If I don't tell the President immediately of my error, the president may make more presentations to other brokerage firms. This will mean that more people or potential investors might buy the stock, basing their decision on your wrong budget.

If people soon found out about the error in the budget and it is material, it might affect your reputation and that of the President and the company. The SEC might even penalize the company for disclosing wrong information.

If I tell the President of my error immediately, he will have a chance to correct the error he made with the previous brokerage firms. Furthermore, he can make correct figures on his subsequent presentations to the next brokerage firms.

If I tell the President of my error, I might lose my job or get fired due to the error.

The stakeholders in this situation are the people involved. This includes the President and the company, whose reputations are at stake due to the error in the budget. You are also a stakeholder in this situation because you might get fired due to your error. Another stakeholder is the investing public, as they rely on the budget that the company discloses.

Ethical consideration for both the President and me is whether we should disclose the error made. Disclosing the error might mean that I will lose my job. On the other hand, if you don't disclose it, investors might use the wrong information. Furthermore, this might mean damage to your company's reputation, the president, and you if the error is subsequently discovered. The President admitted the error might cause him to lose face, but if he doesn't disclose it, it might be a bigger violation as he disclosed wrong info to the public.

answer this QUESTION

1. I agree that it is important to disclose the information and error because companies run on transparency. If you were in this position, what steps would you take once you discover the error? What would you do to prevent a big error like this from occurring in the future?