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The Milner Ethical Decision-Making Case

Scott Milner had worked hard all his life (all twenty-two years of it) and now, seemingly,

everything was coming together for him. In one month, May 17th, to be precise, he would

graduate with honors from the five-year accounting program at Midwest University (MU). After

traveling in Europe with a couple of old high school buddies, Scott was scheduled to start in his

dream job on August 1st. For as long as he could remember Scott had wanted to be a CPA and

he felt fortunate to have landed a position on the audit staff of the prestigious public accounting

firm of Debits Credits and Moore (DCM). However, even though it looked like everything was

going his way, Scott was not a happy young man as his college graduation approached. He was

troubled because, for the first time in his life, he was not one hundred percent sure he knew what

he wanted to do. He was having second thoughts about his decision to work for DCM and pursue

a career in public accounting. In fact, he was seriously considering a different career path

altogether.

Scotts father was a CPA and Scott entered MU committed to becoming a CPA himself and

working for a big public accounting firm. He showed this interest early by becoming active in

the accounting club and signing up for the five-year accounting program in his sophomore year.

Starting his junior year Scott was excited by the prospects of pledging Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) and

interviewing for an internship position. His plan was to work during the second semester, the

famous busy season, with a large CPA firm to get a good taste of his chosen profession. He was

very disappointed when he didnt get an offer from any of the big firms he was interested in.

Instead, he settled for an internship with a small local CPA firm. During his work term Scott did

mostly tax work, which he found not very interesting, and a small amount of auditing, which he

loved. Overall, the internship was a good experience and Scott favorably impressed the

practicing CPAs he worked with. He knew he could do the work and was recommitted to doing

public accounting with a large firm.

In his senior year Scott took MUs auditing class. His interest in public accounting combined

with the brief auditing experience from his internship made this one of his favorite college

classes. Scott was now one hundred and ten percent sure of his career path. Also in his senior

year Scott became an officer in BAP. He was becoming a model student as evidenced by his

sense of direction about his future, his very good grades, and his good relationships with the

accounting faculty at MU.

Early in the first semester of his fifth year, Scott eagerly began interviewing for a full-time

position for after graduation. With his college record he was in a position to be rather selective

and he interviewed only with large public accounting firms. One in particular, DCM, impressed

Scott during the interview process. Although he talked to all of the big firms and, although they

all made offers to him, he decided early in the process that DCM was his dream job. DCM

gave him a very short acceptance period with their offer, but he didnt care. He accepted the

offer with the plan to start work in August after his graduation.

In the first semester of his fifth year Scott took Advanced Auditing as one of his accounting

electives. He loved the course and got even more fired up about his career plans. During the second semester Scott had another accounting elective to take. He chose Forensic Accounting. It

too was very interesting. In fact, it was very, very interesting. This is where Scotts troubles

began. With entry-level salaries hovering around $60,000 and demand increasing nearly one

hundred percent each year, it was easy for Scott to see why forensic accounting was the hottest

and fastest growing area in accounting. Scott had always known he wanted to do auditing work.

Now he started imagining how neat it would be to concentrate on fraud auditing and help

companies detect and prevent fraud and white-collar crime, design anti-fraud programs and

controls, meet regulatory requirements, and implement the corporate governance activities

required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Scott hoped that DCM offered opportunities in this field.

About half way through that semester BAP sponsored a speaker from CloserLook, the leading

forensic accounting firm in the Midwest. Scott attended the session, not because it was required

for his class, but because of his interest in the subject. The speaker, Laura Dawson, who

graduated from MU only two years earlier, fascinated the audience with story after story about

her experiences in fraud auditing at CloserLook. After the session, Scott approached Laura to

thank her for the presentation and tell her how interesting her job sounded. She suggested that if

he was interested in the work he should send a resume to CloserLook since they were always

looking for good people. A week later, Scott got a letter from Laura asking again if he would like

to send a resume. Since he had accepted a job with DCM he wasnt sure whether it was proper to

send a resume to CloserLook. However, he was simply too intrigued by the idea of working in

fraud auditing and he sent the resume. Two weeks later he got a letter from CloserLook inviting

him to Chicago for an office interview. Now Scott was in a panic. He was really interested in

CloserLook but he had committed to DCM. Not knowing what to do, he called Laura asking for

advice. She told him that if he came for an office visit, he probably would get an offer of

employment that same day. Scott neglected to tell Laura that he had accepted an offer from

DCM.

