Exam 1: Ethical Reasoning: Implications for Accounting

The school board has received a bomb threat claiming that a bomb would be detonated at noon on Monday at the high school. The threat was received by the school board at 8 pm on Sunday night. The school asked the bomb squad to investigate and they found no bomb. The next morning at 7am, one hour before school was to start, another threat was received. There was no time to check for a bomb. What is the best action for the school to take from an ethical perspective? Explain. (a) Go ahead with school as planned since the last threat was not credible. (b) Delay the start of school until 10am to give the bomb squad time to check and inform parents there is a water leak that needs to be fixed. (c) Call off school even though final exams were scheduled that day and explain all the steps taken to protect the safety of students. Discuss which ethical theory supports each alternative. Which would you choose and why?

Decisions that are made based on the underlying cultural factors can be best characterized by:

The Independence Principle in the AICPA Code applies to:

In the Better Boston Beans case, what is the ethical dilemma facing Cyndie?

Under the IMA's standards of ethical practice, an accounting professional can consider informing authorities or individuals not employed by the organization when an ethical dilemma occurs about an accounting or financial reporting matter that remains unresolved if he/she:

A danger of situational ethics is that it can be used to rationalize a wrong-doing. Such rationalizations may be seen in all of the following examples except:

In the Harvard Cheating scandal case, using ethical reasoning who is at fault for the situation?

Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, is credited for developing:

The method of ethical reasoning that evaluates actions in terms of harms and benefits is:

Moral philosophy deals with questions such as "How should I live my life?" and "What sort of person should I strive to be?" What are the basic tenets of moral philosophy? Answer with respect to the philosophies discussed in the chapter.

An accountant who blows the whistle on financial wrongdoing by his/her employer by going outside the entity violates:

Kelly is the controller of a small company. One day the CFO comes in and tells her to lower the estimate of uncollectible accounts receivable. Kelly insists her numbers are correct as is. The CFO tells her it will mean her job at the company if she doesn't go along with the smaller estimate. The primary virtue that would enable Kelly to resist the pressure to manipulate the number is:

Objectivity requires that a CPA should:

When an employee is given a job evaluation, he has a right to expect:

A difficult choice between two moral principles that are in conflict with one another is known as a/an:

In the Capitalization versus Expensing case the main ethical issue is whether Gloria Hernandez should:

In the Giles and Regas case, the primary ethical issue can be stated as:

When applying Utilitarianism to judge actions, what is the only thing that matters?

Janice is a staff accountant in the accounting firm of Obama and Biden. She is assigned to the audit of HealthCare Associates. On the very first day Janice noticed that the accounting manager of the client took money out of the petty cash fund and put it in his pocket. The best action for Janice to take is:

Treating others fairly encompasses treating them: