Ethical Observations Essay Example for Free

Ethical Observations Essay Unethical accounting behavior and the resulting practices of it within businesses today is a very hot topic since the Enron accounting scandal of 2001. One might ask how does a scandal of this proportion come to be and can it happen again? What situations could lead to unethical behaviors and practices in accounting today that might cause history to repeat itself? The author intends to answer these questions and shed light on some insight of accounting ethics today. By the end of 2001 investors and the public needed something to restore confidence in the way businesses handled accounting and reporting practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed into law in July 2002 with the intent of protecting investors by improving financial reporting accuracy and reliability as a result. Ideally, fraud will be prevented through SOX by increased internal controls and greater transparency in accounting practices. The theory is based on the logic that managers who engage in fraudulent activity will be discovered and punished by fines or imprisonment. This theory has mixed reviews as of today. Some argue that SOX does not do enough to prevent managers from manipulating earnings or hiding assets. Others maintain that SOX has improved the level of ethics awareness and concern from what it was in 2001. Most will agree, however, that the law is a step in the right direction and that ethics is a major concern and becoming a more discussed topic of top management in larger corporations today. One might consider why more firms do not have ethics codes or policies in place to prevent the conduct described when in fact Enron did have an ethics code supposedly based on respect, integrity, and communication. One of the problems was that of leadership failure and The point is that an ethical culture must be maintained within an organization at the corporate level and fostered with each new employee from the top down. Although a situation such as Enron’s is not as likely to happen the same way again, when management places extreme emphasis on earnings and promotes activities that might cause earnings to appear inflated, possibilities exist for an unethical situation to occur. (Conroy Emerson, 2006) When a corporation’s culture supports risk taking without regard for consequences, and it uses employee performance appraisals to undermine their position, there is the likelihood that unethical accounting practices will be needed to cover up such activity. Additionally, as with Enron’s case, internal controls were weak or simply not present at all to maintain good accounting as with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) while divisional business units were kept in the dark from noticing what was going on in the overall sense of the scheme. When looking at how important it is to identify unethical behavior in accounting, consider the recent U.S. Housing Market collapse of 2008. Simple mistakes in identifying financial fraud caused some mortgage companies to be over-valued in return allowing investors to lose billions. (BBC News Business, 2011) Unfortunately, in some cases, employees that bring unethical behavior to managements’ attention, risk criticism or worse job loss if deemed a whistle blower. Past cases have indicated that there may be no incentive from management to bring attention to questionable accounting practices in this way. Without managements support and leadership to instill good ethical culture within the workplace, it will be difficult to see positive changes in the future. In conclusion, a greater emphasis on accounting ethics is being seen since the days of the Enron scandal. Ethics is being taught at schools and universities with goals in mind to recognize when situations occur that may be questionable. Ways of dealing with accounting uncertainties and ethical dilemmas are being taught with a sense of moral obligation instilled. New accounting students are developing the abilities to deal with moral issues that relate to accounting and auditing practices. Most business leaders will agree that the improved regulations provided by SOX have made an impact and caused firms throughout the U.S. to review their own accounting practices and at least attempt to comply. References Bannon, S., Ford, K., Meltzer, L. (2010). How to instill a strong ethical culture. The CPA Journal, 80(7), 56-58. http://search.proquest.com/docview/637267174?accountid=35812 BBC News Business. (September 26, 2011). Deloitte Touche sued for $7.6bn in mortgage fraud case. Retrieved from http://bbc.co.uk/news/business-15069976 BBC. (May 17, 2003). The Enron Affair. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2002/enron/default.stm Conroy, S. J., Emerson, T. N. (2006). Changing Ethical Attitudes: The Case of the Enron and ImClone Scandals. Social Science Quarterly, 87(2), 395-410. Liu, C., David, Y. (2011). An Analysis of the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Earnings Management. Advances In Management, 4(6), 25-31.

