Tom Holton has a far too busy personal life to work overtime. To make certain that work does not interfere with his other plans, he tests only part of the assigned sample. For example, if he is asked to test 25 cash disbursement transactions, he tests the first 15 but indicates that he has tested all 25. Tom never comes across any problems and due to his ability to beat the time budget he has been given several recognition rewards. One partner has told him that employees like him are highly valued—ensuring that audit engagements are profitable is very important to the firm. A supervisor, curious about Tom’s amazing ability to beat the time budget, decides to carefully redo Tom’s work. The supervisor concludes that Tom is signing off procedures without completing them. She immediately reports this to the partner in charge of the audit engagement.

REQUIRED
a. Using the ethical decision framework, analyze the situation and recommend what the partner should do.
b. Explain how rationalizations and ethical blindspots may have played a role in Tom’s decision to test only part of the assigned sample.
c. Assume the partner discovers that Tom has a child who is extremely ill and Tom is the primary caregiver. Would this change your previous recommendation in Part a? Why or why not?