...Abstract Within the accounting profession there are many complex ethical issues that must be dealt with quite often. It is important that the people working within the industry provide high quality financial statements and always pay close attention to ethical concerns that may arise. Since ethics is such a major concern in the accounting industry, a rules based system is in place for enforcing ethical concerns. There are many regulating bodies that exist that enforce many highly detailed regulations that people within the industry must follow at all times. Throughout history there have been several major accounting scandals that have been followed by new regulation to ensure that these problems do not come up again. CLERP 9 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are just a couple of acts that have caused significant changes to the accounting world in recent times. This paper will look at some of the different issues that accountants face as well as some of the regulations that seek to end unethical behavior. Ethical Standards in Accounting Introduction The accounting industry is an always changing and constantly growing industry. Accounting plays a vital role in society and business and up until recently accounting was considered to have some of the highest standards for ethical and moral conduct in business. In recent years there have been many high profile business failures caused by the unethical behavior or accountants and accounting firms. Since some major companies, like Enron...
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...NIIT University | Ethics in Finance | | | Aman Sawhney | | | Contents Introduction 1 Why Ethics Matters 1 Ethics and Ethical Dilemma 2 Creating an Ethical Environment 3 Reasons for Unethical Behavior 4 Ethical issues in Finance 4 Financial Statement 5 Fictitious Revenues 5 Off-balance Sheet Financing 5 Hidden Reserves 5 Hostile Takeovers 6 Insider Trading 6 Introduction Ethics in general is concerned with human behavior that is acceptable or "right" and that is not acceptable or "wrong" based on conventional morality. General ethical norms encompass truthfulness, honesty, integrity, respect for others, fairness, and justice. They relate to all aspects of life, including business and finance. Financial ethics is, therefore, a subset of general ethics. Ethical norms are essential for maintaining stability and harmony in social life, where people interact with one another. Recognition of others' needs and aspirations, fairness, and cooperative efforts to deal with common issues are, for example, aspects of social behavior that contribute to social stability. In the process of social evolution, we have developed not only an instinct to care for ourselves but also a conscience to care for others. There may arise situations in which the need to care for ourselves runs into conflict with the need to care for others. In such situations, ethical norms are needed to guide our behavior. As Demsey (1999) puts it: "Ethics represents the attempt...
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...Reporting practice and ethics paper Latrice Robertson Hcs/405 February 3, 2014 Sherida Douglass Reporting practice and ethics paper It is the responsibility of a health care manager to understand the basic principles of accounting and finance, and have the knowledge and the understanding of a financial report and what it means. Without these skills and ethical standards it could result in poor management. Financial management is a vital part of organizational effectiveness and success. Financial management requires four elements in order to operate properly. The four elements of financial management: Planning- the financial manager identifies the steps that must be taken to accomplish the organizations objectives. The purpose is to identify objectives and the steps to accomplish these objectives. Controlling- The financial manager make sure that each area of the organization is following the plans that have been established. Organizing_ The financial manager decides how to use the resources of the organization to most effectively carrying out the plans that have been established. Decision making- The financial manager makes choices among available alternatives. All types of decisions making rely on information and evaluation. The purpose is to make informed choices. Generally accepted accounting principles are accounting standards and guidelines used in financial accounting and reporting. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)., are accounting rules...
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...Unethical Practices and Behavior in Accounting The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was created to prevent fraudulent financial activities, and to provide investors with more accurate financial resources on corporations. Under SOX, companies are held accountable if they fail to maintain the requirements that were set forth in the act. The act requires companies to maintain satisfactory internal control measures, provide responsible financial reports, disclose periodic reports, and establish rules for annual reporting. (Hazels, 2010) These requirements are all part of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Corporations and accounting firms should have already been practicing these principles to uphold ethical behavior. However, the governing bodies charged with monitoring of corporate finances as well as their practices were outdated and that necessitated the reforms outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s Effect on Financial Statements The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has several sections that effect financial statements, reporting of finances, and other requirements that are placed on organizations. “Section 302 gives corporate responsibility for financial reports. This Section requires that the "principal executive officer or officers and the principal financial officer or officers, or persons performing similar functions, certify in each annual or quarterly report filed or submitted" that the signing officer reviewed the report...
