Why ethics is a fundamental business concept Accounting is an information system that identifies, records, and communicates the economic events of an organization to interested users. Because of the confidential nature to which the creating and maintaining of these reports are handled, honesty and integrity are highly regarded traits of the hospitality professional accountant. Professional ethics, or the standards of conduct to which actions are judged to be right or wrong, depends on the honesty of the individuals you deal with as a manager of a business. For this paper, assume you are the Director of Operations for a hypothetical chain of 24 mid-service roadside motels. The CEO of the chain has sent you a memo stating that he would like to replace the current accounting firm that handles all the operational accounting for the firm. The reason he has decided that their services are no longer needed was not made evident to you in the memo. However, you suspect it may have something to do with the fact that their accounting practices were brought up as "questionable" at last month's operations meeting, where the last cycle's income statements were openly discussed and examined by upper management. The CEO further outlines in his memo that he wishes for you to begin researching new accounting firms. Write a letter addressed to the CEO, Days Inn of America outlining how you propose to value ethical conduct when interviewing prospective companies. In your letter, you should include/address the following areas: 

1. Your "personal" philosophy on ethics as a fundamental business concept 

2. How do you plan on identifying and analyzing the principle elements of business ethics within the prospective accounting firms (be specific) 

3. How do you plan to ensure the non-ethical conduct of the previous firm will not happen again (internal control measures) specifically under three headings:

 

• a. Cost analysis
• b. Analysis of new contracts
• c. Participation in efforts to control expenses efficiently

4. An analysis of what challenges you anticipate facing during this project?