Julie has been working at David Corporation as an accountant. She has passed on some useful contact details of clients to her husband who owns a marketing agency. He will only use this information to target them for advertising purposes. Her manager Tom, has approached her and asked her to defer a transaction that will significantly increase profit until next year. A bonus will be received if profits hit a certain level in the current financial year. This may also increase her chances of promotion in the company.

The company has to undergo an audit. Julies sister Ana is the auditor at that audit firm. In fact, Julie has put forward the recommendation for audit when Ana insisted her. Both sisters have decided to remain silent on this audit process.

A junior accountant Sam, has noticed a misstatement in the financial report and reported this to Tom. Sam has been pressured by Tom not to alert senior management about this misstatement, and fears that he will be demoted or loose his job if he will report it. Sam did not go against his manager because he has a family to look after and a mortgage to pay. Especially provided the current job market during COVID-19, it will be hard for him to find another job.

Required:

Identify and describe the ethical issues present in the above scenario, and relate them to the facts of the case.