Scenario Summary

You have been invited to attend a meeting where your immediate supervisor will be presenting a draft of detailed financial projections to the chief financial officer and a subsequent meeting with the company president. Youve not been involved in the preparation of the analysis thus far but understand that you might have some tasks delegated to you after the meeting. In addition, you realize that the company is at a critical juncture from issues such as high attrition of the accounting staff, current economic conditions, and increased competition.

Your Role/Assignment

You have recently been hired in the fairly small accounting department of a corporate business. The department is so small, in fact, that you may be called on at times for tasks ranging from simple bookkeeping, to preparation of financial statements and projections, and to perhaps even filling-in on the internal audit staff. One of your first responsibilities is to assist a senior level accountant with a detailed financial projection after input from the chief financial officer and the president of the company.

Activity

You need to draft a summary of how you will handle the situation. Specific questions that should be addressed are:

Do you feel that there might be an ethical issue present? For the moment, assume that no laws have been broken and just focus on any possible ethical issues.

If you were going to report a suspected ethical issue, how would you do so? For instance, to whom would you report? Would you discuss the matter with anyone first?

Would the manner in which you respond vary depending on whether this corporation was privately held or publicly traded?

Does the fact that you have only been recently hired play into your decisions?

What possible sources of guidance might be available from a professional organization and/or your states regulatory body overseeing the accounting profession?

Lastly, please assume that you suspect that some state or federal laws have been broken. The problems might be beyond just a possible ethical issue, in other words. Would this change your handling of the situation?

After reading through the You Decide activity and considering the questions listed here, please prepare a paper in APA format. The paper should include responses to the specific questions posed above but you may include other points if you so desire. The paper should be doublespaced, 11-point or 12-point type, and between 750 and 1,000 words (3 to 4 pages).

Jim Adotar

Senior Accountant

We were up most of the night working on these projections. It was sure nice to have some help with the Excel. As you can see, were projecting a return to positive cash flow by early next year. We need to refine some of the assumptions but hopefully we have explained the key factors adequately.

Week 3 You Decide Transcript

ACCT601_You_Decide_Transcript_Week_3.docx Page 2

Stan Fazer

Chief Financial Officer

It looks like the two of you have done a great job in preparing the projections. We can go ahead and discuss them with the companys president. Just remember to not mention any issues about our accounts receivable and our allowance accounts. We need new bank financing and the less said about past issues the better!

Lana Leal

Company President

Im glad the three of you are coordinating this exercise. Thats one less item on my to do list. Ive promised the loan officer at the bank that Ill have a package to them by early next week. Im relying on you as a team to meet that deadline with a set of projections that is realistic and achievable.