In February 2014, General Motors (GM) announced a defect in the ignition switches in the Chevrolet Cobalt and the Pontiac G5 and recalled 800,000 cars for repair of the switch. Since then, several million additional GM vehicles have been recalled for the same problem. The defect in the ignition switch was first discovered in 2005 and some switches were redesigned for new vehicles, but autos were not recalled until February 2014. During this time there were 13 deaths and 54 crashes attributed to the defect. There has been much speculation and congressional testimony about the delay of almost 10 years from the time the defect was first discovered until the 2014 announcement.

Required

1. What is the management accountant's responsibility under the IMA Statement of Professional Ethics in situations like this?

2. Why do you suppose there was such a delay in the announcement of recalls?

3. What would be the effect of the delay on the value of the GM brand?