Large Corporations Engage in Dishonest Business Practices

Is Current Business Immoral?
Current business is immoral in one way or another. It is clear that the top rich people in the society strive as much as they can to avoid situations where regulations or laws are applicable (Lippencott, 2011). This means that they use their financial power to make sure that decisions are made to favor them and not against them. Tax evasion is one of the major issues that make the current business immoral because such corporations find ways of circumventing the system. Large corporations across the globe do not want to pay the taxes that they should. This makes the tax burden to be taken or carried by the rest of the small companies in a specific country. The effect of this is that most of the nations end up losing a lot of money that would have been paid in the form of taxes.

It is important to note that most of the large corporations always want to have a shortcut when it comes to projects. These corporations want to use the power they have in order to dictate the decisions made in the society. Taking the example of Donald Trump, it is clear from the interview that a public servant or an institution only becomes professional or is said to be ethical only when they make a decision that favors his company. Such a thinking is immoral because will not only prevent other small companies from competing effectively. In doing this, Trump's implication is that his strong financial statement is meant to give him an upper hand when it comes to tenders in the country (Washington post, 2016).

Looking at the cases of Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart, one agrees that ethics in the accounting profession plays a major role when it comes to the morality of business. For example, Gina Rinehart is said to have paid the total tax rate that her company was supposed to pay, which amounted to about $446 million. The implication is that not all businesses are immoral. The tax return preparation done by the tax accountants in Gina's company was true and applied ethics. This means that ethics plays a major role when it comes to the issue of tax. The tax accountants either working as self-employed agents or as employees of accounting firms have a role to play in the morality of businesses today. When a company does not pay the real figure that it is supposed to pay, then it becomes apparent that the values must have been doctored for the company. The effect of these changes made in the financial results of the company in order to pay a smaller amount of income tax is the shift of the burden to smaller companies. For example, in the year 2014, 98 companies that belong to the top 321 companies in Australia did not pay any tax.

The immorality of the current businesses comes regarding the companies failing to be transparent. The large companies do not always disclose financial information each year, which makes it hard for the tax regulating bodies in many countries to track the tax violations by these companies. Another thing is that the companies are related to each other, which again complicates the auditing of tax payable by these companies (Dubcova, 2013 p.18). For example, looking at the case of Andrew Forrest, one understands that he has different companies with one Tattarang Pty Ltd. having all its income not taxable. This figure by the company was the largest non-taxable profit in the data that was presented to the tax body. This cements the argument that tax information is not transparent when it comes to large companies as compared to the small companies. Forty-eight percent of tax paid by the group of large companies came from just a small group of companies. Accountants who doctor data in favor of the companies do tax returns. As stated earlier, the top most companies in the country use their financial might and power to ensure that some of the rules do not apply to them. One of these rules is taxation. Looking at the case of Andrew Forrest, the fact that one of his companies made a taxable income of over $284 million, and none of it was taxable shows the loopholes that are created by the large companies. His accounting department used the fact that Fortes cue Metals Group paid its $738 million of income tax to report the wrong values to the Australian Securities of Investments Commission where it was stated that the company had an income of $197 million. Similarly, all the 321 companies are connected in the sense that they are owned by entities that belong to wealthy and powerful entities. The power vested to these individuals is enough for them to influence the decision-making process of the country. This makes the current business immoral (Mather & Tadros, 2016).

The above argument shows that ethics in tax accounting plays a big role in the morality of current business. This is because the tax is the main area in which most of the companies fail to meet the ethical demands placed on them, therefore, making business unethical. Looking at the case of Gina's company, one appreciates the selected few who have followed the right path in filing the right information in regards to tax and paid the income tax as per the requirement of the country's laws. The abuse of power given to these companies makes current business immoral. Bibliography
Dubcova, G. (2013). Actual Trends in Theory and in Practice of the International Business Ethics. Ekonomika a Management, 2013(1), 16-28.

Lippencott, G. (2011, May 23). The Immorality of American Business. - Loyal Opposition / LJWorld.com. Retrieved from http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/loyal-opposition/2011/may/23/the-immorality-of-american-business/

Mather, J., & Tadros, E. (2016, March 23). The ATO Reveals the Tax Secrets of the Rich List - afr.com. Retrieved from http://www.afr.com/news/policy/tax/the-ato-reveals-the-tax-secrets-of-the-rich-list-20160321-gno066

Washington post. (2016, March 21). A transcript of Donald Trump's meeting with The Washington Post editorial board - The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board/?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.644f2b89d856