Please take note of the requirement that you perform research to select a recent accounting fraud or ethics case from the last five years. Note that Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others from the 15 to 20
ACC 696 Final Project Table of Contents I.Background 2 II.Ethical Violations 3 III.Theoretical Models 7 IV.Influences and Standards 8 V.Ethical Framework 9 VI.References 11 Background The companies whose accounting ethical Scandal will be analysed in this case is Valeant Pharmaceuticals which is a Canadian pharmaceutical company which changed its name to Bausch Health to remove itself from the accounting scandal that discovered in 2015 regarding the mismanagement of its acquired US subsidiary company Philidor Rx Services. This scandal leads to one-year imprisonment of Ex-CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals who was leading the company in the time when this scandal was happening and Philidor Rx Services executives at that time who found to be known about this mismanagement and involved in it. Under this scandal, Valeant Pharmaceuticals not uses its influence in its US subsidiary company not only to overstate the financial performance of Philidor Rx Services but also uses the operation of Philidor Rx Services which was a specialty Pharmacy to increases Valeant Pharmaceuticals revenue. This increase in the revenue happened by using manipulating the customers of Philidor Rx Services to buy overpriced lifesaving drugs of Valeant Pharmaceuticals when there was a cheaper alternative available in the market. The reason for choosing this accounting ethical case study is to be analyse the different immoral ways chosen by the company to increase its financial performance and also to increase their stock prices by showing inflated financial performance so that to become more alert about which point should an investor look into before investing in a company which has shown abnormal financial growth in a small period. Also, the one executives of the two companies used a shell company for money laundering in this case. This company has been chosen as there are two main ethical violated in this case are manipulation of the recording of the financial statements and also price abuse of the consumers which is deeply violating the consumer’s interest. Therefore, the ethical issues, in this case, can be qualified as earnings mismanagement, fraud and poor corporate governance. Ethical Violations The main participants of the scandal involving Valeant Pharmaceuticals are Ex-CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals named J. Michael Pearson whose was removed from his position after both the management and investors of the company largely blames him for this scandal of the company. Although according to the verdict of U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan, the main participants are Garry Tanner who was a former executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Andrew Davenport who was chief executive of Philidor Rx Services for fraud and money laundering. This two personnel were sentenced to one year in prison and also ordered to forfeit $9.7 million by the court U.S. charging former (CBC News, 2020). Also, to an extent PricewaterhouseCoopers can be found to be participants as it failed to report these irregularities in time in the company when it happened as the independent auditor of the company. There are significant ethical responsibilities of a professional accountant to both internal and external stakeholders of the business regarding the financial reporting process, and these ethical responsibilities will be discussed here. The first ethical responsibility is to identify and assess whether there is any financial manipulation of the recording of the financial statements of the business which can mislead different stakeholders especially stakeholders like lenders or investors about its decision in the company. The second ethical issue is to identify any irregularities seen in the company and include that fact in the auditor report. The third ethical responsibility is to gives its fair and unbiased opinion about the different financial aspects of the company in its report. These ethical responsibilities were not fulfilled by professional accountants in this case. One of the internal stakeholders who was mainly impacted by this scandal is its shareholders whose took the wrong investing decision about the company from the manipulated financial statements recorded by the company which lead to them incurring a high loss from the share price of the company fell significantly when this accounting scandal was exposed. On the other hand, two external stakeholders are impacted by the inefficiencies of the professional accountant in this case which are customers and lenders as under this lenders has give high debt to the company from reviewing the inflated revenue of the company and customers purchasing overpriced drugs of the company whose overpricing should be identified by auditor as irregularities in the company. There are several AICPA Codes of Professional Conduct were violated in this case which will be discussed here. The first code of professional conduct violated is independence which is highly important when the professional accountant is analysing the different financial aspects of the company to form an opinion about these aspects of the company, and it is important to ensure that the opinion which is given is not manipulated and biased in any way. A professional accountant should be independent both in fact and in appearance to increase the reliability of the financial statement among the investors and other stakeholders and fulfil both its professional responsibilities toward the investors whose interest should be its priority (Avdeev, Nassiripour & Wong, 2019). No, the main participants in this accounting scandal did not adhere to moral and ethical principles. Garry Tanner who was a former executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Andrew Davenport who was chief executive of Philidor Rx Services was found to be guilty of money laundering and fraud charges in which they cheated customers by selling them overpriced drugs and used a shell company to divert Valeant Pharmaceuticals in their own pocket. Also, the evidence against Ex-CEO named J. Michael Pearson not adequately found in these aspects but many feel that he knew about this scandal and those ignore it. Also, PricewaterhouseCoopers failed to some extent in the moral parameter as it failed to give an unbiased and accurate view to the users. All these make these participants moral character questionable, and there is definitely a lack of honesty found in them. This shows the importance of integrity in the current business world among as in this case, all main participants for their personal gains ignore the integrity in their professional conduct as it is alleged that J. Michael Pearson who pay significantly related to stock price and financial performance of Valeant