A month ago you started a new job in the finance department of a successful medium sized company, Glam solutions, with established presence around the country. You have worked in a few companies and have reasonable experience in most areas of accounting and finance. A few weeks in your new role, the head of procurement invited you to participate in negotiations to renew office supplies contract. The contractorhappened to be one of your former employers. This isn’t out of the ordinary —you know that part of your new role is to discuss any important contract renewals with procurement to ensure you’re on the same page on budget and key contract clauses.Beforethe meeting, the head of procurement asks for your take on the contractor’s recent financial performance and strategy. She thinks that the company might be willing to compromise on price in return for better payment terms —there has been a rumour that the contractor has cash flow issues and needs to get some cash into the business quickly. She reminds you that Glam solutions will benefit from saving some money on this contract and achieving such a goal with your involvement will not go unrecognised by the directors. You still remember detailsabout the contractor as you participated in writing its financial strategy a severalmonths ago.Many months later when majority of the department are attending an international conference, your line manager finds you in the office one afternoon and informsyou that the person in charge of compiling revenues from various sites has taken an urgent leave of absence for family reasons. The manager asks you to complete some complicated revenue calculations before you leave for the day. You don’t feel confident doing this. It’s a new type of work that you have briefly touched upon in your studies, and have very little practical experience in one of your previous roles. It will take hours, and the other members of the team will be going home very soon.In the summer of your second anniversary in Glam Solutions,your hard work has been recognised with three promotions in the finance department. The company have consistently exceeded targets since you joined and the team is currently pursuing about a handful of prospective clients. The team needs to expand, so a new junior financial analyst role is available. Your close cousin has just been made redundant due to financial struggles at his company. He is stressed about money and needs to find a job as soon as possible. He is a qualified financial accountant and has most of the skills needed for the role in your team.By the end of the financial year, Glam solutions has elevated in status and external investors are making inquiries. This has put additional pressure on the entire team and more responsibility has been assigned to you recently. The company is going to produce an annual report and everyone knowsit is important for the future of the business that a healthy financial performance is presented. The CEO approaches you and tells you to leave a large outgoing bill off this year’s report and include it next year; the report goes out on 20thMarch, so requires only moving the bill back by a couple of weeks. The CEO informs you that
it will make a great difference in the financial outlook of the company and will undoubtedly influence investor’s choice in a positive way. He also mentioned your suitability fora higher position in the company and the responsibility of securing the financial safety of lower level employees.Required:
a.How many ethical cases exists in the scenario?
b.Describe the main ethical principles for each case using the Code of Ethics for professional accountants
c.Discuss the possible threats and recommended course of action for each case
