Katie Is Part of an Audit Team Who Have Been

Essay

Katie is part of an audit team who have been sent to Eastern Europe to conduct an audit of one of their client's subsidiary companies. During the audit Katie uncovers a series of bribes that the company has paid to local authorities. Bribes are considered a normal part of business in this particular city so the subsidiary company feels as though they have done nothing wrong. It is likely that the bribes will not be uncovered but there is a chance that they will be, and that the parent company, the audit firm, and Katie personally will all suffer negative consequences if they are. If Katie does report the bribes then the subsidiary company will suffer and there will be a scandal for the parent company. However, the impact of reporting the bribes is likely to be less than if they are discovered at a later date by other authorities. Katie thinks of herself as an honest person and is trying to decide what the ethically 'right' thing to do is.
Try to determine what decision Katie will make regarding whether or not she will report the bribes by applying the ethical theories of teleology, deontology, virtue ethics, and ethical relativism.