical standards. The reader will explore Examples from two articles “Ethical Decision making for healthcare Executives” and “Ethics: A foundation for quality” that reflect ethical standards of conduct, financial...

Words: 1126 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Margaret Rovaris HCS/405 July 27, 2015 Terri Andrews Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper All businesses have their certain reporting practices and ethics standards within their company. It is mandatory for them to have standards on how they will conduct their business in order to be successful. It is the same for the healthcare organizations. The healthcare finance manager should be very knowledgeable of the general financial ethical standards so their business can keep a positive reputation. In the United States there are generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that businesses must abide by. This determines how accountants conduct and format their reports in house and to others. Since these reports will be seen by others that are outside of the business, the FASB made it easy for everyone to understand it. If every company had their own way of methods for their accounting reports comparing financial statements would not be accurate and it will be easier to hide information. One of the key ethical standards for a business is that their accountant must have competence. “To be competent, accountants and professionals must not only have secured education and practice that prepares them for their position, they must also continue that education by learning new information that can affect their practices”. (Morley, 2015. Pg. 1, Para. 3). Objectivity is another principle that an accountant must have. AN accountant may...

Words: 821 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Christopher A. Brown HCS/405 July 15, 2012 Michelle L. Thomas Reporting Practices and Ethics The health care environment, in which financial realities and financial ethics play an important role in health services decision making, it is vital that managers at all levels understand the basic concepts of health care finance and how these concepts are used to enhance the financial well-being of the organization. In this paper, we will discuss the four elements of financial management, to include the accepted accounting principles and financial ethical standards. We will provide an example of ethical standards and financial reporting practices. Health Care Financing is a systematic framework for the evaluation of healthcare systems, as well as perform interdisciplinary research focusing on the relationship between economic development and healthcare (Baker & Baker, 2011). Financial Management Health care organizations accommodate services to consumers and also their financial status is also important to providing services. In any organization, financial management is very important toward an organization’s success.   Financial management consists of four elements that work toward an organization financial practices and ethical standards (Dye and Sridhar (2008). Four Elements The first two elements of financial management works hand-in- hand are organizing and controlling. Financial managers use four basic financial statements to...

Words: 800 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Starla Edwards Health Care Financial Accounting/HCS 405 October 17, 2011 Marjorie Romano Reporting Practices and Ethics Financial practices and ethics can play an important part of any organization including the health care environment. In order for the health care organization to be successful one must adopt an efficient financial practice and possess ethical standards. The management of finances for a health care organization may be a challenge for managers. This is why the health care manager will follow four basic elements for financial management. The basic elements include planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making (Baker & Baker, 2011). Health care organizations have accounting principles generally acceptable and will comply with the financial practice and the practice of ethics to avoid fraud or abuse of the reporting practices. Elements of Financial Management Financial management has four basic elements, which assist the manager in making effective decisions for the health care organization. The first element of financial management is planning. The financial manager needs to identify the steps that he or she needs to take to accomplish the goals of the organization. However, first the manager must determine what the goal is for the organization and at that time determine what steps to follow to achieve the goal. The next element is controlling; a plan is in place that each area of the organization...

Words: 858 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Tiffany L. Richardson HCS 405 July 18, 2011 Todd Brown Reporting Practices and Ethics Financial Management is a fundamental part to successful healthcare financial planning. Financial decisions are a necessary part of the day to day operations of any type or sized health care facility. These decisions are made in accordance with the facilities fiscal objectives and accounting practices. It is important that the individuals making these decisions follow proper reporting and ethical practices since these decisions affect the future of the entire facility. In order to make finical decisions it is important to understand generally accepted accounting principles, corporate compliance, ethics, fraud and abuse. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Generally accepted accounting principles are guidelines, objectives and conventions that have been set up over time to dictate how financial statements are prepared and presented (FASAB, 2010). The GAAP includes standards, conventions and the rules in which the facilities accounting department following when summarizing reports and preparing financial statements (Baker & Baker, 2011). Third parties that use these financial reports must then rely on the information to be free from all prejudice and discrepancy without debate. If the information is false then the GAAP standards were not followed and the facility is not in compliance and therefore behaving unethically (All Business, 2011). Facilities...

Words: 1022 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Reporting Practices and Ethics When writing this essay, first three articles that address financial reporting practices and ethical standards in healthcare had to be found. Finding god articles to use as reference was not an easy task. Upon reading the chosen articles, much thought about this topic began to enter my mind. The decision to keep reading even more articles and expand horizons before beginning to compose was a good choice. Because with every article read, my opinions changed and I gained more knowledge. The chosen articles The first chosen article is titled, “Financial reporting responsibilities” written by Carl Tietjen. This article addresses the need to update a 35 year old model that has been generally used in most financial reporting practices. In the article, Tietjen states that most organizations have thus responded by examining their own reporting practices. Then they have been implementing new methods to try to ensure that moral and ethical standards can be upheld. This article does not specifically address healthcare finance however it seemed to be a good reference point for the research. The second article used is titled, Accounting for false objectivity, written by Ralph Palliam. This article states that concludes that, “There is a need for more moral training and leadership to motivate professionals (accountants) to act in the public’s best interest, not only for the sake...

Words: 892 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper HCS/405 November 30, 2014 Financial management in health care today like any other business should be conducted ethically, professional and accurately. The four elements of financial management need to be used and put into place to help ensure the financial stability and success of the organizations will be accomplished year after year. Generally, the same accounting principles and general financial ethical standards are practiced in every health care organization and these principles need to be implemented correctly if the organization wishes to be successful. Organizations need to keep up a certain level of transparency and this can only be accomplished by accurately reporting their financial statements. Several articles are going to be discussed reflecting the reporting practices and ethical standards in health care after a brief summary of the general accounting principles, ethical standards of finance and the four elements of financial management are given. Summary: Four elements of financial management The four elements of financial management are planning, controlling, organizing and directing and decision making. (Baker & Baker, 2011, p. 5) Each element is a task that is performed by the finance manager and they go in the order mentioned above. Like in any other aspect of business, planning has to be done to help identify the objectives that need to be accomplished and establish the steps necessary to ensure that each...

Words: 1150 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Practices and Ethics in Organizations

...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper The most basic challenge of stewardship and integrity in health care is to continue the organization's core mission of healing patients and communities. One of the greatest dangers faced in health care today, especially as agencies struggle to survive in the most competitive market environment is to focus on the fiscal demands which may compromise the mission of the health care agency. Organizations are in crucial times and reports are imperative for its continued maintenance. According to Gerard Magill and Lawrence Prybil, state that stewardship and integrity is an approach that inspires the ethical decision making process in health care in financial reporting and ethical standards (2004). Crucial is the role organizational ethics play to regain lost trust and recover the confidence in communities, in the business or the health care community. “Organizations in health care need to win back the respect of skeptical customers, disheartened patients, and distrusting communities. But this task can be accomplished properly only when organizations and their business practices have a renewed commitment to ethics” (Magill, 2004, p 229). According to Richard Clarke on accountability it is “critical that these organizations use standards for good business practices and implement these sections that are within the capabilities of the organization” (Clarke, 2005 p 160). He continues to state that to ensure the right direction and to reduce conflicts...

Words: 1380 - Pages: 6