ACCT 5433 – Managerial accounting
Ethics Case
Spring 2022
Jessica has just been hired as the Payroll Manager at Murdock Cable Company. The company
employs 52 people primarily from the neighboring community. She was welcomed to her new
position by the General Manager, Greg (her immediate supervisor) and Walter, the company
owner. Jessica’s first impression of the company is that it is a welcoming environment with
professional people who are friendly. Walter told her to see him if she has any questions or
problems.
Greg, the General Manager who hired Jessica, informed her of the need for maintaining strict
confidentiality regarding employee salaries, pay scales and commissions. The previous Payroll
Manager was terminated after disclosing certain payroll information which violated the
confidentiality guidelines.
After four months of employment, Jessica began to wonder why one technician (Mark) made so
much more in commissions than the other service technicians. She assumed that Mark was
highly experienced, qualified and exceptionally diligent. She overheard Walter commending
Mark on his performance on several occasions. She noticed that Walter, Greg, and Mark often
have lunch together.
Work tickets are randomly assigned to technicians. When a technician completes a job, the next
ticket from the dispenser should be taken. Technicians do not have the option of selecting their
work tickets. As the Payroll Manager, Jessica is responsible for loading the work tickets in the
dispenser. She receives the work tickets from Greg.
One day, Greg gives Jessica the stack of work tickets for the service technicians for the
upcoming week. As required, Jessica loads the tickets into the dispenser. She returns to Greg’s
office and sees him giving Mark a separate stack of work tickets. Now Jessica understands why
Mark’s commissions are so high; Greg is giving the easier, high-commission work tickets to
Mark. After some investigation, Jessica discovers that Mark is Greg’s brother.
Jessica is contemplating what to do. Since she has only been at the company a short time, she is
still on probation. This is her first job since college.
REQUIRED:
• This is an individual assignment.
• Discuss the ethical implications and demonstrate your decision-making processes for the
above scenario.
• You should provide a well-organized thoughtful discussion of the ethical situation and the
business or organizational problem that the company faces.
• Include at least two sources, appropriately cited and referenced. Use APA formatting.
Below are questions that may help guide your discussion. The following questions are not in any
particular order. The questions are a guide to help stimulate your thoughts. A sentence or two
answering each question is insufficient.
• What is an ethical dilemma? What ethical dilemma does the accountant face?
What business problem(s) does the company have? What flaws, if any, provide an
opportunity for fraud?
• Who are the potential stakeholders and how might they be affected by the decision of the
accountant?
• What choices does the accountant have? Evaluate the choices, i.e. who benefits or who is
hurt by the choice(s).
• What action would you recommend, i.e. how do you believe the business problem should
be resolved? How should the ethical dilemma be resolved?
• Going forward, what should the company do regarding organizational ethics?
Submission
• Limit your submission to about two pages.
• Your responses must demonstrate graduate level knowledge and communication skills.
• Format the paper using a standard font: Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial; a standard
font size: 10, 11 or 12; indent each new paragraph; double space; and a one-inch margin
on all sides. Use the page break feature and include a reference page.
• Use Microsoft Word when submitting your paper. Spell check/grammar check.
• Do NOT submit a PDF file or file type other than Word.
