CT5.5 Scott Bestor is an accountant for Westfield Company. Early this year, Scott made a highly favorable projection of sales and net income over the next 3 years for Westfields hot-selling computer PLEX. Based on the projections Scott presented to senior management, the company decided to expand production in this area. This decision led to dislocations of some factory personnel, who were reassigned to one of the companys newer factories in another state. However, no one was fired, and in fact the company expanded its workforce slightly.

Unfortunately, Scott rechecked his projection computations a few months later and found that he had made an error that would have reduced his projections substantially. Luckily, sales of PLEX have exceeded projections so far, and management is satisfied with its decision. Scott, however, is not sure what to do. Should he confess his honest mistake and jeopardize his possible promotion? He suspects that no one will catch the error because PLEX sales have exceeded his projections, and it appears that net income will materialize close to his projections.

Instructions

a) Who are the stakeholders in this situation? b) Identify the ethical issues involved in this situation. c) What are the possible alternative actions for Scott? What would you do in Scotts position?