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...Financial Reporting and Ethical Standards Debra Castagnetta HCS/405 November 7, 2011 Todd Brown Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standard In health care finance keeping financial documents have become more detailed and the need for accuracy has increased and many guidelines have been established to ensure there are competencies, and ethical standards are upheld in financial management in health care organizations (Paul, 2008). The Four Elements of Financial Management Health care organizations and other organizations require an array of management actions to operate effectively (Baker & Baker, 2010). To accomplish these actions the four elements of financial management must take place. The financial manager must identifies the objectives and steps through planning, the financial manager must ensure that the organization follow the plan by using the controlling element, the financial manager must organize and direct by deciding how to use the resources of the organization, and provide daily supervision (Baker & Baker, 2010). In addition, the financial manager must make informed choice through the element of decision- making (Baker & Baker, 2010). The General Accepted Accounting Practices In order to have guidelines in the principles of accounting, it is a mandatory requirement that health care organizations and other organizations use the General Accepted Accounting Principles, also known as the GAAP (Paul, 2008). The General Accepted...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Holly Polk HCS/405 Sandra DiPietro April 9,2012 Reporting Practices and Ethics Financial management helps health care organization's to assist in balancing the inflows and outflows that are part of the business. There are about four recognized elements of financial management which are planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making. Planning help the financial manager identify the steps that must be taken to complete objectives for their organization. Controlling helps the financial manager make sure that each area of their organization is following the plans that have been set before them. Organizing helps financial manager to decide how best to use resources and also how to effectively carry out plans that have been established. Lastly decision making helps financial manager to make choices among available option's (Baker, Baker,2011). Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or ( GAAP) is a set of procedures, standards, and principles that a organization can all agree on in order to report their financial data. The GAAP has several components but we will only name the most important like debt, inventory cost, long-term and short- term investment, taxation, profits, stockholder's equity, revenues and sales, and goodwill and other intangibles. The GAAP is a very great way for organization to report the data and it is also the most consistent way to display data. The GAAP make it easier for companies to...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Kathleen Hyatt HCS/405 March 23, 2015 Sherida Douglass Reporting Practices and Ethics In medicinal services association. Monetary practices and morals were thought to be the essential for social insurance authoritative achievement. The monetary and moral practices were supported by social insurance associations for supporting their statement of purpose and it was to guarantee the consistence and precision of human services budgetary articulations. The health awareness monetary practices and morals had the four sorts of budgetary administration for making understanding to medicinal services administrator. It would likewise give the noteworthiness of tests of moral models and budgetary reporting practices Four elements of Financial Management The four element of financial management in health care organization were to be planning, controlling, organizing and directing as well as decision making. Planning was to be component of money related administration which was character the venture for the achievement of hierarchical targets. The chief of medicinal services association must be recognized the objectives before accomplishing the social insurance objectives. The controlling was to be the second component of budgetary administration which was to guarantee the arrangement for accomplishing the health awareness objectives However, these components could distinguish that whether the picked arrangement was best or not...
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...find information from articles that address financial reporting practices and ethical standards in health care finance. The paper will also address financial management of health care organizations in detail. In this paper there are several summaries that address the four elements of financial management as well as summaries that address acceptable accounting principles and general financial ethical standards. The paper also gives detailed examples from the articles that reflect ethical standards of conduct and financial reporting. Financial reporting practices In many cases management are not trained to detect fraud and will not feel the need to question further about the possibilities. They will sign off on the findings without real concerns. Some of the major findings are sometime found later on, and by that time the situation may be very serious. The hire-up may penalize management for not recognizing the problem earlier. For example from the article the managers pointed the finger on the auditors and did not take on any of the responsibility for the overlook. Baker (2007), “When questioned about why it took so long for these problems to come to light, management's response was 'well the external auditors signed the accounts and internal auditing said everything was all right,'" Durant says (para. 5). Ethical standards in health care finance Managers and staff member responsible for financial reporting are required to do their jobs and do it with the understanding...
