Late one Thursday afternoon, Rob Munny, a veteran audit manager with a regional CPA firm, was reviewing the firm, Quick Transport. The year-end audit was scheduled to begin Monday.For several months, the economy had been in a down cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the transportation industry was particularly hard hit. Quick's financial results would not be pleasant news to shareholders. However, what Rob saw in the preliminary statements made him concerned.Results were much worse than he feared.

"Larry (the company president) already is in the doghouse with shareholders," Rob thought to himself. "When they see these numbers, they'll have a vote of no-confidence."

"I wonder if he's considered some strategic accounting changes," he thought, after reflecting on the situation quite a bit by changing inventory methods from LIFO to FIFO or reconsidering some of the estimates used in other areas."

1. How would the actions contemplated contribute toward "softening" the bad news?
2. Do you perceive an ethical dilemma? What would be the likely impact of following up on Rob's thoughts? Who would benefit? Who would be injured?