Managerial Accounting Ethical Dilemma Paper

Ethical Dilemma

Les Pulaski is facing an ethical dilemma relating to bonuses from a product that was returned to the company. The dilemma is brought by the fact that the firms accountant labeled the returned product as an overhead expense on the plantwide Overhead account resulting in erroneous award of a bonus exceeding $1,000. This situation is a reflection of some of the ethical dilemmas that could emerge in a company. One of the ethical issues in this situation is unethical accounting by the company accountant. Unethical accounting is a practice that is usually fueled by greed, management pressure, incentives, and bonuses (Oseni, 2011). The unethical accounting could result in huge losses for the company since the order for 7,500 units of a new product was returned and labeled as an overhead expense. The second ethical issue in the situation is whether Pulaski should accept the bonus. By receiving the bonus, Pulaski would have intentionally endorsed the accountants

Since the products were returned to the company, they do not represent an overhead expense to the plantwide Overhead account. By rejecting the bonus, Pulaski would have acted in the best interest of the company and all stakeholders in the organization. In essence, Pulaski should reject the bonus as that would amount to doing the right thing. The second course of action for Pulaski is to notify the accountant of the erroneous labeling of the overhead expense and its inclusion in the bonus calculations. In this regard, Pulaski would assume that the accountant did not label the returned products as an overhead expense deliberately. By notifying the accountant, Pulaski will give him/her the opportunity to make the necessary corrections and prevent losses for the organization. Additional courses of action that Pulaski should…

Managerial Accounting Ethical Dilemma Paper

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