The following relates to the Menendez - Halliburton situation described in the text.
(a) How would you characterize Halliburton's accounting for revenue from ethical and professional perspectives?
(b) Once KPMG learned that Menendez had provided a complaint to Halliburton's audit committee highlighting questionable accounting and auditing practices, the KPMG audit partner instructed the audit team members to avoid communications with Menendez. How would you characterize those actions ethically and professionally?