Do white males have anything to fear from Affirmative Action? Essay

Do white males have anything to fear from Affirmative Action? Affirmative Action can be defined as policies used in the United States to increase opportunities for minorities by favoring them in hiring and promotion, college admissions, and the awarding of government contracts. Depending upon the situation, â€Å"minorities† might include any underrepresented group, especially one defined by race, ethnicity, or gender. This action constitutes a good faith effort by employees to address past and/or present discrimination through a variety of specific, results-oriented procedures. This is a step beyond equal opportunity laws that simply ban discriminatory practices. There are four main types of affirmative action that an employer may use. They include:  · Aggressive recruiting to expand the pool of candidates for job openings;  · Evaluating and updating selection tools and criteria to ensure their relevance to job performance;  · Revising traditional measures of merit to more fully recognize talent and performance under varying conditions;  · Establishing goals and timetables for hiring underrepresented groups These are not the only ways that employers use to complement the affirmative action but they are the more favorable ways to attack the problem of discrimination in the workplace. From its beginnings in the United States in the 1960s, affirmative action has been highly controversial. Critics charge that affirmative action policies, which gi...

Professionally written paper

There Is n expectation that the tasks associated with this assignment will reflect a professionally written paper. TOPIC: Many companies in the western world have been using ERP systems for a considerable amount of time and could be considered established and mature users of these systems. It has been suggested that because companies have adopted ERP systems, it would be difficult for them to achieve a competitive advantage through differentiation due to the following aspects: Similar standardized business processes Similar technology, such as SAP, supporting these processes.Discuss how companies can achieve competitive differentiation using their ERP system for the above scenario. Use case studies to support your arguments. Your essay must include: Assignment Cover Page: use the cover sheet provided. Paper's title page: Include the Assignment Title, Student Name & Number, Date & Unit name/code. Introduction: Introduces the topic. States clearly purpose of the paper and a brief descr iption of the paper's structure. Body: Discuss, compare and/or contrast different perspectives, present arguments purporting the purpose of the paper. Conclusion: Summaries the salient points you have made in the body of the paper.References/Bibliography Must be consistent in Harvard style. The footer must include your name, student ID, and page number. A header should include a short version of the title. Submission Your paper must be submitted via the Turning link in Web. Your submission to Turning should only include your paper. Do not include the reference list or title page. Name your file the following way.

Female Direction of Shakespeares As You Like It Essay

Female Direction of As You Like It In As You Like It, Jaques states that All the worlds a stage,/ And all the men and women in it merely players./ They have theyre exits and their entrances,/ And one man in his time plays many parts (II, vii, 138-141). That very well might be true. But if life is a stage traditionally controlled by a man, what parts does that leave for the women of the world? The female answer to this question is that if you dont like your part, change it, and if you dont like the direction, follow someone else. And that is exactly what all-female Shakespeare does. It explores roles for women, roles that women dont traditionally get to play. All-female productions of Shakespeare, as well as†¦show more content†¦Usually, a woman could not play Prospero, or Bottom, or any other of the male parts. However, that is not all an all-female production does with characters. Sarah Werner writes that while a non-threatening girly production would create opportunities for women to work, it would fail to challenge.... preconceptions (Werner 62). Because of this, female directors try ways to question interpretation. In one all-female and female-directed version of The Tempest, Prospero was obviously played by a woman. The difference in gender added to the disinheritance plotline. However, the woman Prospero remained a Duke, not a Duchess, and still carrie[d] an aura of power (McKanic 1). This shows that Prospero did not need to be a man to get his character across. In this way, relationships and characterization are more important than gender alone. It is written of director Joanne Zipay, that she manages to be radical even as she is completely loyal to the text she is working on (McKanic 2). Instead of gender-based power dynamics, Zipay prefers to focus on the intricacies and nuances (McKanic 2). Actors in the company that produced this version are written to be comfortable in the text and roles, thus making it easy to forget the gender of the characters and pay attention to the tex t and the story (McKanic 3). And yet, in a different female production ofShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Shakespeares Play Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare1667 Words   |  7 Pagesin theatre practise since Shakespeare’s time. This essay will consider how William Shakespeare’s play ‘Julius Caesar’ may have been performed during the Elizabethan era and how the differences in process, scriptwriting, space and more may vary from today’s recreations of his work. This should help to better understand and analyse the play itself and may even influence how we interpret it ourselves both in text and onstage. 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