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...Louise’s Finance Code of Conduct Conducting business relations on an ethical level are of the utmost importance to Louise’s Finance. All those who affilliates with Louise’s Finance will conduct business fairly, ethically and in compliance with all laws and regulations. Louise Finance is committed to ethical behavior and has a code of ethics that will be at the enforced on every level of our business. We will keep this code of ethics current by reviewing it annually. Standards and Procedures Louise Finance employees are responsible for the integrity of their own work. Each employee must acknowledge receipt of our Conduct and confirm that they will follow the standards. This will measure the implementation of or company code of conduct and how well the value of integrity is integrated into the culture at Louise Finance. It ensures that our Code of Conduct is being applied uniformly and provides a channel for employees to raise issues. Since our Code of Conduct and the supporting policies and procedures may change from time to time, our employees are responsible being up to date with the current laws, rules, regulations, standards, policies and procedures that govern their work. They are also individually responsible for reporting wrongdoings. If a law or company policy has been broken, employees are required to report it promptly. If an employee fails to comply with applicable rules and regulation, he or she risks being terminated. All employees will avoid any action, that might...
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...Starbucks’ Ethics and Compliance Paper Ethical behavior within a company is very important to its future and success. This type of behavior is not just important for the employees to follow, but for the entire company. In 2001, a failing company called Enron was involved in numerous unethical behaviors. For example, Enron’s Chief Financial Officer temporarily suspended their “code of ethics” not once, but twice in order to partake in personal financial gain. Enron’s actions eventually resulted in bankruptcy and assisted with the creation of a new set of guidelines for companies to follow. The so-called guidelines were called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Titman, S., Keown, A.J., & Martin, J.D. 2011). The SOX helped institute a set of rules for companies to follow, one being the creation and compliance of a code of ethics within every company. One company that seems to do a very good job with complying with the guidelines of SOX is Starbucks Corp. They have a strong program set in place to support their mission of making ethical decisions at work. The use of their program “Business Ethics and Compliance” might just be the very reason why their SEC filings show a relatively successful business. Financial Environment In regards to the finance environment, Starbucks plays an active role in ethics and compliance. Not only are their employees offered ways to voice concerns of unethical issues in the work place, but also Starbucks’ partners as well. Starbucks holds a meeting...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Kara Moore HCS/405 August 1, 2011 Barbara Archer Reporting Practices and Ethics Financial reporting practices and ethics have manifested an ocean of literature. This has mainly come from organization theorists that address accounting practices. These theorists and professionals have given fresh accountability measures. Their ideals give this industry the tools needed to survive, grow and prosper. The way an organization prepares and reports its financial information and handles its daily operations is in essence financial practices, and in the way it accomplishes this reveals their ethical standards to which they adhere to. This paper will discuss the financial practices, ethical standards, and financial management in health care. Financial management in simple terms is a management of finances for an organization. The goal of financial management is to achieve financial objectives, and can be broken down into four phases. The four elements of financial management are: planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making (Baker & Baker, 2009). In the planning phase financials managers need to pinpoint the organizations objectives and the necessary steps to achieve those (Baker & Baker, 2009). In the controlling phase it is all about ensuring that each department is following the guidelines set forth in the planning stage. This can be accomplished by comparing quarterly reports to see if the departmental goals are...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics HCS 405 Financial management is an important aspect to health care financial planning. There are many financial decisions made every day and depending on the accounting records and the different transactions that are occurring. Finance management is something that health care organizations need to pay close attention to. The priority of a heath care facility is to care for patients, but there still needs to be a profit so the company can keep caring for patients. For a business to satisfy patients and staff at the same time, finance management needs to be planned out. The organization needs to make sure that the assets, costs, and claims are monitored and never overlooked. Some of the decisions made will be in compliance to the organizations finical objectives but normally it is in compliance to the generally accepted accounting principles. GAAP. Generally accepted accounting principle to the GAAP are considered to be the main structure for the guidelines of financial accounting. The GAAP can also be considered an authority for all accounting standards. These accounting standards include standards such as the rules and regulations that the organization’s account has to follow when coping and summarizing the transactions while preparing the financial statements. Any third parties that might be involved with the reporting must trust that the information being given is without wrongdoing and dispute. The generally accepted accounting principles...
