Joseph Rodriquez is the controller of the Ceramics Division (CD) of Northeastern Company. Rodriquez reports directly to the CD general manager, Susan Czeisla. One of Rodriquez's responsibilities is obtaining data from all CD department managers to prepare annual budgets. The current year's budget reflects a CD sales increase of 8% over last year, compared with the usual 4% to 6% annual sales increases experienced in the past. The CD sales manager has assured Rodriquez that the 8% increase is attainable, and the CD production manager has pointed out that the plant operated at only 75% of capacity last year, so ample production capacity is available to sustain the planned sales increase.
Required:
(1) Which of the 15 responsibilities in the Standards of Ethical Conduct apply to Rodriquez's situation?
(2) What might Rodriquez have done differently to avoid or mitigate this problem?
(3) In addition to his ethical responsibilities to CD, what other ethical responsibilities does Rodriquez need to consider?