SHAREHOLDERS’ INTEREST AND ETHICAL ISSUES

by | Mar 22, 2023 | Main

 

Grandma’s Cookie Company purchased a factory building. The company controller, Don Nelson, is in the process of allocating the lump-sum purchase price between land and building. Don suggests to the company’s chief financial officer, Judith Prince, that they fudge a little by allocating a disproportionately higher share of the price to land. Don reasons that this will reduce depreciation expense, boost income, increase their profit-sharing bonus, and hopefully, increase the price of the company’s stock. Judith has some reservations about this because the higher reported income will also cause income taxes to be higher than they would be if a correct allocation of the purchase price were made.

Required:

What stakeholders’ interest are in conflict?

What are the ethical issues?

Include the following:

Step 1—The Facts:

Step 2—The Ethical Issue and the Stakeholders:

Step 3—Values:

Step 4—Alternatives:

Step 5—Evaluation of Alternatives in Terms of Values:

Step 6—Consequences:

Step 7—Decision: Student must decide their course of action

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


This question has been answered

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

Step 1—The Facts: Grandma’s Cookie Company purchased a factory building for a lump-sum price. Don Nelson, the company controller, suggested to Judith Prince, the chief financial officer, that they allocate an abnormally higher share of the purchase price to land instead of building in order to reduce depreciation expense and boost income. This would also increase their profit-sharing bonus and hopefully increase the stock prices.

Sample Solution

Step 1—The Facts: Grandma’s Cookie Company purchased a factory building for a lump-sum price. Don Nelson, the company controller, suggested to Judith Prince, the chief financial officer, that they allocate an abnormally higher share of the purchase price to land instead of building in order to reduce depreciation expense and boost income. This would also increase their profit-sharing bonus and hopefully increase the stock prices.

Step 2—The Ethical Issue and the Stakeholders: The ethical issue at hand is whether or not it is morally permissible to misallocate costs in order to gain a financial advantage. There are two primary stakeholders involved in this situation; Don Nelson and Judith Prince. Don wants to manipulate the numbers in order to give himself a higher salary while Judith needs to decide if following through with such unethical practices is worth risking her own reputation as well as that of Grandma’s Cookie Company.

Step 3—Values: At stake here are fairness, honesty, accuracy, integrity, trustworthiness and good faith between all parties involved within this conflict.

Step 4—Alternatives: The two primary alternatives available are either engaging in unethical accounting practices by fudging numbers or choosing not too which will mean reporting accurate information but having lower profits than anticipated due to taxes on higher reported income.

Step 5—Evaluation of Alternatives in Terms of Values: Misallocating funds goes against each value stated earlier except for possibly trustworthiness depending on how much both parties can actually be trusted if they go through with it without informing anyone else at Grandma’s Cookie Company about what they are doing. However reporting accurate information shows integrity on behalf of both parties as well as honesty even if it leads them away from greater profits due taxes being higher than expected on reported income given their actual expenses were true/accurate. Ultimately no one will benefit from unfairness especially outside parties who mightinvest or purchase stock from Grandma’s Cookie Company only for its value later be reduced due fraudulent accounting practices found out after investing money into it blindly believing everything was done according tho law & regulations set forth by governments & other bodies regulating businesses such as theirs/.

Step 6—Consequences: If Don & Judith choose go down route fudging numbers consequences short term include boosting profits but raising risk chance being found out leading potential lawsuits fines criminal charges etc risks associated with any form fraud long term only way avoid getting caught commit fraud multiple times across long period time continuing same type activities thus increasing chances getting discovered however legitimate alternative has consequences itself lowered profits potentially displeasing shareholders because will result decreased dividends them tax implications due having report accurately yet pay more taxes because number essentially “inflated” whereas could have been less had itemized properly when originally registered business first started up eventually other companies within industry may find themselves scrutinized regulators who then look elsewhere determine whether similar activities taking place there perhaps leading larger investigation wider scope potentially ruining reputations hundreds thousands people involved industry who just happen work companies wrongfully accused similar acts never committed

Step 7 – Decision : After considering all facts values alternatives consequences making decision should become easier clear best course action purely terms moral responsibility ethics involve NO misleading misrepresentation any forms whatsoever pertaining company’s finances books once made decision stick promise ensure nothing like this ever happens again future judgement day always comes seems so better prepared face day head held high knowing did right thing

This question has been answered.

Get Answer