The Big Decision Essay Example for Free

The Big Decision Essay An accountant is expected to be both an accountant and a professional. An accountant should follow general professional obligations. After the incidents involving Arthur Anderson, Enron, and WorldCom, the role of a professional accountant was changed. Brooks (2007) stated, â€Å"Professional accountants owe their primary loyalty to the public interest, not just to their own financial interests, company directors or management, or current shareholders at the expense of future shareholders. † (Chap. 1, p. 22). Decisions made by executives should reflect their corporation’s ethical values. In knowing this information, the case of Daniel Potter and his employer Baker Greenleaf raises some concern. I will address the dilemmas of the case, the stakeholders involved, and the course of action that Daniel Potter should take. (Brooks, 2007) Baker Greenleaf is a large accounting firm. Actually, they are one of the Big Eight accounting firms. Daniel Potter was a recent graduate of an Ivy League school before working for Baker Greenleaf. He understood the values and work ethics that he should follow. There came a time when he was assigned an account which was not new to Baker Greenleaf. The account was very important. In the past, Baker Greenleaf shared the account with another Big Eight accounting firm. Baker felt that they should be the only accounting firm that serviced that long-standing account. In order to achieve this, they believed that they needed to deliver a satisfactory performance in their auditing services with the company. After Dan completed the audit, he discovered concerns in which he could not solve. Dan’s estimate and the balance sheet value of real estate property resulted in a difference of opinion which significantly affected the income statement by more than three percent. Dan’s first reaction was to include a subject –to-opinion proviso, which included his findings, along with his report. His supervisor disagreed with his actions and wanted Dan to issue a clean opinion. At the end of the day, Dan’s supervisor removed Dan’s investigation from the files and replaced it with a clean opinion. He also delivered a negative evaluation of Dan’s performance on the audit. The dilemma in this case is that Dan was undecided as to the course of action he should take regarding his analysis that was replaced with his supervisor’s clean opinion (Brooks, 2007). The stakeholders involved in this case were investors, clients, buyers, as well as the company who was presented with the audit. Since the value of the property was inflated to almost two million dollars over its actual value, buyers were being misled. With Baker Greenleaf basically putting their stamp of approval on the audit, they are taking part in their client’s scheme. Baker is more concerned with profits than with the ethical values they should uphold. If the public ever found out about this scheme, the company could possible go out of business and investors could stand losing a great deal of money. Investors, clients, as well as buyers of the real estate are entitled to be aware of the activities that are taking place in the company. Let’s discuss some of the processes of decision making as well as the actions that should be taken. In order to make ethical decisions, accounts should possess values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, skill and discretion. They should also exercise due care, professional skepticism, and pledge to place the needs of the public, the client, the profession, and the employer or firm before the professional’s own self interest. In making an ethical decision, Dan should follow the framework for ethical problem solving which involves eight steps. He should first establish objectivity. Baker Greenleaf is doing the analysis. Their interest is to acquire the long-standing account. The ground rules of the company seem to be honesty and professionalism since the real estate subsidiary gave them problems in the past (Brooks, 2007). Next the problem needs to be identified. The problem is that Dan’s supervisor does not want to submit a report that discloses negative information on the real estate subsidiary. The subsidiary fabricated the value of their larges real estate property at two million dollars when it was actually valued at no more than one hundred thousand dollars. This problem that has been uncovered belongs to the subsidiary as well as Baker Greenleaf. It is a problem for the subsidiary because they are misleading their real estate buyers on the value of the property. Their buyers will buy a property in excess of the amount that is essentially worth. Baker Greenleaf can be help liable for real estate property bought by buyers that was overpriced. Third, Dan should use the five-question framework to analyze the situation. Since Baker Greenleaf is one of the Big Eight accounting firms, they should have ground rules that govern all of their accountants to abide by all rules and possess ethical decision making skills. The stakeholders are the clients and buyers of the subsidiary as well as the subsidiary and Baker Greenleaf. The subsidiary has a right to make any decision regarding their company and their asses, but any decisions related to the audit of the subsidiary are made by Baker Greenleaf. It seems as of the ground rules of the subsidiary are to carry out any means that will generate the most profit for the company. They do not have any ethical principles or rules. Their current rules and principles are not fair to all concerned. Fourth, Dan ought to determine the cause of the problem. The rules are being broken so that the company can make a bigger profit. The rules are being broken Prima facie. After reviewing the evidence, the problem was discovered. Dan’s supervisor doesn’t posses ethical values. He is only concerned about how he will be perceived by the executives within the firm. After that, the objective must be established. The desirable outcome is to report a subject-of-opinion to indicate the material difference in opinion regarding the value of the subsidiary’s largest real estate property. Dan wanted the executives of the firm to be aware that the financial statements were subject to a $1. million dollar adjustment. The timeframe is within the next couple of days. This is measurable. Next, Dan needs to explore his options. Dan can raise his concerns with his partner counselor as well as the personnel department along with any evidence he has exposed. He can also quit the job and look for anther place of employment without any attempt to inform someone else of his findings. The seventh step is to decide on the best solution. If Dan goes to his partner with his concerns, they may or may not look into the situation. If he leaves Baker Greenleaf without informing someone else, they may still have this problem without any knowledge of it. They could possibly be sued by their negligence. The decision to that should be implemented is to inform Dan’s partner counselor as well as the personnel department. It may affect his supervisor’s creditability but the credibility of the firm is much more important. The final step for Dan is to plan and implement the decision. He should gather all evidence showing his findings as well as document when he spoke to his supervisor about the issue. He should also document what was discussed. In the case of Dan and Baker Greenleaf accounting firm, we reviewed the dilemmas of the case, the stakeholders involved, and the course of action that Daniel Potter should take. If the public could bust down the doors of corporate headquarters and demand financial information, then we may not need accountants to validate the information. For now, we must comply with the laws and hope that the people we believe in being honest and ethical continue to be responsible and never forget that the public stakeholders.

