You are a mid-level manager of the finance department of a large, but still privately-owned company which as of yet does not publicly trade its stock.The company makes and sells a wide variety of consumer products and has annual sales of $250 million.

From time to time you have been made aware of the fact the family who owns the controlling interest in the company may decide to take the company public given the fact the founding generation of the family would like to retire comfortably and the younger two generations involved would like spending money to cover the cost of their respective lifestyles.The youngest generation (being in its early 20's) wishes to live in an upscale community without connection to the business. So it wants cash now to facilitate its desire to avoid having to work too hard, if at all. The middle generation has incurred substantial debt to pay for its kids' college expenses and has a big mortgage to boot.Its need for cash is plain to see. Nothing has yet been definitely decided about going public since the founders are only in their mid 60's and are still active in the business.

One day you accidentally over hear an upper-level manager in a different department within the finance group (a peer of your supervisor) tell a peer of yours (mid-level manager) in a supposedly private meeting that what the CFO doesn't know won't hurt him or the company relative to a financial concern raised by your peer in that discussion.Obviously, you are concerned about the implications of that discussion, but you lack any specific information to determine if any significant problem is truly present.Could that discussion suggest a problem that might affect the good standing of your company and hence any future offering of the stock?You also wonder about the other stakeholders that might be affected beyond just the stockholders.

While you wish the company had an anonymous tip line, you know that avenue is not available to you since none exists.What course of action would you take and why?Be sure to include in your response an identification of all possible affected stakeholders, all possible alternative actions, your proposed action and the ethical theory that best supports your decision after comparing and contrasting relevant ethical theories.