Business ethics and deontology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business ethics and deontology - Research Paper Example It is a case of â€Å"fraudulent financial reporting†. Adelphia is a publicly traded corporation based in the United States. In 2002, Adelphia was ranked sixth among the largest cable service providers in the country. In the same year, the company was publicly accused of discrepancies in the financial reports prepared and produced by the company. It was found that the company did not represent the real economic condition and Adelphia was charged of a major accounting disgrace. Investigations proved that the managers modified financial statements of the company by excluding many billion dollars that it held as debt, from the company’s balance sheets. Hence, auditors could not discover the presence of fraudulent activities that the company indulged in. This is a major example of infringement of deontological issues. It was revealed through investigation that some of the most influential and important rank holding members of the organization lacked ethical behavioral trait s and they were the major participants in this scandal. Key ethical problems The Adelphia scandal is a case of financial fraud that broke the trust of the shareholders and lowered level of faith of the public on the company. It is the most far-reaching financial fraud that has occurred in the country in the past few decades (Markon & Frank, 2002). The company filed for bankruptcy in June 2002 and was finally purchased in July 2006 by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. Two ethical problems were distinctly identified in this fraudulent case; financial statement modification and superficial statement about stock earnings. The first ethical issue is concerning the fact that the officials in the company had strategically and systematically excluded several billion dollars that the company held as liabilities over the period of four years between 1998 and 2002. The liabilities were hidden fraudulently from the books of off-balance sheet affiliates (Barlaup, Dronen & Stuart, 2009). Additio nally, the company also inflated its earnings in order to meet the expectations of shareholders in the Wall Street. Various operations statistics were falsified and concealed (The SEC, 2002). These activities raised questions about ethical duties of the employees working in different private as well as public corporations. Deontological ethics The term ‘ethics’ is generally understood as â€Å"systematic attempt to understand moral concepts and to propose and defend principles and theories regarding right and wrong behavior† (Barlaup, Dronen & Stuart, 2009, p. 186). Normative ethics is found to be highly relevant to the issues faced business firms and the problems faced by auditors. Under the framework of normative ethics, three principal theories of ethics can be identified. These are egoism, utilitarianism and deontology. In this section, the focus would be on the deontological theory of ethics. General theory Deontological ethics relate to the â€Å"ethics of duty of principle† (Cooper, 2000, 179). The term ‘deontology’ was coined by Bentham (1748-1832) and by this term he emphasized on the following meaning. It is the act of motivating people in such as way that it would maximize overall community happiness. This would be done by mobilizing the causes that inspire specific private

Parenting today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Parenting today - Essay Example nal and emotional changes in his life, he is moving towards independence, a concrete thinker and sensitive to criticisms as stated by Military and Life Consultants (n.d.). To understand him more, you must spend more time with each other. Try activities that would enhance your father-son relationship like playing ball games and going outdoors which would not demand a lot of cash. Find time and spend time despite the work schedule. As much as possible, spend your meal time together, Jonathan is the only one you have at this time and you are the only one he has at home. Aside from spending time together, you can teach him responsibility and discipline by setting rules and consequences. However, you must let him participate in setting the rules in the house. Listen to him, this is very much important. Your rules must include him doing homework regularly, observing curfew time, watch up late only allowed during weekends and keeping his room tidy. After setting the rules, set the consequences and make sure that these penalties should be firm and be strictly imposed by you. If rules are not followed, there would be less time on the television, weekend indoors and more chores to be done. These should de firm and non-negotiable. If you see him doing well and becoming responsible and disciplined, do not forget to appreciate what he is doing and give him rewards he deserve. You can also learn how to achieve discipline of Jonathan by visiting and learning through the Positive Discipline site, http://www.positivediscipline.com/. They offer help via books and DVD’s. You can also attend their workshops about teaching parents the positive discipline way. You can see the schedules and venues of their workshops online. This site and their products would be a great help to you and Jonathan. They offer many ways to effectively discipline your child. May this letter provide you thoughts and ways regarding you r problem with Jonathan. I hope to hear many good things in the next few