Don$$t$-$Cha$-$Wanna$-$a$-$Coffee, a large$-$scale coffee company, has a chain of $125$ retail coffee stores throughout New England that sells coffee and other related products. $3$ years ago, the BOD $($Board of Directors$)$ approved a revamping of all the stores to update them to be more modern. Their intent was to make the retail stores trendier so they could be competitive with Starbucks. Before the revamp was finalized, Jim Jamaica James, the assistant financial controller, was asked to oversee the financial reporting for the $10$ test stores that was piloting the new revamped look. Jim and his team were offered cash incentives based on the sales growth and profitability of the $10$ pilot stores. While Jim was excitedly $($he had already booked a vacation with his share of the projected cash incentive that he was anticipating$)$ completing the financial reports for the $10$ pilot stores, he learned that there was a sizable amount of inventory that consisted of thousands of dollars of outdated products that should have been returned to the manufacturer or sold at a deep discount if it had been too late to return to manufacturer

for a refund. Despondently, he had a meeting with his team, and they all agreed to ignore the obsolete inventory because reporting it would cause the financial results to be less than stellar, which would then in turn negatively affect their cash incentive. He was so excited after the meeting because he still would be taking that planned tropical vacation!

Required: Answer the following questions:

A$.$ Was it ethical for Jim not to have reported the obsolete inventory according to the Institute of Management Accountants Statement of Ethical Practice?

B$.$ Which principles were not in compliance with the IMA$$s Statement of Ethical Practice because of the team$$s decision?

C$.$ Why did you choose the principles reported in B$?$

$$ How hard would it have been for Jim to have taken the ethical approach in this situation?

$$ Explain what most likely was the outcome from the team$$s decision.