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Ana Olvera

ACCT 2010

October 1, 2019

Personal Ethics and Financial Reporting

As children, we begin to develop the understanding of ethics from our parents, peers, and

religious figures. They teach us what is right from wrong, how we should act and behave, and

ultimately embedding their ideology of moral ethics into oneself. While life may not solely be

black and white, we apply our own personal ethics into our everyday lives, including our place of

employment. Taking into consideration our personal ethics when dealing with financial

reporting, is important in the success of the business, but also in the overall well-being on

oneself.

Applying ethics into our place of employment is important. It shows responsibility,

character, and overall success in oneself. Unfortunately, frauds happen in a business, and it all

begins with someone in the workplace being dishonest. Fraud, however big or small, displays

poorly on an individual. I remember a time back when working in a fast food joint, a supervisor

was caught giving extravagant discounts to their family and friends. To portray such an act, they

would place themselves at the register and rather than ringing up the whole meal, they would

only ring up one or two items. This person was able to carry out the fraud by having easy access,

and the ability to manipulate the system. They were also in a position of power; and so, it

wouldn’t be questioned. The sales revenue was not represented properly in the financial

reporting. Therefore, this is a representation of how the lack of ethics, relates to financial

reporting.
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Once caught, the individual described that the reasoning behind their actions were, that

they did not see any harm in the action. Again, this shows that no matter how big or small you

may think the action is, fraud is fraud. To avoid such representations, it is best to follow the

company’s guidelines and apply your own personal ethics.

In conclusion, it is significant to understand that while you may think your actions are not

hurting anyone at a personal level, they may still hurt the overall success of the business.

Applying ethics into your everyday life and workplace is a good moral standard to have, and it

will keep you from conveying fraudulent activities. Lastly, executing ethics in the workplace will

allow for accuracy in the financial reporting of the business.