You work for a local CPA firm and have been part of the team preparing tax returns for Cement Co., a non-publicly traded company, for several years now (your firm also provides some audit services to Cement Co. too). You have just learned from an ex-CPA in your firm that Cement Co. maintained a second set of books, and roughly $1 million of gross receipt has not hit their tax return for the last 3 years. Concerned with the protecting Cement Co.s investors and your reputation as their return preparer, you decide to take action. Discuss what steps you could take to blow the whistle about Cement Co.s actions (including to whom and how), and any other moral or legal issues blowing the whistle would create.

How would your answer change if Cement Co. was a publicly traded company?

Assuming still that Cement Co. is a private company, you have made the decision not to blow the whistle. A few months after you learned of the second set of books, Cement Co.s CFO comes to you. He asks for your help in destroying documents related to the second set of books because the IRS has recently begun an investigation into Cement Co.s gross income. When you hesitate, he says, Well, maybe its about time that we discuss the renewal of our audit engagement contract with your firm Discuss any legal and moral issues created by these facts, and how you would address them.