The Milner Fthical Decision-Making Case Scott Milner had worked hard all his life (all twenty-two years of it) and now, seemingly, everything was coming together for him. In one month. May 17 th, to be precise, he would graduate with hocors from the tive-year accounting program at Midwest University (MU). Affer traveling in Europe with a couple of old high school buddies, Scott was scheduled to start in his "dream job" on August 1st. For as long as he could remember Scott had wanted to be a CPA and he felt fortunate to have landed a position on the audit staff of the prestigious public accounting firm of Debits Credits and Moore (DCM). However, even though it looked like everything was going his way, Scott was not a happy young man as his collcge graduation approached. He was troubled becatuse. for the first time in his life. he was not one hundred percent sure he knew what he wanted to do. He was having second thoughts about his decision to work for DCM and parsue a career in public accounting. In fact, he was seriously considering a different career path altogether. Scott's father was a CPA and Scott entered MU committed to becoming a CPA himself and working for a big public accounting firm. He showed this interest carly by becoming active in the accounting club and signing up for the five-year accounting program in his sophomore year. Starting his junior year Scott was excited by the prospects of pledging Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) and interviewing for an internship position. His plan was to work during the second semester, the famous busy seavon, with a large CPA firm to get a good tate of his chosen profession. He was very disappointed when he didn't get an offer from any of the hig firms he was interested in. Instead, he settled for an internship with a small local CPA firm. During his work term Seon did mostly tax work, which he found not very intereting. and a small amount of auditing, which he loved. Overall, the internship was a good experience and Scott favorably impressed the practicing CPAs he worked with. He knew he coald do the work and was recommitted to doing public accounting with a large firm. In his senior year Scolt took MU's auditing class. His interest in public accounting combined with the brief auditing experienee from his internship made this one of his favorite college classes. Scont was now one hundred and ten percent sure of his career path. Also in his senior year Scott became an offeer in BAP. He was becoming a model student as evidenced by his sense of direction aboun his future, his very good grades, and his good relationships with the accounting faculty at MU. Early in the firs semester of his fifth year. Scott cagerly began interviewing for a full-time position for affer graduation. With his college record he was in a position to be rather selective and be interviewed only with large public accounting firms One in particular, DCM, impressed Scott during the interview process. Although he talked to all of the big firms and, although they all made offers to him, he decided early in the process that DCM was his "dream job. " DCM gave him a very short acceptance period with their offer, but he didn't care. He accepted the offer with the plan to stant work in August after his graduation. In the first semester of his fifth year Scott took Advanced Auditing as one of his accounting electives. He loved the course and got even more fired up about his career plans. During the second semester Scott had another accounting elective to take. He chose Forensic Accounting. It too was very interesting. In fact, it was very, very interesting. This is where Scott's troubles began. With entry-level salaries hovering around $60,000 and demand increasing nearly one hundred percent each year, it was easy for Scott to see why forensic accounting was the hottest and fastest growing area in accounting. Scott had always known he wanted to do auditing work. Now he started imagining how neat it would be to concentrate on fraud auditing and help companies detect and prevent fraud and white-collar crime, design anti-fraud programs and controls, meet regulatory requirements, and implement the corporate governance activities required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Scott hoped that DCM offered opportunities in this field. About half way through that semester BAP sponsored a speaker from CloserLook, the leading forensic accounting firm in the Midwest. Scott attended the session, not because it was required for his class, but because of his interest in the subject. The speaker, Laura Dawson, who graduated from MU only two years earlier, fascinated the audience with story after story about her experiences in fraud auditing at CloserLook. After the session, Scott approached Laura to thank her for the presentation and tell her how interesting her job sounded. She suggested that if he was interested in the work he should send a resume to CloserLook since they were always looking for good people. A week later, Scott got a letter from Laura asking again if he would like to send a resume. Since he had accepted a job with DCM he wasn't sure whether it was proper to send a resume to CloserLook. However, he was simply too intrigued by the idea of working in fraud auditing and he sent the resume. Two weeks later he got a letter from CloserLook inviting him to Chicago for an office interview. Now Scott was in a panic. He was really interested in CloserLook but he had committed to DCM. Not knowing what to do, he called Laura asking for advice. She told him that if he came for an office visit, he probably would get an offer of employment that same day. Scott neglected to tell Laura that he had accepted an offer from DCM