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Unethical Business Research Conduct

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Unethical Business Research Conduct
A lawsuit brought upon city Assessor Bill O'Brien by a tax investigation firm, Tax Data Solutions (TDS) that he used last year states that he violated his contract and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (Smith, 2010). Between 2006 to 2009 the city of New Haven hired the company to investigate people and businesses that owe for vehicle or personal property taxes. O'Brien is accused of adding accounts to the grand list, withholding payment for accounts researched by TDS, reducing personal property assessments, and even removing accounts added by the Assessor before him (Smith, 2010).
The unethical research behavior that was involved in this case was financial misconduct. By removing and adding accounts as well as misconstruing numbers in the accounts he is squandering the work done by the tax investigation firm. Misrepresentation is also involved because by distorting the numbers he is providing falsified data to the taxpayers of the city as well as the government. Not only does this hurt the tax payer, but by falsifying numbers it can make the city look more profitable than it really is.
The injured parties in the lawsuit was the TDS firm because they were not paid for their work, their work was falsified and their contract was broken. Though not in the lawsuit the taxpayers of the city are also victims because they are being lied to by their Assessor. The unethical behavior has affected the business by costing them money in regards to not being paid their contracted amount and the money they have had to put up for the lawsuit itself. The taxpayers are affected because the information misconstrued by the Assessor could affect their current and future taxes as well as city government.
This unethical behavior could have been avoided by the Assessor taking the information obtained by TDS and not misconstruing the numbers. By taking the information they gathered and researching it the city would have had an honest database of numbers showing people and businesses owing for motor vehicle and personal property taxes.
Financial misconduct is a serious matter that can have a large impact on businesses, individuals, and society. The ethical misconduct can cause seriously costly risks to the business and people involved and can play a large impact in the survival of the business. Not only does it cause image damage, client trust loss, fines, and perhaps even prison time for people involved, but it causes damage to the society around it. By taking the time to manage integrity, plan proactive measures and assess their vulnerability to ethical misconduct, businesses can survive these unethical practices.

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