Ethical Dilemma in Accounting and Finance - Essay Example

Ethical Dilemma in Accounting and Finance Ethics remains an important aspect for all professionals. Employees as well as employers are expected to exhibit ethics when dealing with their clients and public, and in the overall running of the organization. Although this is vital, many organizations and employees today still experience challenges that are related to ethics (Blake and Gowthtorpe 7). Nonetheless, failure to embrace ethics might have adverse impact on an organization, as well as the image of employees.

In this essay, I will address a personal experience, describing an ethical dilemma that I faced, and how I resolved it. In the early period of my career, I worked in one of the accounting firms. Being new in the profession, I worked as a subordinate employee, though with significant roles in the firm. However, my ethical dilemma arose when one of the senior managers in our department asked to me deliberately make a false recording. I was to alter the dates of some important transactions in the organization.

Immediately the senior manager stated the request, I declined initially. The argument of my senior manager was that if I altered the dates, this would be of great benefit to the firm. The profits of the firm would increase, as the transaction will be identified under a different calendar year, and that would be beneficial to the company. I was responsible recording transactions in different financial years. For this reason, the senior manager had no other person to approach except me. In order to get me to accept this idea and perform as per his wish, the senior manager promised to give me a bonus.

He also promised that upon acting on his demands, I would be considered for recognition in future performance review in the firm. Nonetheless, like any other employee that wishes to succeed in their career, I did not make a decision immediately after the senior manager had mentioned all the privileges that I would be entitled to. This incident thus is an ethical dilemma, since as a subordinate employee, questions of “should I” or should I not” lingered on my mind. I knew altering the records was ethically wrong.

However, thinking of the benefits that I would be entitled to made me to hesitate on making a decision. Since I am a supporter of ethics in organizations, I decided to take considerable time, and ensure that I came up with the right decision that would not exhibit any selfishness in me, anger the senior manager, or which would not result in a tainted image for me as an individual employee, and for the organization. This was therefore, an ethical dilemma. In order to resolve the problem amicably, I informed the senior manager that I would provide a feedback the next day.

When I went to see him on the next day, I first let him know how dedicated I was to ethics at the workplace. Secondly, I told the senior manager that engaging in the act would result in a guilty conscience on my side, thus having adverse impact on my performance and the overall productivity of the company. The senior manager did not respond, so I left his office. From meeting the senior manager, I went ahead to make an anonymous phone call to the hotline of the company. After explaining my case anonymously, I placed a request to the company through the hotline.

I asked the highest management to train employees on the importance of ethics. This way, employees would be well placed to make wise decisions, whenever they are faced with an ethical dilemma. Overall, ethics is important and must be observed by an individual employee, as well as the overall organization. This saves an employee and the organization a tainted image. In the personal experience presented, the employee acted ethically. Additionally, the ethical behaviour of the employee during the ethical dilemma saved the company a negative image that would ensue if the truth would have come out later in the public.

Works Cited Blake John and Gowthtorpe Catherine. “Ethical Issues in Accounting.” New York: Routledge, 2005.