James is a charted accountant at Golden Electronics Bhd. The company operates the business in Muar, Johor and involves in manufacturing of electronic appliances. The company currently has recorded total sales of RM20 million. It is the end of the first quarter 2021. James is hurriedly attempting to prepare a financial statement so that quarterly interim financial reports can be prepared and released to the board of directors and the regulatory agencies. While finalizing the accounts, he found that the total credits on the trial balance exceeded the debits by RM3,600. In order to meet the deadline, James decides to force the debits and credits into balance by adding the amount of the discrepancies to the Equipment account. He chose Equipment because it is one of the larger account balances; percentage-wise, it will be least misstated. James plugs the discrepancies! He believes that the discrepancies will not affect anyones decision. He wishes that he had another few days to find the error but realizes that the financial statements are already late.

Required:

1. Determine three stakeholders in this scenario? Discuss the significance of these stakeholders in the above scenario. (6 marks)

2. Critically discuss the ethical issues involved in this scenario? (10 marks)

3. What are Jamess alternatives to overcome his problem? Discuss at least three alternatives.

(9 marks)