September 29, 2014
Journal Entry #1
The videos this week focused on ethics and unethical business practices. The videos that I focused on were the Interns video and the two videos pertaining to ethics in accounting. The video on interns showed that because they were not being watched they were over exaggerating the time the worked on their time sheets, took office supplies for personal use, spent company time texting and making personal phone calls, pawing off work onto others and used the clients to flirt and find dates. This is not only unethical but very unprofessional. The interns then used the company expense reports to obtain items that had nothing to do with the company. Working in an office I have sometimes seen other people use the companies time to go on social media sites, texts their friends or spend an extended amount of time on personal calls. In the end, the intern who did her job (and also sometimes the job of her colleagues) was the one to obtain a position, showing that hard work and doing your job properly can pay off!
The Ethics in Accounting video regarding Luke and Corey showed the proper way and improper way that things go on in the office. Luke siphoned money into his own accounts, took part in insider trading, and covered up a company problem in exchange for a payout. Corey on the other hand would not give into these things even when he was faced with the possibility of losing his job. If someone was watching over my money and things I would want it to be Corey as he appears to be an honest individual. It is because of people like Luke that people end up losing money, retirements, and jobs after companies close down for being caught.
The final Ethics in accounting video was more of an outline for what it means to be ethical and explained how accounting in the central part of a business and needs to be run properly in order to succeed. Enron and WorldCom, cost people their jobs, retirement and eventually sent those in charge to prison. Sarbanes-Oxley of 2002 helps to ensure that people have more hours of ethics training under their belt because contrary to belief, studies show that ethics can be learned. With an increase in checks and balances you can prevent scandals and help make employees more aware of ethical decisions. Signing off on financial statements puts the executives responsible and thus requires that they take more of an interest in the accounting process. Bringing in outside auditors helps to check for accuracy and make sure the accounts are complete.
These videos not only showed the consequences but watching them made you realize that you can hurt others by your actions. Eventually all of these people were caught for their wrong actions. In order to succeed, a person needs to know only know what they are doing but be ethical in their decision making. There will be times in your career where you can make the wrong decision but knowing how to be ethical or what the right decision is can ultimately help you!
October 16, 2014
Journal Entry #2 Ethical behavior is needed in order to keep your business running smoothly and to keep your employees happy. When reviewing the information for ethical decision making, I thought of my day or working in a bar for a shift. During a shift at my bar the only rules are do not drink while on duty and do not give away free drinks. Once a bartender begins to drink this may affect their decision making skills. Not only is the bartender usually not paying for what they are drinking (which means the owner is losing money) but once they begin to drink they may pass out free shots, forget to get customer money, or improperly ring money into the register. At the end of the shift when a bartender counts out their drawer you may run into the problem that they are having minor difficulties keeping money straight and the drawer ends up being off, either that they over charge or under charge for drinks. There also arises the problem where the staff may not be