Many professions have adopted a series of ethical standards to provide guidance for their memberships. The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), for example, has published standards that focus on competence, confidentiality, integrity, and credibility. In light of these standards, consider the three cases that follow.Case A-Leston Corporation has experienced serious financial difficulties in recent years. John Young, the company's chief financial officer, has just learned that a major competitor was likely to file for bankruptcy; however, he failed to disclose this information at a board meeting held later that day when a plant closure decision was being discussed. The board evaluated several proposals during the session that focused on improving Leston's financial position.Case

Question

B-QBX Company manufactures fertilizer from various raw materials, including a raw material know as Felstar. Paul Kelly, the firm's purchasing manager, purposely acquired a lower grade of Felstar than normal because of a very attractive price. The lower-grade product resulted in increased usage during the manufacturing process but had no effect on the fertilizer's overall quality. An end-of-period report showed that QBX profited from Kelly's actions, with the overall savings in purchase price more than offsetting the cost of added consumption.Case C-Central Distributing has a participative budgeting process, allowing employees to have a say in projected sales targets for the upcoming period. These targets are reflected in a series of performance reports that compare actual sales achieved against targeted amounts. Hillary Baxter submitted very low sales targets because, as she confided in a colleague, "I always want to look good in terms of meeting targets, even if anticipated sales and closures don't materialize."Required:Evaluate the three cases and determine the ethical issues, if any, which are involved. Cite the IMA's standards if appropriate.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Case A: Young had an obligation to inform the other board members about the likely bankruptcy, particularly in light of the company's financial situation and the topics under discussion at the meeting. The information could have affected the board's thinking on several matters. Two of the IMA standards are relevant here: competence and credibility. Competence notes, in part, that members provide decision-support information that is accurate and timely. Additionally, credibility holds that members disclose all relevant information that could influence a user's understanding of an analysis. Young's silence violates both of these ethical standards.

Case B: Kelly did not violate any ethical standards. The acquisition of sub-par material was a sound business decision, particularly since QBX prospered financially and quality of the end product did not suffer.

Case C: Baxter engaged in a somewhat common practice known as padding the budget; nevertheless, one can conclude that such a practice is inconsistent with the ethical standards of credibility and competence. Baxter is not providing full knowledge of the sales situation by setting targets that are purposely low, thus possibly misleading managers who attempt to analyze her performance. Additionally, competence is involved because the information provided in setting the sales targets is inaccurate.