Accounting 2600 E-portfolio

Accounting! Basically a language of its own. Yet it is something that if

one chooses as a job field, they will encounter many opportunities to
progress in, as well as the realization that accountants hold. This job holds
positive and negative opportunities. The job offers a lot of job security, but it
also offers opportunity to steal. It may not be apparent at first to someone
taking a glimpse at different job fields within business, but once you take a
closer look, accounting holds many opportunities in fraud and stealing. That
being said, the question comes down to each person choosing this degree,
what personal ethics keep you on the right track to not become a white collar
criminal?
Accounting is something that can be a job secure persons ideal
criminal activity. If you do it just right, you can avoid getting caught. Yet does
this justify this? Whether it is your idea of Karma that stops you from this, or
one belief to another, for me, it is personally who I am. Am I perfect? Not at
all. We are all presented opportunities to where we can get away with
something that in general we shouldnt be able to.
Growing up I have dealt with my own items being stolen. I grew up with
a brother who fell into the wrong crowd and was a thief. He lied his way
through growing up, and it made me try to be more of an honest person.
Have I always been honest? No. I know Ive lied quite a bit throughout my
life, and to me, there is no justification for it. No matter my reasoning, I know
that it is still not right. Yet I accept my actions and the consequences that
may follow depending the lie or wrong. I suppose that this is my justification
of my action. Is accepting the possible consequence.
Yet this to me is what helps me attempt being a truer person in more
occasions than not. Guilt generally rides me in most situations. Religion
hasnt taken much role in my ethic development. Experience is something
that I have taken note of and the constant battle of contradicting my
justifications to remind myself what is right and what is wrong. I believe that
allowing something to make me more of a moral person rather choosing it is
a justification within itself. Even though it is for the better choices generally,
it still allows me to justify future actions that may be wrong through
justifications of the moral obligation to begin with.
I grew up taught kindness, and brutal honesty. Two things that can be
contradictory at times. I had a dad who tried being honest in most situations,
and a mom who was very kind-hearted. With a brother who showed me the
results of negative decisions. With many other factors, that is a sum up of
how I developed my morality and ethics.
 Knowing what is right and wrong is something that should be
developed and learned. Rather being taught what is right and wrong.
Knowing makes it more applicable. Through a life of choosing honesty more
often than not, I have learned that it is more beneficial to be honest. It is
respectful to others, as well as yourself. No matter the situation. Every
opportunity that is negative that can benefit one also holds an opportunity
that is positive that holds more benefits.
How can you tell right from wrong though? You cant in every situation.
It is something that is learned. Yet there are guidelines that each situation
offers. Generally, when presented an opportunity to do a wrong, how do we
know it is wrong? This is something that can be seen through us breaking a
rule of some sort. Is that rule right or wrong? That is an entire different story,
but when facing this, if there is a rule to be broken from our actions, and it
does have a negative impact on someone, then generally, this is a wrong.
Knowing what is right can be categorized in honesty. Doing what is
right is being honest. This can be what factors out when to break a rule.
Along with if the rule is a broken rule to begin with. Take gay marriage for
example. Now, it is a justification for marriage to only be between a man and
woman due to the culture religion has taught and that within religion, this is
how marriage is treated. Yet the broken factor of this rule is when marriage
offers benefits that are outside of church. It is flawed to have church and
state combined. Thus this rule is flawed and has become a political issue
rather a church one. So in the times when gay marriage was banned in
states, is it wrong to grant someone marriage? Id argue it isnt. The rule is
flawed due to religion and politics both being combined. Thus either the
benefits of marriage should be taken away, or the benefits should be
available to everyone.
Rules implementing unfairness onto others is itself a wrong. All should
be treated equal and have nothing that prevents them from the same benefit
as everyone else. This isnt something that chooses all rights and wrongs,
but it is something to refer to when deciding what is the right and wrong
decision. Who does it affect? Who is getting harmed out of the result of the
action? Is the harm liable? Is it consequential harm? Questions such as this is
something that can help dictate a decision whether it is right or wrong.
