Question

Computerised shipping documents

Fremantle Fisheries(FF) operates a fleet of fishing boat out of three ports in Western Australia– Fremantle, Bunbury and Geraldton. Each port has its own fishing fleet and all seafoodcaught is sold through the Fish Marketing Board, a board established by the stategovernment. The accounting procedures for all sales to the Board are centralised and handledby a computerised accounting system at FF’s head office in Perth. The majority of thecompany’s employees work on the fishing boats, and are paid bonuses from head office,depending on the volume, type and quality of seafood caught. This means that head officemust be able to identify the source of each shipment sent to the Board.John Dorey, who was originally based in Geraldton and handled the accounting procedures atGeraldton before computerisation, is now based in Perth as manager of the computerisedaccounting system. His father and two sisters are still based in Geraldton and work for thecompany on the fishing boats, as do many friends of the family.Shipping documents are sent to the Perth head office from all three ports, and the sources ofthe shipment is clearly marked in the top right-head corner of the documents. Occasionally,however, details of the source are missing, and it is not easy to trace the source quickly.Dorey, in his capacity as manager of the system, is keen to keep the system fully operationaland up to date, and has instructed the keyboard operator to insert any one of three Geraldtonsource codes, namely those of his father and two sisters, whenever the source code is missingfrom the shipping document. The keyboard operator knows that the codes given are thosebelonging to his boss’s family, but nevertheless complies with the request for fear that non-compliance may lead to his own dismissal.Required

A, who are the stakeholders in this situation?

B, what are the ethical issues involved here as a result of Dorey’s request and the action takenby the keyboard operator?

C. if you were the keyboard operator, what action (if any) would you take to prevent this situation occurring? Why?

Answer 1

(A): Stakeholders are those individuals or entities that affect or are affected by the actions of an organization, its objectives and policies. In this case the action within the company i.e. Fremantle Fisheries (FF) is the action of inserting any one of three Geraldton source codes in those cases in which source code is missing from the shipping document. This action directly affects the following stakeholders – employees of FF working on the boats, the keyboard operator, John Dorey and management of FF.

(B): The ethical issues involved here as a result of Dorey’s request and the action taken by the keyboard operator is the preparation and presentation of accounting information and records especially the records pertaining to tracing the source. The bonus of an employee is based on the volume, type and quality of seafood caught and by entering any one of three Geraldton source codes in those cases in which source code is missing from the shipping document the preparation and presentation of accounting information is being mishandled.

(C ): If I were the key board operator I would have taken concrete steps to determine the source code from the missing documents. To ensure that John Dorey does not tamper the accounting system of FF I will, if necessary, inform the senior management of FF about the situation at hand and the act being committed by John Dorey. In other words I will act as a whistleblower and report the accounting violations being perpetrated by John Dorey at FF.