Pharmaceuticals ignored these manipulations to increase the stock price of the company which made him highest-paid CEO at that time. Also, the two accused executive diverted the company fund in their own account, and this again means there was also a lack of integrity in their part. The integrity of PricewaterhouseCoopers can also be questioned as they also failed to give an unbiased opinion about the financial statements of the company. The main stakeholders including the professional accountants, in this case, failed to maintain their objectivity as the price irregularities of products of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, inflated revenue and money laundering processes were overlooked by both professional accountants who are PricewaterhouseCoopers by the influence of the management of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The legal implication of this case include Garry Tanner who was a former executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Andrew Davenport who was chief executive of Philidor Rx Services has to sentenced to one year in prison and ordering forfeiting of $9.7million for money laundering case. The social implication of this accounting scandal is that Valeant Pharmaceuticals lost a significant proportion of goodwill among its customers and investors. The economic implications that have to be faced by the two companies include Valeant Pharmaceuticals stock price keep on constantly decreasing until it removed J. Michael Pearson as their CEO and Valeant Pharmaceuticals cut its ties with Philidor Rx Services. Also, Valeant Pharmaceuticals has not till now recovered from this scandals as its sales keep on decreasing years after years and it has to sell, a large number of its investment to be able to face the financial crisis created by this scandal. The specific code of conduct of Valeant Pharmaceuticals that form the core value of the company which were violated in this scandal is accountability and integrity by these money laundering, fraudulent and poor corporate governance activities of the company. Theoretical Models Deontology is the ethical models found to be violated in this case. The rationale behind identifying this ethical model is that this model told not only to bring good result, but the decisions should be taken in good intentions and as the intentions of the main participants are found to manipulate different stakeholders in the market for the decisions taken by them in this case; therefore, this ethical models found to be violated in this case (Meyers, 2018). The different ethical models better the decision-making process and the outcomes in different ways. For example, under Deontology, the emphasis is not only given to the good result but also ensures that different decisions resulting in different decisions are taken out of good intentions. This ethical model leads to the decisions that are made with good intention and its outcome is good corporate governance. On the other hand, Moral Relativism tells to judge a decision good or bad taking into cultural consideration of the society in which the company is operating. This enhances the decisions making as management take into account the interest of the local community, and this outcome is the better engagement of the local community with the company (Li, 2019). Influences and Standards The impact of the regulatory activities has on the ethics of this case has been negative in this case as Valeant Pharmaceuticals acquired companies with drug patents of the company with no or less competition and then charged high price for it but this strategy was overlooked for a long time by the regularities bodies who should have stop these acquisition which are highly against the interest of customers. The two accounting standards under GAAP which have been misused by Valeant Pharmaceuticals are revenue recognition standard under GAAP and Fair value Consideration under Business Combinations under GAAP to show inflated value of revenue and value of their acquired company which helped the company in financial statement manipulation in this case (McKenna, 2020). To a certain extent, some of the employees of Valeant Pharmaceuticals used tracking solutions to ensure that the Philidor is prescribing its drugs to the customers of it. Although, the influence of the technology is negative in this case but in the current business world, the effect can be both negative and positive. For example one of the areas in which the emerging help in both conducting unethical activities and also detecting these unethical activities are the security of the company process which is getting better with emerging technology but also increasing the chances of hacking. Ethical Framework The ethical framework of Deontology is the proposed ethical framework that is suggested for setting appropriate standards of conduct for professional accountants producing a higher level of ethical values and decision making as the intentions of all main participants including professional accountants found to be questionable in this case. The management should distance itself from the working of professional accountants to ensure that the process is not influenced in any way and only when it is utmost necessary or necessary for reviewing only then a management opinion should be taken in a limited capacity. All the internal related information, market information and clear code of conduct information that is related to the decision or the process should be available to the employees under this framework to help make them more ethical choices. Yes, the better internal controls in revenue recognition or fund management or pricing process of Valeant Pharmaceuticals could have been utilized to produce more ethical behavior. Yes, plan by corporate governance could have been an appropriate vehicle for delivering these internal controls to encourage ethical behavior as it can be seen that there were too much interferences of the executives in the operation of holding and a subsidiary company in this case which lead to this accounting scandal. Therefore, by ensuring transparency and limited influence of the executives in the operations or management of the company, this accounting scandal could have been avoided. References Avdeev, V., Nassiripour, S., & Wong, H. (2019). Case Study: Ethical Considerations of an Accounting Professional. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 16(2). CBC News. (2020). Retrieved 11 February 2020, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/valeant-philidor-executives-charges-1.3855112 Li, Y. (2019). Moral plurality, moral relativism and accommodation. Asian Philosophy, 1-16. McKenna, F. (2020). Valeant uses rare accounting maneuver for acquisitions that cushions income. Retrieved 11 February 2020, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/valeant-uses-rare-accounting-maneuver-for-acquisitions-that-cushions-income-2016-02-11 Meyers, C. (2018). 8 Deontology. Communication and Media Ethics, 26, 139.
