Description
Please review the Ethics Case scenario on p. 836 in your text and answer the following questions.
- Who are the stakeholders in this situation? Should they be the preparers' main concern? Why? Why not?
- Was there anything unethical about the President's actions? Was there anything unethical about the controller's actions? Explain.
- Are the board members or anyone else likely to discover the misclassification? Explain.
Explanation & Answer
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The stakeholders in this situation are: Samuel Gunkle, president of Wesley Corporation. Gerald Rondelli, controller. The Board of Directors. The stockholders of Wesley Corporation.
The president’s statement, “We must get that amount above $1 million,” puts undue pressure on the controller. This statement along with his statement, “I know you won’t let me down, Gerald,” encourages Gerald to do something unethical. Controller Gerald Rondelli’s reclassification (intentional misclassification) of a cash inflow from a long-term note (financing activity) issuance to an “increase in payables” (operating activity) is inappropriate and unethical.
It is unlikely that any board members (other than board members who are also officers of the company) would discover the misclassification. Board members generally do not have detailed enough knowledge of their company’s transactions to detect this misstatement. It is possible that an officer of the bank that made the loan would detect the misclassification upon close reading of Wesley Corporation’s statement of cash flows. It is also possible that close scrutiny of the balance sheet showing an increase in notes payable (long-term debt) would reveal that there is no comparable financing activity item (proceeds from note payable) in the statement of cash flows.
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