Waiting At The Funeral Party :: essays research papers

As we grow older the one thing we must learn to accept is we all die. After coming to this realization we set up an ornate burial ritual; to say our final good-byes to the person we loved and will eventually join. People come to the ceremony to mourn the loss. As the ceremony progresses the mourners find themselves thinking of may things. Some people may be thinking of good times they had with the person in the casket, while others may be thinking how unfair the death really was. Despite what everyone is thinking the one thing prevalent in all their minds is they are all in that room waiting to be the one in the casket. While in this morbid waiting room things such as: physically visible emotion, age, and the relationship between living and recently dead can all give clues to what the mourner is thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No one is ever consistent in what they are thinking. In the situation of a funeral there are four main thoughts (among others) that cross the minds of those in attendance. First they think, 'Why did this happen?'; Then they think, ';How quickly will it be my turn?'; Soon they start to remember the good times. Then their minds will wonder to things they have to do later. What they think and where they start is often determined by the relationship they had with the deceased. The question of why is most often the first, if not the only question to the minds of close friends and relatives. These friends and family members can be males or females of any age. Their heavy sobbing and heaving while they avoid looking at the casket can make them noticeable. When will it be my turn; is often the first question to the minds of some friends of the family. The thoughts of this matter can very with the age of the deceased. When the deceased is young, the mourner will find the question mixed with feelings of unfairness. The people who spend most of their time pondering this thought can be males or females of any age (usually 15 and up). These people can be noticed when they shake their heads and try to fight back tear; which come more readily when they look at the casket. If the funeral is for an older person, people will find the previously mentioned question accompanied with thoughts of that person was close to my age.

