This is my Ethics and professional relationships subject.

QUESTION 1

I need your advice on an anonymous basis. I am a professional accountant employed by a company that imports bikes from China. Before I get into the issue, I wish to advise you that I really need this job, as I am a single mother of two teenagers, and jobs like the one I have are hard to come by in the area where I live.

I recently discovered that the company exploits a loophole in importation laws to avoid paying the mandatory import duty on the bikes it imports. Last week, the president of the company asked me to make and provide him with a statement of the duty avoided on the purchase of these bikes for the past three years. He also asked that I sign off on this statement. When I told him that I wasn't entirely comfortable with signing the statement, he immediately moved the discussion to our annual bonuses and how they are dependent upon good performance evaluations.

The statement that I prepared and presented to him showed that approximtely $200,000 in customs duties has been avoided by the company in the period covered.

Since I prepared that statement, I am having trouble sleeping at night.

[Adapted from Brooks & Dunn (2018), Business and Professional Ethics for Directors, Executives & Accountants, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA]

Required:

Explain how theCode of Ethics for Professional Accountantscan be applied to this case.

Your answer should include reference to both the fundamental principles and the conceptual framework approach.

Apart from direct quotes,