Effect of Unethical Behavior Article Analysis

Effect of Unethical Behavior Article Analysis

John Do

ACC/291

May 28, 2013

Rae Miller

Unethical behavior in a business, large or small can impact the company in such a bad way. When an employee practices accounting unethically, the entire corporation suffers, ranging from the immediate employees to investors and stakeholders. There are many reasons why employees might be tempted to behave unethically. One reason is simply the nature of the person. A person's own self-greed may be the cause for them to behave unethically. The person may be attempting to increase their own financial gain, or if the corporation happens to be their own, the person may be trying to make the corporation appear as if it is doing better than it actually is. Another reason why unethical behavior exits is due to the companies great pressures and stress One example would be an employee may be pressured by he or her boss to alter or tweak financial statements to please board members or investors. Another common reason why employees behave unethically is due to lack of integrity; many people in the workplace are lazy and pursue shortcuts. These bad qualities can affect any financial statement. Some fail to properly conduct their job duties, which results in improper preparation of financial information. There are many reasons why a person in the work place can use unethical behavior when dealing with accounting issues, these are just a few of many reasons.

Due to a wave of scandals in the corporate accounting world over the last 10 years or so, most notably Enron, congress was pressured to pass an important act that held those practicing accounting more liable for their actions and worked to ensure a decrease of accounting scandals. This Act was named The Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It’s a United States federal law that was enacted on July 30, 2002. The act governs the

accounting practices of all publicly held United State companies (Nikolas,...