Platinum Box Case Essay

The main problem in this Platinum case is the decision whether or not to single source to Jabaking with the expansion of printing equipment. Because Conrad of Jabaking was instrumental to helping Platinum find their feet and establish its ground in the printing industry in 1992 does not necessarily mean Platinum press has to be indebted to Jabaking thirteen years after. Even though Conrad has always hinted Jim Hicza since 1992 that he expects that Platinum will reward them for the favour in future, business decisions have to made at crucial times even as long term business relationships still has to be sustained. Platinum will have to blend these two crucial business principles if it wants to continue to grow in the business industry. One way to get this done is by exploring potential opportunities , long-term, in working with Jabaking to help them upgrade their equipment and technology system to meet current market demands long term while also purchasing the services of Pnutype because of the technically sound environmental equipment. That way Platinum will sustain the long term relationship with Jabaking as well as tapping from the high quality equipment Pnutype has to offer for the purposes of establishing firmly and gaining goodwill in the new US market. Therefore, for the immediate solution, Platinum Press should engage multiple sourcing for this new US market venture for the following reasons: 1) This will help keep Jabaking competitive and on their toes for continuous improvement and to be able to provide better value. 2) Multisourcing will help minimize the risk of Jabaking’s or any other supplier’s failure. Especially in terms of providing high quality equipment in a time where quality ranks high on the evaluation matrix of purchasers. As we already know from the case that Jabaking does have a reputation of having very good quality product but not necessarily the highest quality. 3) Jabaking may not necessarily have sufficient capacity or skills to meet the new market need. 4) Multisourcing will give Platinum Press an opportunity to test and discover potential expert suppliers in the industry. 5) Multisourcing will also help reduce and/or avoid Platinum’s dependence on Jabaking alone and avoid Jabaking gaining business leverage. Criteria In this case, a good decision will result in a situation that strengthens Platinum’s Press bargaining position and not weaken it. Platinum Press’ position is weak when there is only one known provider of the product or service—as in a sole source or single source deal. Therefore, competition is the best way to quickly arrive at market price level. This competitive factor will be missing in sole/single source negotiations with Jabaking. Careful bid structuring results in apples-to-apples comparisons for each bidder. Platinum Press Inc. strives to collect a minimum of three viable bids for each procurement effort. Bids are tabulated into a matrix that lists all vendors and fields of comparison. Each vendor is asked to submit bids with prices broken out for effective comparisons. In view of the problem issues outlined above, there has to be clarify in terms of the negotiation technique in question. We need to specify if the negotiation is for competitive reasons as in the case of Pnutype and Merakuri Press or if it is solely for the aim of collaborating with Jabaking to help them enhance and develop their equipment quality especially as Platinum Press is someone indebted to Jabaking. The decision of which method on negotiation to apply rest solely on Jim Hicza. However, as mentioned earlier, competitive negotiation should be applied immediately while collaborative negotiation should be applied for long-term product development assistance for Jabaking. Differentiating Between Competitive and Collaborative Negotiations Most supply management professionals certainly would prefer to begin each acquisition from a position of strength derived from a competitive environment. Competition is a great way to level the playing field. Competitive bidding drives suppliers down to a market-efficient pricing environment where the negotiation process can work optimally. But to have a competitive environment in any acquisition, the following conditions must exist:  · Competition: First and foremost, there need to be a number of qualified suppliers in the targeted marketplace—that is, no single or sole source constraints.  · Ability to move: The buyer must be able to move the business away from the current provider; there can be no binding commitments, for example.  · Sufficient Volume: The buyer must have enough volume to warrant interest from a sufficient number of qualified bidders.  · Time for competition: Sufficient time must be available to proceed through the entire competitive process.  · Willingness to change: The buyer’s internal line of business groups must be willing to use any of the qualified bidders. When negotiations follow a structured bid process (RFP, RFQ, auction, and so forth) or when accurate cost data is known for the product or service in question, buyers can usually leverage a negotiation technique known as â€Å"competitive bargaining.† This is the traditional way of hammering out a deal, marked by hard discussions focused mainly on price and based upon concrete facts. Competitive bargaining can be applied in a wide range of circumstances, even including single-source supplier relationships where an attractive alternative or fall-back plan exists. Competitive bargaining works in many situations. Yet it’s not the best tactic for complex acquisitions where dynamics in addition to price are in play. It’s also not a good tactic when negotiating from a position of weakness which can be argued for in this case with Jim Hicza and Conrad of Jabaking. The collaborative style is best suited for more complex negotiations, including ones where you’re â€Å"negotiating out of a hole,† which can be the present situation Platinum Press in it right now in that they are somewhat indebted to Jabaking. Collaborative negotiations:  · Focus on mutual problem solving in a collaborative fashion. The use of positive group problem-solving techniques, rather than oppositional positioning, is a core tenet of collaborative negotiations.  · They are non-confrontational: This does not mean the buyer is weak. Rather it means that negotiations are conducted in a positive manner and are focused on creating solutions that can work for both sides. The ability to keep things positive is a critical skill for supply management professionals.  · Yield to principle but not to pressure: A collaborative negotiation quickly falls apart if the buying organization compromises on this guideline. Once the buying company yields to pressure from its sales opponents to focus solely on price, the positive atmosphere essential to collaborative negotiations quickly evaporates. Successful collaborative negotiations require greater skill and experience than competitive bargaining. These discussions typically involve a multitude of issues that must be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides. So when an inexperienced negotiation team overly focuses on one point, for example, they leave themselves vulnerable to being taken advantage of on the other elements under negotiation. Moreover, the negotiators need to understand that these various issues are interrelated. The cost model of the entire package can change quickly if the negotiator does not understand the effect of one concession on another. Analysis: In creating a bid evaluation matrix for Merakuri, Jabaking and Pnutype, a few weighted evaluative steps have to be taken. These steps include: identifying the important evaluative factors; reaching consensus on the importance of the evaluative factors; specifying with precision the evaluative factors, reaching consensus on the weighting of each of the evaluative factors determining the range for the rating scale; developing the definition for each rank in the rating scale; performing the rankings individually and finally discussing and developing a consensus ranking.

