亨格瑞管理会计英文第15版练习答案01(19)

查尔斯亨格瑞 管理会计 英文版第15版 北京大学出版社 练习答案01

1. Brigham’s decisions violate standards of competence and integrity. Competence

is violated because the most competent persons apparently are not being hired, jeopardizing the competence of the accounting department. Further, Brigham may be violating equal opportunity employment laws and regulations.

Integrity requires an accountant to avoid conflicts of interest, and hiring the sons

of personal friends certainly appears to be a conflict of interest. Such hiring was possibly for the personal gain of Brigham at the expense of the company. Further, this practice subverts the company’s equal employment opportunity policy.

2. Merton’s first step normally would be to discuss this situation with his boss.

However, because the alleged unethical behavior is by his boss and Merton has already confronted him and been rebuffed, the next step seems warranted. This would involve going to Brigham’s superior. (Alternately, some organizations have an individual, possibly called an ombudsperson, to whom Merton could

report such concerns.) If the matter could not be resolved at that level, he should continue up the line until reaching Creighton, the president. If equal employment opportunity is genuinely a company priority, Creighton should be very concerned about Brigham’s actions.

What if the situation is not resolved to Merton’s satisfaction after following the

steps in the preceding paragraph? The final step is to go directly to the Board of Directors. If that is unsatisfactory, there may be no recourse but to resign, sending an explanatory memo to an appropriate high-level official of the company.

Should Merton go to the press so that they will put on pressure to change the

hiring practices? Such a step is generally not appropriate. It would put Merton in the position of violating the ethical standard of confidentiality. The only person external to the firm with whom it is appropriate to discuss this issue is a

confidential objective advisor.