BA120 Assignment #2
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Scenario Marcy recently started her first job after graduating from business school with her accounting degree. She is very excited to be working in her field and although she knows she still has a lot to learn, she already feels like she is getting a good feel for what it takes to be successful. She has been assigned to work under one of the senior accountants, Mrs. Bradlee, and so far, she has been easy to work with and very helpful. For the last several weeks Marcy has spent most of her time entering data into the firm’s computer system in preparation for the issuance of their clients’ annual reports. On Friday, as she is preparing to leave for the day her supervisor calls her into her office. Questions |
1. Putting yourself in Marcy’s position, what do you do next? Consider the outcome of her various courses of action and the long-term effects of her actions.
Marcy is hopefully familiar with the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct. Once she goes through the four major steps, they will hopefully help prepare her to make the right decision. The first thing I would do if I were in Marcy’s position would be to contact Mrs. Bradlee to see if she is aware of the pattern of mistakes. If I had to wait for her response, I would try to copy and paste the file so I could make the changes while keeping the original. That way I could show my bosses what was given to me and what I did to correct it. It is so hard to say what the outcome of various courses would be, because of the lack of information. Did Mrs. Bradlee know that those types of mistakes were in there, and did she know if they were intended? She obviously wanted them fixed but didn’t want to do it herself. I would be asking her a lot of questions once I got a hold of her.
2. What are the implications of the work Marcy has been asked to perform? Consider all of the stakeholders of accounting information when responding.
Marcy was unknowingly asked to change the financial position of the Dale company. If she changes it, it could have a negative effect on a lot of the stakeholders of the Dale company who may be under the assumption that all those numbers are correct. However, if these mistakes were done on purpose, she is now aware of them and could be considered an accomplice if she does not act on her knowledge. So, not only could it hurt the Dale company and their stakeholders, but it can also have an effect on the company that Marcy is working for because it will be known that they are the company that allowed these mistakes to help the Dale company.
3. Why would someone in Mrs. Bradlee’s position ask an employee to perform this kind of task?
It seems like she knows that there is wrongdoing taking place, but she is too afraid to take care of it herself. I can only assume that Mrs. Bradlee asked an employee to perform this kind of task because then she can become a middle-man and can stay neutral if things turn sour on either end.
1. Putting yourself in Marcy’s position, what do you do next? Consider the outcome of her various courses of action and the long-term effects of her actions.
2. What are the implications of the work Marcy has been asked to perform? Consider all of the stakeholders of accounting information when responding.
3. Why would someone in Mrs. Bradlee’s position ask an employee to perform this kind of task?
1. This situation is not one that is easy. Mrs. Bradlee is basically asking her to change the entries to make the business look for more successful than it is. She only has two options. One of the options is that she brings this up to higher management and lets them know of this fraud that is being committed. The second option is for her to stay quiet and just perform the work she was asked for but it is against ethics. If she lets higher management know, she might end up losing her job because Mrs. Bradlee might not be so happy with her choice. If she stays quiet and just changes entries she will be going against ethics and in the long run, Mrs. Bradlee and her partners can blame her for the wrong entries and they end up not getting any lash back as a result, since they can either say that Marcy was new and it was a mistake or overall just blame Marcy. I would personally go to higher management and let them know what is being asked of me and explain to them why I think it is not a good thing to do.
2. The implications of the work Marcy has been asked to perform is that the company will look like they made a profit and the truth might be that they took a loss. As far as stakeholders, when you look into investing in a company, you want to make sure they are making a profit. Investors might purchase shares due to this fraudulent annual report and end up losing money due to the report not being accurate as to how much in debt the company is or what low profit they are bringing in.
3. Someone in Mrs. Bradlee’s position would ask an employee to perform this task because she is in a higher position she has more risks when it comes to doing things that go against ethics. If she were to do it herself she could lose not only her job but her accountant license. This is why she would ask someone in an entry level position to do this and ask them not to mention it to anybody.
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