Teenage Parents And Rape Adolescence Friendship And...

Teen Live-streamed Her Friends’ Rape: Adolescence Friendship and Bullying Even though people may think that teens are still children, but they are much maturer than we might imagine and can do things that people may never expect them to do. In a recent Broadly report (Kazdin, 2016), I read that on February 27, 2016, Marina Lonina, who was 18 at that time, live streamed her friend being raped by a 29-years-old man on Periscope app. She didn’t call the police and she claimed that she was doing it to stop the incident, but later was â€Å"caught up by the likes† so she couldn’t stop. Both the man and Lonina were charged of kidnapping, rape, sexual battery, and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor. It makes me wonder what does the adolescents friendship and aggression like and why does this kind of horrible things happen to them. In the developmental psychology book Infants, Chidren and Adolescents(Berkins, 2011), there are some details about adolescents friendship that I found useful to comprehend a broad idea of it. Adolescents friendships are becoming more important to them than earlier life stages, because of the more time they spend with their peers. Three were mentioned when adolescents were being asked what is the meaning of friendship. Those are: Intimacy, which is feeling psychological close, mutual understanding, which is the common understanding of each other’s beliefs and loyalty, which is not abandon others and stay close. According to theseShow MoreRelatedSublimation Mechanism of Psychoanalytical Counselling Theory as a Tool for Addressing Juvenile Delinquency in Secondary Schools in Nigeria4142 Words   |  17 Pagesdealing with juvenile delinquency, and to stimulate the counsellor’s creativity in designing programmes that will serve as alternative outlets for available sexual and aggressive energies in adolescence to prevent them from channeling this sexual and aggressive energies directly into delinquent behaviours like rape, sexual harassment, vandalization of property, fighting, armed robbery, terrorism etc. The paper is therefore tailored to address the following: * Who is a juvenile delinquent? * WhatRead MoreChild Development 1-199854 Words   |  40 Pagesyear intellectual development is largely to do with association of sounds and people. They notice more of what is happening around them and are able to hold objects with greater ease. Social, emotional and behavioural 3 Months * Stares at the parent/carer whilst being fed. * A happy and positive reaction to familiar situations. * They enjoy routine, for instance bath time. * The child begins to smile and show other types of facial expressions. * They recognise and show excitementRead MoreSubstance Abuse15082 Words   |  61 Pagesspouses in relation to their own needs and desires, but must also make major decisions which affect the lines of their children Ironically, it is not until the spouse is abusing the children, or the children have reached the expressive age of adolescence and urge them to leave, will a decision be made to abandon the relationship. Many abused women have no employable skills, and few resources. Often, they see no hope, or have no idea how to survive in the world independent of their husbands financial