Accounting Reflection

Caitlin Proehl

Managerial Accounting

4/26/11

Business Ethics Reflection

The Accounting Club at Edgewood College was kind to host a dinner and invite brilliant people to speak to us about accounting issues in the accounting and financial industries. One of the intelligent speakers, Stephen Hurley, has more than 35 years of practice providing clients with the background necessary to litigate difficult cases. Moreover, he has earned a reputable name for winning criminal and civil cases across Wisconsin. Another gifted individual that was invited to speak to us was Denis Collins. Collins is a professor of management in the School of Business at Edgewood College where he teaches classes in management and business ethics. In addition, he has published numerous articles and books in the area of business ethics and management. These two men discussed a handful of ethical situations that occur in business industries across the country.

One of the situations raised the question of what an employee should do if they noticed that numbers on the company’s statements were being fudged. Should they go to the SEC, auditing department, do nothing and don’t tell, or drop the person? Hurley said that the employee should report this issue to the auditing department. He said that it isn’t possible to fix the past errors but it is important for the company to know about the incorrect numbers so they can fix present and future statements. I agree with Hurley that the employee should go to the auditing department because it is important for the company to fix the accounting errors and keep a good reputation.

Another situation discussed whether an employee should tell someone when he or she witnesses another employee demonstrating unethical behavior. Hurley answered this question by saying that it is ultimately up to that individual if they say something or not. He gave an example of when an employee did go to their supervisor to report unethical behavior and got fired from the...