Please take note of the requirement that you perform research to select a recent accounting fraud or ethics case from the last five years. Note that Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others from the 15 to 20
This table lists criteria and criteria group name in the first column. The first row lists level names and includes scores if the rubric uses a numeric scoring method.Criteria Exemplary Proficient Needs Improvement Not Evident Criterion Score Background 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands on the background and ethical violations using a variety of supporting research 9 points Describes the situational background of the case including a brief description of the ethical violations 7 points Describes the situational background of the case, but omits key elements and/or ethical violations 0 points Does not describe the situational background of the case or does not provide a brief description of the ethical violations Score of Background,9 / 10 Criterion Feedback Yvonne, you have a generally on point overview of the factual background of the case. The first five or so sentences on page 1 are highlighted as matching to a source which you seem to have cut and pasted from something. I recommend that you add an in-text citation to attribute the information to its source. Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (Internal) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands on the impact beyond immediate internal stakeholders, encompassing the internal environment 9 points Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders, including how the stakeholders were affected by the violations 7 points Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations, but assessment is missing key participants or fails to adequately address the impacts to internal stakeholders 0 points Does not assess the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations Score of Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (Internal),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Yvonne, the next section to be addressed in your paper is “Impacts on Internal Stakeholders.” I could not find such a section because your paper does not have any section headings. I continued scrolling through your paper to the end and note that such a section does not exist. In circling back to your table of contents, I note that there are only two items: background and ethical violations, which pretty much corresponds to the material that you have offered. Unfortunately, the material that you have offered has no connection to the rubric for the assignment, which lays out the specific requirements of the assignment that must be met in order to earn points. For example, on page 6 for unknown reasons, you have engaged in a discussion of IFRS. It is not evident how that content has a logical place on page 6 or has any relation to your discussion of the “ethical violations” because Celadon is a US company that reports its financial statements in accordance with GAAP. Note, however, that in milestone two there is a section in which students will discuss the GAAP vs IFRS impacts. I scanned your paper in its entirety attempting to discern how any of the content aligns with any of the sections of the rubric. I am not able to make a connection. There are certain statements that could correspond to particular sections of the paper but the topic discussed in those sections does not relate. Note that you turned your paper in two days early and did not take my prior offer that you should make use of the tutors and coaches at the Online Writing Center who will review your work prior to submission and will work with students to elevate the work and offer support to advance students’ writing skills. I assure you that if you submitted your paper to the Online Writing Center and if they had access to the rubric and if they took note that your paper had no connection to the rubric, they would have offered you feedback to point you in the right direction. If you wish to redo this paper, please do so, please consult with the Online Writing Center, please add section headings, and feel free to resubmit when you have crafted a paper that addresses with proper focus and organization the specific sections that are stated in the rubric. When you have completed it, upload it and email me a notification and I will waive the late penalty. If you accept this offer, please do so within 10 days. Today’s date: 3/27/21. Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (External) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands on the impact beyond immediate external stakeholders, encompassing the external environment 9 points Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders, including how the stakeholders were affected by the violations 7 points Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations, but assessment is missing key participants or fails to adequately address the impacts to external stakeholders 0 points Does not assess the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations Score of Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (External),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Independence) 5 points Meets “Proficient” criteria, and examination includes harm caused by independence violations 4.5 points Examines independence-type ethical violations (as defined by the AICPA Code) within the case and addresses the importance of independence in fact and appearance 3.5 points Examines independence-type ethical violations (as defined by the AICPA Code) within the case, but omits key independence violations or does not address the importance of independence in fact and appearance 0 points Does not examine independence-type ethical violations within the case Score of Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Independence),0 / 5 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Also see the respective week’s course announcement for additional guidance for this topic. Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Integrity) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria, and examination includes harm caused by integrity violations 9 points Examines ethical violations in regard to the integrity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of the main participants within the case 7 points Examines ethical violations in regard to the integrity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of the main participants within the case, but omits key integrity violations or examination lacks detail 0 points Does not examine ethical violations of the main participants within the case Score of Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Integrity),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Objectivity) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria, and examination includes specific examples illustrating objectivity or the lack thereof 9 points Examines the objectivity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of main stakeholders within the case, including a detailed analysis of the objectivity of the professional accountants 7 points Examines the objectivity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of main stakeholders within the case, but does not include a detailed analysis of the objectivity of the professional accountants, or overall examination is lacking in detail 0 points Does not examine the objectivity of main stakeholders within the case Score of Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Objectivity),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Ethical Violations: Implications (Legal) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands the analysis beyond obvious legal implications 9 points Assesses legal implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession 7 points Assesses legal implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case 0 points Does not assess the legal implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession Score of Ethical Violations: Implications (Legal),0 / 10 Ethical Violations: Implications (Social) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands assessment beyond obvious social implications 9 points Assesses social implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession 7 points Assesses social implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case 0 points Does not assess social implications of the violations on the business and accounting profession Score of Ethical Violations: Implications (Social),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Ethical Violations: Implications (Economic) 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands the analysis beyond direct economic impacts 9 points Assesses economic implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession 7 points Assesses economic implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case 0 points Does not assess economic implications of the violations on the business and accounting profession Score of Ethical Violations: Implications (Economic),0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Ethical Violation: Code of Ethics 10 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes a discussion on how the company’s Code of Ethics could have been used to prevent the violations 9 points Determines if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company’s own Code of Ethics and describes each violation in detail 7 points Determines if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company’s own Code of Ethics, but does not adequately describe the violations or omits key violations 0 points Does not determine if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company’s own Code of Ethics Score of Ethical Violation: Code of Ethics,0 / 10 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Articulation of Response 5 points Meets “Proficient” criteria and has excellent syntax and sentence construction 4.5 points Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization 3.5 points Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas 0 points Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas Score of Articulation of Response,0 / 5 Criterion Feedback Ref. Note 1. Rubric Total ScoreTotal 9 / 100 Overall Score Overall Score Points earned out of 10091 points minimumThe overall submission earned 91 points or more. Final calculation of grades can be found in the gradebook. Points earned out of 10071 points minimumThe overall submission earned 71 points or more. Final calculation of grades can be found in the gradebook. Points earned out of 1001 point minimumThe overall submission earned 1 points or more. Final calculation of grades can be found in the gradebook. Points earned out of 1000 points minimumThe overall submission earned 0 points or more. Final calculation of grades can be found in the gradebook.