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...read, plug your tablet in, purchase electrical devices and find whatever book you are looking for. They have approximately 27% share of the eBook market and sell three times the eBooks as compared to hard copies on online. Organization's Financial Environment As with any major international corporation, Barnes & Noble has extensive ethical procedures that detail everything from acceptable behavior between employees and their interactions with customers to their compliance procedures with the Security and Exchange commission (SEC). Several procedures are in place in order to stay in compliance with the regulations set by the SEC. The senior financial officers and chief executive officers at Barnes & Noble are held responsible for the complete and correct disclosure of the company's financial reports. Dedicated to the accurate and honest reporting of their financial information, Barnes & Noble stays ready to make the important business decisions that keep it a leader in retail sales. In further compliance with SEC regulations, Barnes & Noble has an audit committee whose main function is to monitor the integrity of the entire financial reporting process. A second responsibility of this committee is to verify the company's internal controls and financial statements. The audit committee also oversees the performance of the company's global internal audit functions, the compliance with regulatory and requirements, as well as to monitor the qualifications and performance of independent...
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...Wal-Mart‘s earnings and financial quality and report how this process relates to the ethics of professional accountancy. Most public companies are required to file its financial documents and annual reports with the SEC. To ensure that they are complying with both the financial and ethical guidelines ethical consistent with professional accountancy practices. Generally, companies like Wal-Mart posts ethical policies and procedures both in their stores and on their website. The SEC regulation remains constant; a company has the option of the process it uses to comply with the regulations. The financial health of a company can be determined by analyzing a company’s financial performance and ratios computed over two to three years. Organizations today are different from those in the past; the days when a person would work at the same company until retirement are long gone. Most people desire to work for a company that is people focused, diverse, successful, and conducts business in an ethical manner. Wal-Mart is one of the companies that offer each of those characteristics in addition to a strong ethics program that it closely follows. In fact, Wal-Mart has a Statement of Ethics, which includes the practice of honesty, integrity, and compliance with the law. Compliance with the Statements of Ethics is mandatory for each employee. The company also maintains a separate Code of Ethics for the senior financial officers. Wal-Mart also has in place a Related-Party Transaction Policy...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Nicole McLaughlin HCS/405 December 8, 2014 Jack Heinen Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper This paper will seek the financial reporting practices, ethical standards, accounting principles, corporate compliance, ethics, or fraud and abuse in the articles that was chosen to be reviewed. Financial reporting in a medical office or a healthcare organization relies on financial data to be close to real time as they can get it. The financial reporting has advantages such as analysis, visualization, and assistance in decision-making ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Chief financial officers use the financial reporting to help identify the profits and the cost of the healthcare organization. Financial reporting will lead the financial personnel to quantified, data-driven choices which will benefit them with accurate planning, forecasting, and budgeting ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Financial reporting can aid in to reduce a cost, profitability, predict and respond to changes in the market ("Financial Reporting", 2009). Ethical standards in a healthcare organization should be guided by integrity, serves as a role model, and support a culture that provides high-quality, cost-effectiveness health care which helps the ethical behavior and practices of individuals throughout the organization ("Creating An Ethical Culture Within The Healthcare Organization", 1992-2011). It does not matter if the person is a gift shop manager or a CEO of a four star...
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