Hcs 405 Accounting and Ethics

Ethics and Reporting Practices

Jennifer L. Thomas

HCS/405

2 July 2012

Diana Schilling

Ethics and Reporting Practices

Health care organizations have an obligation to no only provide outstanding patient services, but stellar accounting practices that allow for them to continue keeping their doors and beds open. The individuals that ensure that this happens in health care organizations are the health care managers or the financial managers. This paper will discuss four elements of financial management, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), general financial ethical standards, as well as current events that involve fraud in hospitals. Health care managers are responsible for all of the above-mentioned items as well as keeping up with current events that affect health care intuitions to ensure their financial health.

The four elements of financial management are planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision-making. The health care manager or financial manager to effectively assess and manage the organization’s finances uses each of the four elements above. Planning involves properly identifying all of the necessary steps involved in reaching an organization’s goals (Baker & Baker, 2011). Controlling is the way that managers within organizations are able to ensure that previously set plans are being followed. This can be done through a few different methods, which may include running reports and providing feedback (Baker & Baker, 2011). Organizing is when financial managers try to use the all the available items with the health care organization in the best way. Directing is how a financial manager will ensure that the daily operations are in order. Decision-making is the process that the manager engages in daily through the different phases of financial management. Those phases are recognized as planning, organizing, and controlling (Baker & Baker, 2011). By using all four elements of financial management financial...