At least 25 companies have paid bonuses worth a combined $24.3 million to their executives after claiming JobKeeper subsidies, an analysis of the financial reports of 290 entities on the ASX 300 has found.

The analysis of Australia's largest publicly-listed companies was conducted by corporate governance advisory Ownership Matters. It comes after Jennifer Westacott, the chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, this week called on companies to refrain from paying executive bonuses if they are receiving JobKeeper payments.

"Companies should not be paying executive bonuses if they are receiving JobKeeper," Ms Westacott said. "It wasn't designed for that. It was designed to keep people working."

The Ownership Matters report also questioned the practice of companies paying dividends to shareholders (including foreign shareholders) after receiving JobKeeper and other government subsidies. For instance, it noted Accent Group received roughly $25 million in total government subsidies and paid out $23 million in dividends. It reported that Qube Holdings received $19.4 million in total government subsidies and paid out $43.3 million in final dividends.

The four largest recipients Qantas ($267 million), Crown Resorts ($111 million), G8 Education ($86 million) and Star Entertainment Group ($65 million) have accounted for over half of all JobKeeper payments amongst the group.

Companies with more than $1 billion a year in turnover had to show a 50 per cent drop in revenue at the start of the pandemic to claim the subsidy, rather than the 30 per cent fall required for smaller firms.

While Qantas is the largest recipient of JobKeeper and other government subsidies on the ASX 300, its chief executive Alan Joyce has said he would not be taking a salary and no bonuses would be paid to the airline's executives this year.

He has also asked executive staff to take a 15 per cent pay cut.

Source: Hutchens (2020). JobKeeper recipients paying millions in bonuses to their executives, research reveals. ABC News. Available: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-10/25-companies-paid-executives-bonuses-despite-claiming-jobkeeper/12647688

Required

Imagine you are the Chief Executive of Qantas. Identify and apply the five steps of the ethical decision-making framework to the case to explain his decision in not taking salary or bonus.

1. What is the ethical issue? (2 marks)

2. What are the facts? (3 marks)

3. What are the alternative actions and how are they evaluated against four different ethical approaches (consequence-based, action-based, rights, and fairness approach)? (8 marks)

4. What is the recommended course of action and why? (4 marks)

5. How should the decision be implemented? (3 marks)