Question

Suppose as company controller, you need a large influx of cash to develop and market a new product that will keep the company afloat. You may be able get a bank loan, but not if you report the current inventory on the now-outmoded product at its true value. If you fudge the numbers and misrepresent the company's financial health, you can get the loan and keep the company going. Here, again, is a situation in which being honest and preserving your integrity (not fudging the numbers) outweighs the positive consequences of benefiting a large number of people (getting the bank loan). Presented with the ethical dilemma above, please utilize the questions below to outline, examine, and discuss the rationale for your decisions is the action good for me is the action good or harmful for society is the action fair or just does the action violate anyone's rights have i made a commitment, implied, or explicit

Answer 1

The ethical dilemma posed here is whether to conduct yourself in the workplace with utmost integrity or whether to indulge in practices which are not considered ideal to keep the business running. In discussing this ethical dilemma the questions posed can be discussed one by one in the following manner:

- The action is not good for me as it involves dressing up the company's financial statements and misleading the bankers. It would be better to not get the loan than by doing so unethically.

- The action is both good and harmful to the society. On the one hand, not misleading the bankers does good to the society.However, not getting the bank loan leads to many people being unemployed which is harmful.

- If the numbers are fudged, the action will not be fair at all to the bankers and it shall violate their right to true and fair information.

- A commitment is made to be ethical and to conduct oneself with utmost intergrity and honesty. It is an implied commitment.