Ethical competence and moral grasp of the right business practice Essay

Ethical competence and moral grasp of the right business practice - Essay Example Ethical competence and moral grasp of the right business practice During the past decade there have been numerous accounting scandals that have caused corporate collapses which have shaken the financial arena and created huge losses for investors, the present financial crisis of the latter part of 2008 revealed the greatest challenges yet. The majority of these collapses were caused directly by the unethical behavior of CEO’s, directors, officers and employees who misrepresented the financial condition of the corporation by providing misleading financial information (Ashe & Nealy, 2010, pg. 1). Public accounting firms as being a â€Å"part of the contemporary ‘enterprise culture’ that persuades many to believe that ‘bending the rules’ for personal gain is a sign of business acumen.† This stands in stark contrast to the differentiating public interest perspective of a profession, and we suggest that cultural change in the profession is necessary for real and lasting change to occur (Stuebs & Wilkinson, 2010, p g. 30). Such, this paper is prepared by the undersigned to show ethical competence and moral grasp of the right business practice as he prepares himself to enter the corporate world and before taking the CPA board exam as a certification of competence on the field of Accountancy. The ethical dilemma comes in especially when the Accountant is being asked by a superior whether explicitly or implicitly to be â€Å"creative† with the books to serve the end of the company. ... There are several reasons why an accountant does this. First, it may have been under the prodding and order of a superior to â€Å"skew or massage the numbers† to the company’s favor. Second, to make the company look good as it reports to the public with regard to its performance or to potential investors who would like to put their money in the business. Or, to pad the expenses so that the net earnings would appear to be low compared to actual earning and thus, requiring the company to pay only minimal taxes. The ethical dilemma comes in especially when the Accountant is being asked by a superior whether explicitly or implicitly to be â€Å"creative† with the books to serve the end of the company. This can be quite difficult for an accountant as he/she may be admonished for insubordination which may result from losing one’s job especially in today’s difficult times. Also the Accountant may become sympathetic to the company. It being the source of h is/her employment, the Accountant may be tempted to â€Å"window dress† the company’s financial statements to preserve it and his/her job to the detriment of the interest of the general and investing public. III. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountant Code of Conduct Instituting ethical practice among Financial Professionals is critical not only for the sake of being ethical in the practice of a profession but also to prevent the dire consequences if such unethical behavior becomes pervasive. For this malpractice has singlehandedly caused the recent financial disaster that â€Å"no other single issue is of greater concern to accountants in industry and public accounting than ethics. If the public cannot place

Can Scotland reach it's target of generating 50% of it's electricity Essay

Can Scotland reach it's target of generating 50% of it's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 - Essay Example These areas, should they continue to depend on fossil fuels, they risk the occurrence of being dysfunctional in the future. The problem with using fossil fuels to provide power and electricity is that in addition to not being environmentally friendly, these fossil fuels are easily depleted (Gowdy 1998). In fact, it has been predicted that if the world were to still depend on fossil fuels such as oil, there is a high occurrence for oil to expire in the year 2050. Other fossil fuels have been predicted to deplete within the years 2020 to 2030. Natural gas, on the other hand, has been predicted to not be available in the market anymore by the year 2040. Consequently, coal as an energy resource has also been predicted to expire before the year 2100. Uranium as well, has been said to reach the stage of depletion starting from the middle of the 2030s (Droege 2002). The UK Renewable Energy Advisory Group (REAG) has identified renewable energy to be energy that is produced naturally by the environment to be used by man for his own use and benefit (REAG 1992). In Europe, it has been said that renewable energy resources supply 5.3 percent of the total energy being consumed by the entire continent. In the United Kingdom, renewable resources make up only 1 percent. However, in a green paper presented by the European Commission in the year 1996, it has been revealed that members of the European Commission shall increase its target to 12 percent by the year 2010. This easily translates to a significant decrease in the carbon dioxide emissions to around 250 million tonnes. Of course, over the years, the percentages have increased and according to a report released by the EU, it has been revealed that the target of EU member countries would be to make sure that at least 20 percent of their energy needs are derived from renewable energy resources by the year 2020. Based on the report, it has been mentioned that the