Participation and Discussion Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Participation and Discussion Questions - Essay Example A specific ethical challenge an accountant could be confronted with is encountering a client that wants to underestimate the net income in order to lower his tax obligations. Accountants are not supposed to accommodate these types of requests from clients because it violates the code of ethics of the accounting profession as well as the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Another ethical concern in regards to financial performance is payroll policies. Companies can decrease their labor costs by paying below market value to its employees, but such a practice can be counterproductive because personnel will be persuaded to leave the company and work for a competitor that pays better. 2. Discussion questions The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 helped improved many aspects of the accounting profession that had ethical implications. For instance Section 404 of SOX deals with internal controls. These internal controls can be used to detect misappropriations and fraud. The Act increa sed the accountability of the profession. CEOs are now responsible for the accuracy of the financial statements. If fraud is detected the Sarbanes Oxley Act created capital punishment penalties of up to 25 years in prison. Sarbanes Oxley positive impacted Wall Street because it increased the customer confidence in the stock market. SOX helped safeguard the assets of a company. The Sarbanes Oxley Act also created auditor independence. The Enron scandal showed that how collusion can occur between and auditors and the managers when auditor independence does not exists. There things that could be done to improve the efficiency of the SOX law. Currently it is costing public companies over $1 million for compliance costs. The Sarbanes Oxley Act should be revised to eliminate the waste or inefficient processes that are causing compliance cost to escalate in the United States of America. Agency problems were reduced in companies that are complying in the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. 3. Parti cipation - Gigi I agree with you to a certain extend that the use of cameras can be perceived as a breach of privacy, but in reality business are protected by the law because they have to right to monitor the work of its employees. A grey area in the practice is the usage of hidden cameras. The employee should know if they are being recorded by video. It is my opinion that hidden cameras without the knowledge of the employee that they are been recorded is unethical and could be violating civil rights, but I am not a lawyer. If anybody knows the answer to this please continue the discussion going. 4. Participation – David Accounting is a profession that functions well when the accounting staff has high moral and ethical standards. There have been rotten apples in the corporate world that have caused major accounting scandals such as WorldCom, Tyco, and Enron, but the majority of accountants are very honest people. All accountants know they have to comply with the generally acc epted accounting principles (GAAP). A lot of people don’t realize that accounting is a precise science that when prepared following GAAP will always give the same results. Currently the NBA and the players are on a lockout. To me it is sad that the players are claiming that the accounting losses of $300 million that the league suffered are not true considering the fact that a CPA certified those numbers. 5. Participation - Taneda I agree with you that ethics is extremely important in the business

Wal-Mart's Recovery from the Bribery Scandal Essay

Wal-Mart's Recovery from the Bribery Scandal - Essay Example They covered evidence from the previous investigation, and the accused were never punished. This was against the moral and ethical standards upheld by the company as it pursued growth in Mexico (pp.2). Giving bribes and promoting the accused employees did not display any morals or business ethics. This was an example of impunity by a leading world retail market. Investors believed the significant growth experienced by Wal-mart de Mexico was a model for future growth and the most successful investment business. Corruption allegations and evidence that was unearthed by investigators was a substantial setback to investors. The top executive was supposed to prevent any misconduct by the company, but they orchestrated the bribes. This was against what investors expected from them, and a break of their trust. According to Cicero (pp.3) he had dispatched lawyers to deliver large amounts of cash to government officials who dealt with issuing of permits. This enabled the company open several branches within a short time. The company had hired gestores to conduct the bribes, who would in turn receive 6 percent of the bribe money. These were additional expenses by the company. This was an enormous misuse of investor money and an apology from the CEO would be one way of regaining their trust. ... It was discovered a few days later that a top lawyer planned to ship files of internal investigators to Mexico (pp.2). The company executives had failed to cooperate with FCPA, which was against corporate conduct. After the first allegations in 2005, a group of executives began working secretly to conceal those claims and prevent deep investigations (pp.3). Investigators also received resistance from powerful executives implicated in the scandal in order to impede and conceal the evidence (pp. 3). The company had hired an external law firm to conduct investigations, but their approach was rejected by the company leaders. They were replaced by internal investigators who conducted a preliminary inquiry (pp. 8). Investigators found that gestores had received millions of shillings and the top executive was aware of the payment. They had used codes that different from other billing records, which could only be understood by specific workers. These payments were to speed up expansion plans by the company instead of following legal procedures to acquire those permits. The management worked hard to end the investigations and hide any inquiry until it was reported again in 2012. This was a sign of poor leadership and corporate citizenship. The company had acquired market dominance through fraud, and corporate accountability is necessary for rebuilding its reputation. This would open the company to scrutiny by shareholders and the public regarding its business activities. A corporate website would help accountability and the public scrutiny process. With the current development in internet technology, a public website would provide accurate information to the public and other interested parties. The company can make crisis information available on the