Category: Accounting

If you were an upper-level manager at Walmart, what kinds of decisions would you expect to make regarding the company’s challenges?As a company executive, would you try to increase employee benefits? Why or why not?

Walmart: “Save Money. Live Better.”

Thousands of Walmart’s U.S. employees are also reported to be receiving public assistance to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the Walton family, operators of the retailer that purports to help people “live better,” recently made $12.7 billion in a single day.

Critical Thinking

If you were an upper-level manager at Walmart, what kinds of decisions would you expect to make regarding the company’s challenges?

As a Walmart manager, how would you view the company’s relationships with its stakeholders, including its employees? How would that view guide your decision-making?

As a company executive, would you try to increase employee benefits? Why or why not?

Identify your core values. What are your core values? Using the information in The Ultimate Guide to Writing Your Own Mission Statement –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M&feature=emb_title

Using the information obtained from the Reflective Writing resources craft a reflection paper focused on your core values, personal mission statement. Use the process in in Table 11. (https://andyandrews.com/personal-mission-statement/)

Identify your core values. What are your core values? Using the information in The Ultimate Guide to Writing Your Own Mission Statement
–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M&feature=emb_title

and the TedTalk: How to know your life purpose in 5 minutes draft a personal mission statement. Draft an entrepreneurial mission statement for a future organization.

What effect did the fact that the written record did not disclose all characteristics of the transaction probably have on the auditor’s ability to evaluate the accounting treatment of this transaction?

Answer the following questions.

Who are the stakeholders in this situation?

Do you think that a lender, in general, in arranging so-called “structured financing” has a responsibility to ensure that its clients account for the financing in an appropriate fashion, or is this the responsibility of the client and its auditor?

What effect did the fact that the written record did not disclose all characteristics of the transaction probably have on the auditor’s ability to evaluate the accounting treatment of this transaction?
The NY Times article noted that in one presentation made to sell this kind of deal to Enron and other companies, Citigroup stated that using such an arrangement “eliminates the need for capital markets disclosure, keeping structure mechanics private.”

Why might a company wish to conceal the terms of a financing arrangement from the capital markets (investors and creditors)?
Is this appropriate?

Do you think it is ethical for a lender to market deals in this way?
Thoroughly explain all of the following Category One Professional Competencies using the assigned WileyPLUS Problem – CT10.11:

What industry do you plan to pursue a career in? How do you anticipate this field will change over the next 5 years? What are the ethical challenges that you may encounter as this field evolves (this may require limited internet research, don’t get too bogged down in it)?

Module 09: Reflection Paper #9: Ethical Issues in a Changing Work Environment
Current Career is in Accounting for a property management company.

Using the information obtained from the Reflective Writing resources craft a reflection paper focused on the ethical challenges associated with evolving work environments. What industry do you plan to pursue a career in? How do you anticipate this field will change over the next 5 years? What are the ethical challenges that you may encounter as this field evolves (this may require limited internet research, don’t get too bogged down in it)? How would you approach those issues? Think about where you might draw your line in the sand.

Do people actually like being gig workers, or has the economy forced them into it, sometimes by taking second and third jobs?

Ethics at Work – Driven

Gig Work
Have you ever been a gig worker? A recent study found that 37 percent of U.S. workers participate in the gig economy, and government and other estimates say 40 percent will be working outside traditional full-time jobs by 2020. Clearly the gig economy is not a fad. The issue is often whether it benefits only the company or also the worker. Do people actually like being gig workers, or has the economy forced them into it, sometimes by taking second and third jobs?

A national survey by the Freelancers Union found that two in three of the 55 million U.S. workers who freelanced in 2016 did so because they wanted to, not because they were forced to; the other one-third did it out of necessity.70 (Links to an external site.) Although motivations for gig work may vary, it is clear that employers are benefitting. Of course, part-time contract workers are not new. What is new is the way gig work has spread to many white-collar professions. Here are two examples.

Discuss how the chosen code of ethics can guide logical decision-making and provides two specific examples.

The paper should consist of an introduction, body (points below), and a conclusion.

Identify your profession, and a professional code of ethics for your profession.

Summarize at least three main points of the code, and how they apply to your career.

Explain the benefits of a code of ethics with two specific examples

Discuss how the chosen code of ethics can guide logical decision-making and provides two specific examples.

Demonstrate how the code of ethics can be applied to a specific ethical issue that could arise in your profession.

Demonstrate consistency of your clearly established viewpoint throughout the paper with a clear logical flow as you apply ethical reasoning.
Make sure your writing is original and insightful.

Two in-text citations and references used as support for ideas presented (one must be the code of ethics).

What are the various actions the auditor can take to minimise threats to independence and any relevant audit risks given the case facts above? (10 marks)

Auditing Assignment

Required in the LMS Space, type answers to the following. Clearly label your answers as Question 1, Question 2, Question 3:

1) What kind of assurance engagement is the auditor likely to undertake? Justify your answer (5 marks)

2) What are the various actions the auditor can take to minimise threats to independence and any relevant audit risks given the case facts above? (10 marks)

3) What are the two most riskiest accounts given the above case facts? Design audit procedures to test the riskiest accounts and state which assertions are dealt with by each. (15 marks)

What was the outcome for the perpetrators?How do you believe most people would act in a similar circumstance?

Business Scandal Analysis

Watch a movie about a business scandal (this may require a video subscription) and/then research the scandal. If you are unable to watch a movie/documentary about a scandal then just researching it is fine.

Suggested scandals/movies/documentaries:
Smartest Guys in the Room (ENRON) (Amazon Prime Channels or Rent)
All the Queens Horses (Rita Cranwell, City of Dixon) (YouTube) This is about embezzlement at a City but it is acceptable.
Dirty Money (Netflix Series Covering a variety of scandals) (Netflix) You may use any episode except “The Confidence Man”, ” The Man at the Top” “Slumlord Millionaire” or “Dirty Gold”. The Season One episodes are better suited to this assignment.

At a minimum discuss:
The particulars of the case
The critical ethical issues

What was the outcome for the organization?

What was the outcome for the perpetrators?

How do you believe most people would act in a similar circumstance?

How would you react and what could you do now to try to protect yourself and avoid getting caught up in something?

What industry do you plan to pursue a career in? What are the ethical challenges that you may encounter in this field (this may require limited internet research, don't get too bogged down in it)?

Ethical Issues in Your Chosen Career

https://openstax.org/books/business-ethics/pages/9-introduction

Current job is a Staff Accountant at a Property Management Company.

Using the information obtained from the Reflective Writing resources craft a reflection paper focused on the ethical challenges associated with the industry you plan to have a career in. What industry do you plan to pursue a career in? What are the ethical challenges that you may encounter in this field (this may require limited internet research, don't get too bogged down in it)? How would you approach those issues? Think about where you might draw your line in the sand.