Business

Solutions Guide:

BYP8-6 You are the assistant controller in charge of general ledger accounting at Riverside

Bottling Company.Your company has a large loan from an insurance company.The loan agreement

requires that the company’s cash account balance be maintained at $200,000 or more, as

reported monthly.

At June 30 the cash balance is $80,000, which you report to Gena Schmitt, the financial vice

president. Gena excitedly instructs you to keep the cash receipts book open for one additional day

for purposes of the June 30 report to the insurance company. Gena says, “If we don’t get that cash

balance over $200,000, we’ll default on our loan agreement.They could close us down, put us all out

of our jobs!” Gena continues, “I talked to Oconto Distributors (one of Riverside’s largest customers)

this morning.They said they sent us a check for $150,000 yesterday.We should receive it tomorrow.

If we include just that one check in our cash balance, we’ll be in the clear. It’s in the mail!”

Instructions

(a) Who will suffer negative effects if you do not comply with Gena Schmitt’s instructions? Who

will suffer if you do comply?

(b) What are the ethical considerations in this case?

(c) What alternatives do you have?

(a) You, as assistant controller, may suffer some negative effects from Gena Schmitt, the financial vice-president, if you don’t follow her instructions. Maybe the insurance company will react the way Gena suggests, but probably not.

If you comply and falsify the June 30 cash balance by holding the cash receipts book open for one day, you will suffer personally by sacrificing your integrity. If you are found out, you could be prosecuted for preparing a fraudulent report. The insurance company, as the lender and creditor, is deceived.

(b) Holding the cash receipts book open in order to overstate the cash balance is a fraudulent, deceitful, unethical action. The financial vicepresident should not encourage such behavior and a controller...