YOU have just graduated from Deakin as an accounting and finance graduate. During your time at Deakin, you were organised and diligent with your studies and thus graduated with flying colours. This resulted in you receiving an offer as an accountant from one of the emerging vaccine start-up enterprises in Australia. You have always wanted to work for a start-up because you believe you can attain new skills by getting involved in various tasks. You also appreciate the opportunity to be empowered and the authority to make decisions when required. You find that all the effort you put into study, CVs, applications and interviews had finally paid off. At last, the start of the career path that you were hoping for!

Induction was terrific and the working environment is something you have been dreaming of: flexible hours, results oriented, has its own mini arcade/game room, and has attractive compensation packages. To help familiarise you with your role and the firm's culture, the finance team leader, James, is assigned to you as your mentor. You and James work very well together. Over a water cooler talk, you learnt that the founder of the company, Dock, is informally known as "Take no prisoners Dock". Despite this, you are unfazed and ready for a challenge although you know it will be demanding.

The sudden outbreak of Coronavirus resulted in the surge in demand for a Coronavirus vaccine worldwide. Dock quickly realised the company would be significantly benefited should it manage to find an effective vaccine. He decided to seize the opportunity by diverting a large amount of resources into researching and developing the vaccine.

In one of the monthly get together sessions, Dock also shared that the company had successfully persuaded the government to fund the company's Coronavirus vaccine research activities. The fund will be released in stages in accordance with the progress of the vaccine development. Dock claimed that "with the funding, it means that the company could realise endless gains if the vaccine is successfully developed with little costs on our end".

Dock then continued with a big smile, "I also have other good news for everyone. If the research on the vaccines goes well, we are on track to list our company on the stock exchange and every one of you will be entitled to employee stocks." The announcement quickly caused a burst of excitement among staff members.

Months passed and the company was featured in major media outlets for having promising results in developing the vaccine. According to the report, the company had tested on more than 1,000 people and more than 90% of the people had been prevented from getting Covid-19. The start-up also intended to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of the year. Surprisingly, this success story was not widely discussed within the organization and you only got to know from the media.

Meanwhile, it is the busiest time of the year for the finance team because the annual financial report has to be prepared. You are assigned to assist James and the team in preparing the company's financial statement. James personally handled the revenue section of the financial report and throughout the process, you find that Dock is very hands-on with the preparation of the report, although you know Dock has no accounting or finance background. "Well, maybe as a start-up, it's no surprise to see the founder be so hands-on", you think.

After imputing all the final values and information given to you, you find that the company had enormous profits, beyond what a comparable start-up would have earned. You are blown away and immediately share the great news with James. That evening, Dock, accompanied by James, comes by and gives you a pat on the shoulder. "Well done, keep up the good work", said Dock joyfully. As they leave, you overhear the tail end of the conversation between Dock and James. You think you hear "...on track...publicly listed..."

The following morning, you're asked by Dock to assist your team members because James is on emergency leave. Although disappointed with the request since you are occupied with the task of completing the financial report, you decide to help them as a sign of collegiality. You realise that the other team members are assigned to prepare the necessary documents for the company to be publicly listed. Therefore, they need you to arrange some documents on the company's revenue as well as reports from the lab.

You access the accounting system in order to retrieve the information on the company's revenue. If it wasn't because you were asked to help in preparing the required documents, you wouldn't have come across the records and documents related to the company's revenue since they were solely handled by James. You find that the company may be entitled to the remaining grants of $50 million from the government but they have not yet been paid to the company. Furthermore, the remaining grants will only be paid if the company is able to fulfill the conditions attached to the grants, namely, having 70-90 percent success in developing the vaccine.

As you investigate further, you also find that the unreceived grants have already been recognised as revenues of the company in its latest financial report and are the main reason for the company's enormous profit compared to its industry peers. You are surprised to find this as the timing of revenue recognition is improper and thus the latest financial report which you assisted in preparing may not be correct.

As if that's not enough, you also receive a report from the lab. The report states that the vaccine was tested on only 96 people and the effectiveness of the vaccine remains unknown. It soon becomes clear to you that the 90 percent effectiveness rate reported in the media was a result of this small group of patients accidentally being given the wrong dose of vaccine. This group was generally younger, and the vaccine is generally found to not work so well in older people. As a result, the company was far from achieving success in rolling out a reliable and effective vaccine. You wonder how this is possible, given the start-up was featured by media outlets for its promising outcomes. You're surprised and disappointed, but you think it's only right to clarify the issues with James or Dock.

You approach Dock and raise your concerns. He tells you to "take it easy, it's all good". You're unhappy with the response and push for further explanations. Dock seems to be irritated and says "Look, we're in the process of getting ourselves publicly listed. We are doing what is needed and there is nothing more I need to explain to you. Being a young and promising staff member, be smart and adaptive. I only can say, it's all good for now and everyone is excited that the company is going public. You wouldn't want to be the party pooper, would you?"

That evening, you receive a phone call from James. "I have such great news to share with you! I am a father now!" You're very happy on his behalf and congratulate James. While you want to share what had happened with Dock, and seek clarification, you feel it isn't the right time to do so. As the conversation continues, you understand that James will be absent from the office for the next couple of months and he indicated that he is looking forward to cashing-in the employee stocks to support his newborn.

You are now faced with a difficult dilemma with a range of issues. You feel you need to make use of all your training and education in ethics to reach and justify a responsible and ethical decision. What do you do?

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