Mac Ericson and Tammy Ferguson met at an IMA conference 2 months ago and began dat¬

ing. Mac is the controller for Longley Enterprises, and Tammy is a marketing manager for Sharp Products. Longley is a major supplier for Piura Products, a major competitor of Sharp's. Longley has entered into a long-term agreement to supply certain materials to Piura.

Piura has been developing a JIT purchasing and manufacturing system. As part of its de¬

velopment, Piura and Longley have established EDI capabilities. The following conversa¬

tion took place during a luncheon engagement:

TAMMY: Mac, I understand that you have EDI connections with Piura. Is that right?

MAC: Sure. It's part of the partners-in-profits arrangement that we have worked so hard to get. It's working real well. Knowing Piura's production schedule helps us stabilize our own schedule. It has actually cut some of our overhead costs. It has also decrea.sed Piura's costs. 1 estimate that we both have decreased production costs by about 7%-10%.

TAMMY: That's interesting. You know, 1 have a real chance of getting promoted to VP of marketing ...

MAC: Hey, that's great! When will you know?

TAMMY: It all depends on this deal that I am trying to cut with Balboa—if I win the con¬

tract, then I think 1 have it. My main problem is with Piura. If 1 knew what their produc¬

tion schedule was, I could get a pretty good idea as to how long it would take them to de¬

liver. 1 could then make sure that we beat their delivery offer—even if we had to work overtime and do all kinds of expediting. I know that how fast we can deliver is very im¬
portant to Balboa. Our quality is as good as Piura's—but they tend to beat us on delivery time. My boss would love to lick Piura. They have beaten us too many times recently. I am wondering if you would be willing to help me out.
MAC: Tammy, you know that 1 would help if I could, but Piura's production schedule is confidential information. If word got out that I had leaked that kind of stuff to you, I would be history.
TAMMY: Well, no one would ever know. Besides I have already had a chat with Tom An¬
derson, who is our CEO. Our VP of finance is retiring. He knows about you and your ca¬
pabilities. I think he would be willing to hire you—especially if he knew that you helped swing this Balboa deal. You could increase your salary by 40%.
MAC: I don't know. I have my doubts about the propriety of all this. It might look kind of funny if I take over as VP of finance not long after Piura loses the Balboa deal. But a VP po¬
sition and a big salary increase are tempting. It's unlikely that I'll ever have a shot at the VP position in my company.
TAMMY: Think it over. If you are interested. I'll arrange a dirmer with Tom Anderson. He said he'd like to meet you. He knows a little about this. I'm sure that he has the ability to keep it quiet. I don't think there is much risk.
Required:
1. Based on the above information, has Mac violated any of the IMA standards of ethical conduct? Explain.
2. Suppose that Mac decides to provide information in exchange for the VP position. What IMA standards has he violated?