Ethical Dilemma Accounting

by | May 28, 2019 | Accounting

Description

The goal of this assessment task is to test your knowledge and understanding of ethical and sustainability challenges faced by the accounting profession and apply best practice principles and recommendations related to appropriate business practice.

There are two parts of this assessment task: Part A relates to ethical dilemmas and PART B is about sustainability challenges. Each part is described below:

PART A: Ethical Dilemmas – Issues and Solutions

Most accountants in business and the public sector, whether working in a small organisation or serving as the chief financial officer (CFO) of an international corporation, face ethical dilemmas during their professional careers. Ethical dilemmas come in many forms and accountants sometimes need support to address complex and challenging conflicts. Accountants may also treat ethical dilemmas as business decisions and not utilise their professional code to assess potential courses of action.

The CGMA survey report Managing Responsible Business, A Global Survey on Business Ethics shows that a 10%-15% increase since 2008 in organisations providing both statements of ethical values and a code of ethics, as well as related training, provision of hotlines, and incentives, such as performance-based rewards. The survey also shows an almost 20% increase in organisations both collecting and reporting ethical information. The majority of accountants feel it is important to collect and analyse ethical information, but one in five do not believe their organisation will do so in the near future. Despite an increase in ethical codes and training, there is greater pressure within organisations to act unethically. Security of information remains the biggest issue of concern across all markets. Bribery has risen from sixth to third in the rankings of issues of concern, reflected by the increase in anti-bribery and corruption legislation.

A common aspect to resolving ethical dilemmas is to help accountants define and apply the fundamental principles in their professional code of ethics. A distinguishing mark of the accountancy profession is the responsibility to act in the public interest and professional ethics places an expectation on accountants to self-regulate their behavior in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (the Code) developed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) member organisations are required to abide by ethical standards at least as stringent as those stated in the Code.

These standards may potentially be threatened by a broad range of circumstances including self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity, and intimidation. An awareness and understanding of these circumstances will help us to establish which fundamental principles are affected by a situation and why.

Required:

Identify and describe THREE (3) ethical dilemmas after systematically reviewing recent media articles/postings/legislations/reports/journal articles/broadcast or social media. Gather the relevant facts and for each issue describe: why it is an ethical problem; Identify the affected parties -individuals, organisations and key stakeholders affected; in what way are they affected; how would these ethical issues affect the reputation of the accounting profession; how would these ethical issues affect the public interest; propose solution to each ethical issue and describe which fundamental principles are affected and what are the threats to compliance with the following fundamental principles of ethics developed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA):

Integrity

Objectivity

Professional competence and due care

Confidentiality

Professional behaviour

While writing your essay consider the following threats to fundamental principles:

Self interest

Self-review

Advocacy

Familiarity

Intimidation

Are there safeguards which can eliminate or reduce the threats to an acceptable level? For examples safeguards can be created by: profession, legislation and regulation; work environment; organisation’s internal procedures and policies; whistle-blowing procedure. (approximately 2,000 words length).

Sample Solution

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.


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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.

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