"If there are accounting irregularities, the top executives need to know of them so that they can decide for themselves if they want to take the risk. If there are no accounting irregularities, however, it is important to get the facts out to prevent a spread of misinformation and rumors. A perception of irregularities would tarnish the company's reputation and integrity nearly as much as would any confirmed accounting irregularities." (2002) In other words, quieries about potentially overagressive, even if not actively illegal accounting irrecularities cannot be purely confined to the accounting department as these methods affect the entire firm's future performance if they are in fact unethical. However, if the rumors, even if untrue, remain spread about the company and enter the realm of fear and speculation, the problem presents itself that the company could be impinged upon by these rumors simply by their existence in the personal atmosphere of the firm, and could hurt the private morale and public perception of the firm. Also, as the accounting practices are described as aggressive, if the...

Inhose ethical counselors nad human staff must be present within the accounting departments not directly affiliated with the bosses of the accountants, whom can provide counsel and ethical guidelines, but who still have enough accounting credentials to judge if further actions must be taken. In other words, the communication described in this article should never have taken place and would not have, if Fred and Jim had someone other than one another to confide into, regarding their respective dilemmas.
Works Cited

Spinning the numbers: handling an ethical dilemma over accounting practices can be doubly difficult when it's not certain that the practices themselves would breach the bounds of acceptability - Ethics" (December 2002) HR Magazine.