Deliverable 6 – Corporate Memo on Ethical and Legal Concerns
Title:
Module 06: Legal and ethical decision making in business.
Competency:
Critique ethical decision making in business operations.
Scenario:
You work in the accounting department at your U.S. based company. The Vice President enters your office and asks you for a check for $250.00 for expenses he tells you he incurred taking a client to a late dinner the night before. He provides you with receipts for a dinner for two at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. A few minutes later, you head over to the employee lounge and pass by his receptionist who is telling someone else how the VP proposed to his girlfriend the night before at that same restaurant. You decide you need to alert the CEO to the situation.
Instructions:
- Write a Corporate Memo in Microsoft Word (minimum two pages) to the CEO that describes your ethical and legal concerns in the given business situation.
Address the following:
What are the ethical concerns in the given business situation?
What is the relationship between ethics and law in business (including consequences when either is violated)?
Provide both a business solution and at least one law that would support you in reporting this situation to the CEO. - Use at least three credible sources. These should be cited and in APA format.
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Deliverable 6- Legal and Ethical Decision making business
Ashley Santiago Ruiz
Rasmussen College
BUL4060CBE#: Business Law and Ethical Behavior
Melinda Whitman
September 24, 2020
MEMORANDUM
To: The CEO
From: Ashley Santiago Ruiz, Accountant
Date: 24-09-2020
Subject: The VP’s Perceived engagement in Unethical Conduct
Recently, the VP visited my office requesting for a check of $250 for the expenses that he allegedly incurred taking a client to a late-night dinner the night before. Moreover, the official went out of his way to provide the receipts for the two’s dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. A few minutes later, I heard the VP’s receptionist telling a colleague that the latter had proposed to his girlfriend the night before at the same restaurant. While I may not be privy to the VP’s engagements, the two events raise questions regarding whether the VP indeed met a client and incurred dinner expenses. In this regard, investigations might be necessary to determine the truth of the matter.
The ethical concern in the business matter would be the VP’s claim of reimbursement if at all he never met a client as he claimed. In this case, the VP’s actions would amount to dishonesty. In like manner, the VP’s decision to seek reimbursement for the expenses that he incurred on his girlfriend would be an ethical concern since the organization should not meet such expenses (Bazerman & Gino, 2012). However, the VP could have met the client and girlfriend in the restaurant at different times. In this context, the VP might have met his expenses with his girlfriend, but decided to seek reimbursement for expenses incurred on behalf of the firm. If such is the case, the ethical concern would be unwarranted and unfounded accusation of the VP. Indeed, the accusation would be a source of hatred among organizational officials. Above all, it might be that the receptionist offered false information regarding the VP’s meeting with his girlfriend in the restaurant and the former proposing to the latter. Comment by Rita Kane: Discuss:
Breach of fiduciary duty, and
Breach of loyalty.
Business ethics and the law are two terms that exist independent of each. However, the two intersect in vital aspects in the sense that many ethical considerations are also legally enforceable. Moreover, violating business laws, in virtually all cases, amounts to a violation of ethics (Madden, 2019). The point of diversion is that all cases of violating business laws are legally enforceable with corresponding legal consequences. However, some ethical violations do not consist of legal implications, and can only be dealt with using the established internal mechanisms. The VP’s Case, if it is established that he did not meet a client, would qualify as a violation of ethical principles without the possibility of enforcing it legally. Comment by Rita Kane: This is incorrect and leaves this discussion woefully deficient. The “law” part of “law and ethics” in this business situation must be discussed.
How would this conduct be defined in your state? Your State’s Criminal Code would define this conduct (if the rumor is true). Every state is different. Some may call it fraud, some may call it theft, etc. You should have located the law and provided the consequences as well for violating it.
The organization’s interest should override personal interests and inspirations. It is for this matter that investigations should commence confidentially to determine the truth of the matter. The business solution would be acting firmly and decisively if the VP made an unwarranted claim for a refund. On the contrary, no person should suffer in case the investigations confirm that the accused official met a client in the restaurant. However, the establishment should enforce uniformity in workers’ meetings with clients so that no employee should incur costs on such endeavors without prior written permission and approval by a committee. The whistleblower policy supports my decision to report the situation. The policy provides that an employee that has knowledge of a dishonest or fraudulent activity is to contact the appropriate superiors. However, the employee that seeks to engage in whistleblowing is to exercise sound judgment to avoid baseless allegations (Miethe, 2019). I believe that my decision to write a confidential memo to you constitutes sound judgment in that the alleged culprit might not learn about the accusations. Furthermore, the decision to raise the matter at the expense of ignoring it is an act of loyalty and compliance with whistleblowing policy.
Ashley Santiago Ruiz
Accountant
References
Bazerman, M. H., & Gino, F. (2012). Behavioral ethics: Toward a deeper understanding of moral judgment and dishonesty. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 8, 85-104.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10996807/bazerman_gino_beh-ethics-toward_annual-review_dec2012 ?sequence=1
Madden, T. M. (2019). Law and Strategy and Ethics. Geo. J. Legal Ethics, 32, 181. Comment by Rita Kane: Inaccessible. Exact URL/link must be provided which produces full article (not just an abstract).
Miethe, T. (2019). Whistleblowing at work: Tough choices in exposing fraud, waste, and abuse on the job. Routledge. Comment by Rita Kane: See, above comment.
This is a book. What pages were used?
Ashley,
Please see the attached, graded Memo for more detailed feedback.
Your format and overall tone are excellent. The recommendations and law to support your disclosure are comprehensive. The other topics are incomplete for the reasons stated. Also, you must provide complete and accessible referencing for all sources used. This includes page numbers, and URLs/links to access the full article/text used. (The content of the paper must be original summarization by you to earn full credit and this is confirmed upon review of the references provided. Confirmation cannot be completed in the absence of completely referenced and/or verifiable sources.) Otherwise, good work.
Grading Rubric
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F |
C |
B |
A |
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0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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Did not Submit |
No Pass |
Competence |
Proficiency |
Mastery |
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Not Submitted |
Used unclear verbiage about the ethical concerns in the given business situation to be given to the CEO. |
Adequately identified the ethical concerns in the given business situation to be given to the CEO. |
Clearly identified the ethical concerns in the given business situation to be given to the CEO. |
Comprehensively identified the ethical concerns in the given business situation to be given to the CEO in a well-written corporate memo. |
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Used unclear verbiage about the relationship between ethics and law in business (including consequences when either is violated) to be given to the CEO. |
Adequately explained the relationship between ethics and law in business (including consequences when either is violated) to be given to the CEO. |
Clearly explained the relationship between ethics and law in business (including consequences when either is violated) to be given to the CEO. |
Comprehensively explained the relationship between ethics and law in business (including consequences when either is violated) to be given to the CEO in a well-written corporate memo. |
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Used unclear verbiage about both a personal resolution and a law to support you in reporting this situation to the CEO. |
Adequately provided both a personal resolution and a law to support you in reporting this situation to the CEO. |
Clearly provided both a personal resolution and a law to support you in reporting this situation to the CEO. |
Comprehensively provided both a personal resolution and a law to support you in reporting this situation to the CEO in a well-written corporate memo. |
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Failed to use or attribute credible sources in the corporate memo. |
Used and attributed some credible sources in the corporate memo. |
Used and attributed mostly credible sources in the corporate memo. |
Used and attributed all credible sources in a well- written corporate memo. |