What would be an example of a situation that I was placed in that I
could have chosen a more honest route? Well, there is multiple to be
completely honest. The one that is probably the most common towards a
white-collar criminal would be taking food without paying for it within the
restaurant industry. It is easy to get away with, and most people look the
other way. It is easy to justify that a job in the food industry should feed you,
yet it should be a given that when someone takes on the job, and they offer
you what they do, and you accepted it, that it should be honored and
followed.
In the past, would I have handled the situation of free food differently?
I dont think I would. It is something to me that I needed to do to learn that it
is a wrong. It is a matter of what I can do now to redeem my past actions. Yet
this is not a pathway Id choose very often. Im not a fan of thievery, and
sometimes it is a struggle to choose what is right when it is easy to justify a
company that pays me under $3 an hour should be feeding me at least.
Especially when competing jobs offer a free meal, and the culture behind it
holds many other followers of this fault. It may be justifiable to this extent
Yet it is still a wrong, and isnt the path I am to choose now.
Rules are made and should be respected to some extent. My choice in
eating unpaid food is an admit to thievery. It is stealing from the company,
and is just as wrong as taking the cash it costs out of the cash registrar for
said food. I may have not faced any consequences from higher ups, but this
is something that I am choosing because it is what is right. The
consequences I face is me losing the part of me that makes me honest.
With this being said, nobody is perfect. The choice of making honest
decisions is one that can be hard in certain circumstances. After watching
some videos on ethics and decisions related to accounting, I can say that in a
business world, my ethics would be different. I worked at a grocery store for
two years and could safely say the only time I ever took was a candy from a
damaged (opened) bag of candy. I believe that those set of ethics would be
the same applied to the business world.
If presented a situation where I was in dire need of money, I would not
screw over the company I am working for in order to obtain the funds I
needed. In situations like that, I could not morally reason to myself a
justifiable reason to do so. In times like that, I would look to outside help and
maybe even ask my work for some help. Generally, there is always an
alternative route. It may be a lot harder, but that to me is well worth it. It is
worth it to me to take the longer way. Especially after doing so with success.
It holds a future with less possibility of negative results. While the alternative
holds the possibility to be held to possible consequences.
Would I do the right thing in a situation where my boss is asking of me
to false report? Yes. In all honesty, Id do it even if it meant my job. Prison is
something I want to avoid, and if my boss is being greedy like that, I wouldnt
want to work for their company anyways. It is a lot to ask someone to do
fraud, and morally wrong. It only begs the question of what other wrongs is
the person doing, and how far would they go? If someone is justifying to ask
their staff to commit a crime for them, then it is foreseeable that in a
situation when in trouble, Id be sold out the second the person saw a way
out at the cost of my head.
Others ethics will vary from yourself, and it is easy to assume the
worse out of people in order to protect yourself from others negative actions.
Those who choose a wrong-doing path are generally not trustworthy and
should be held to the grounds of not to be trusted. Although a job may
offer a lot of security, not everything is permanent. When put in a position of
choosing the righteous path, the benefits are sometimes not at view, but
generally there is a light at the end and youll be happy at that moment of
your past decision. Its just something to be accepted that the honest path
doesnt hold immediate satisfaction. It should also be noted that immediate
gratification is not nearly as great as gratification through hard work.
Overall, ethics will take its place no matter the job. It is better to
choose what is right and go for what is better in the long-run rather what is
better in the short-run. Decisions will always be encountered where one must
judge what is deemed right and wrong. Sometimes there is fault to be made,
but this should be a learning lesson rather a constant. It is better to do right
by others rather harm. The truth has a funny way of seeking salvation, and
lies are convicted through the truth. Even when someone gets away with
everything, they live a lie. That itself is a sad life, and not one to be lived if
you ever seek living life to its fullest.