Ethics in Accountancy Case Analysis
Case 2-5: Eating Time

1. Frame the ethical issue: Should Kevin Lowe “eat time” by taking work home and not record the time? 2. Gathering all the facts: * Kevin Lowe is a new staff accountant at Stooges LLP * Kevin took 50% longer to complete audit work than his predecessor. * Stooges LLP is on a fixed budget for these audits. * Bo Chambers and Moe Chambers are partners supervising Kevin. * Bo and Mo explicitly say that they do not want Kevin to cut down on the work he does. * Bo and Mo will not directly tell Kevin to “eat hours”. * Bo and Mo do explicitly say that it is up to Kevin to decide how to increase his productivity. * Bo and Mo also imply that
* The Six Pillars of Character establish an ethical standard of behavior towards all stakeholders 1. Trustworthiness: Kevin will not be trustworthy by lying about his actual hours. 2. Respect: Kevin will not respect the AICPA standards and the official rules of Stooges LLC if he lies about his hours. 3. Responsibility: Kevin will not be fulfilling his responsibility of “due care” to the client and Stooges LLC if he under reports his actual hours. 4. Fairness: Kevin will not be “Fair” to his employer and co-workers if he under reports his hours and perpetuates an inaccurate budget. 5. Caring: Kevin will not be caring of his co-workers and Stooges LLC by allowing a false budget to be perpetuated. 6. Citizenship: Kevin will be exhibiting good “Citizenship” if he were to not follow company policies prohibiting “eating hours”. 5. Identify the operational issues: * Do Bo and Moe expect Kevin to “eat hours”? * Is Kevin’s positive performance review based on his “eating hours”? * Will Kevin promotion or other future benefit depend on his “eating hours”? * Does Kevin possess the skills and professional knowledge to accomplish his work in a reasonable amount of time? * Are there effective Human Resource practices at the firm to deal with unprofessional behavior? 6. Identify the accounting and auditing issues: * Since the case does not deal with financial