Please take note of the requirement that you perform research to select a recent accounting fraud or ethics case from the last five years. Note that Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others from the 15 to 20
ACC 696 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric The final project for this course is a case study in which students will select a recent real -world accounting ethics case from the last 5 years, involving earnings mismanagement, fraud, poor internal controls, or poor corporate governance. From the perspective of an accounting professional, each student will analyze responsibilities to stakeholders while considering theoretical models of ethical behavior, the AICPA Code of Professional Con duct, emerging technol ogies, regulatory activities, and (if applicable) international accounting standards. Overview Unfortunately, there is no shortage of examples of unethical situations and ethics violations within corporations. Some cases produce wide -ranging and devastating effects on all part ies involved. Whether it is reduced investor confidence, reductions in a company’s credit rating, or even bankruptcy, these situation s are important to analyze in order to determin e effecti ve strategy for avoiding ethical obstacles in the future. You are encouraged to put yourself in the place of both the involved employees as well as the stakeholders . You are encouraged to select a significant case that is personally interesting and/or relevant to you professionally . This assessment will evaluate your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:  Analyze legal, social, and economic developments for their defining role in ethical expectations of the business and accounti ng pro fession  Assess the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants to internal and external stakeholders relating to the financi al reporting process  Apply theoretical models of ethical behavior to contemporary accounting issues  Evaluate emerging tech nologies, regulatory activities, and international accounting standard setting for their impact on the ethical behavior of accounting professionals  Develop an ethical framework for setting appropriate standards of conduct for stakeholders in the accounting proce ss Prompt Your case study should answer the following prompt: What ethical framework should be u tilized when setting appropriate standards of conduct for professional accountants in order to promote ethical values and decision making? Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Background What company is the subject of the case? Why did you choose this company/ethical situation? What ethics violations were discovered? II. Ethic al Violations a) Who were the main participants involved in perpetrating the violations? Discuss the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants to the following stakeholders regard ing the financial reporting process. How were the stakeholders affected by the ethics violations? i. Int ernal ii. External b) What AICPA Codes of Professional Conduct were violated? i. What is the importance of independence , when is independence required, and why must you be independent both in fact and in appearance ? ii. Did the main participants adhere to moral and ethical principles ? Soundness of moral character ? Honesty? In other words, discuss the case as it relates to the integrity of the main participants. iii. Did the main stakeholders, including the professional accountants , maintain their objectiv ity ? Explain. c) What were the implications of these violations on the business and accounting profession from the following perspectives? i. Legal ii. Social iii. Economic d) Does the company have a specific code of ethics ? Were any of the components of the code violated? Discuss. III. Theoretical Models a) What ethical models were violated in this case? Provide detailed rationale to support your claim . b) How could ethical models have been used to produce better decisions and outcomes? In other words, c ompare and contrast ethical models for their potential contri butions to better decision -making. IV. External Influences and International Accounting Standard s a) What impact, if any, do regulatory activities have on the ethics of this case? If not applicable to this case, discuss possible overall impacts of regulatory activities for ethical situations in general. b) What impact s, if any, do international accounting standards have on the ethics of this case? If not applicable to this case, discuss possible overall impacts of international accounting standards for ethical situations in general. c) What impacts, if any, do emerging technologies have on the ethics of this case? If not applicable to this case, discuss possible overall impacts on ethical situations in general. V. Ethical Framework a) Propose an ethical framework for setting appropriate standards of conduct for professional accountants producing a higher level of et hical values and decision making, as they relate to this case. The framework should include the ways in which management wi ll be involved in the process and what company resources should be available to employees to help make them more ethical choices. b) Could internal controls have been utilized to produce more ethical behavior? Would a plan by corporate governance be an appropriate vehicle for delivering these internal controls to encourage ethical behavior? Discuss. Milestones Milestone One : Background and Ethical Violations In Module Four , you will submit the first draft of Section I: Background and Section II: Ethi cal Violations of the final project. You will submit this draft to the instructor for feedback, which you will incorporate into the final version of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two : Theoretical Mode ls and External Influences and International Accounting Standards In Module Seven , you will submit the first draft of Sections III and IV of the final project. You will submit this draft to the instructor f or feedback, which you will incorporate into the final version of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Final Submission : Ethics Case Study In Module Nine , you will i ncorporate your instructor’s feedback from Milestones One and Two. Submit your completed final draft of the ethics case study, including Section V, Ethical F ramework . This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric. Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Subm ission: Students should submit a well -developed analysis of the ethical framework utilized when setting appropriate standards of conduct for professional accountants in order to promote ethical values and decision making. The paper should be 12 –15 pages long and include a minimum of 8 references, which should be peer -reviewed scholarly research. Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Background Meets “P roficient” criteria and expands on the background and ethical violations using a variety of supporting research Describe s the situational background of the case including a brief descri ption of the ethical violations Describes the situational background of the case , but omits key ele ments and/or ethical violations Does not describe the situational background of the case or does not provide a brief descri ption of the ethical violations 5 Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (Internal) Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands on the impact beyond immediate internal stakeholders, encompassing the internal environment Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders, including how the stakeholders were affected by the violations Assesses th e ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations, but assessment is missing key participants or fails to adequately address the impacts to internal stakehol ders Does not assess the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to internal stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations 5 Ethical Violations: Responsibilities (External) Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands on the impact beyond immediate external stakeholders, encompassing the external environment Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders, including how the stakeholders were affected by the violations Assesses the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations, but assessment is missing key participants or fails to adequately address the im pacts to external stakeholders Does not assess the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants in relation to external stakeholders and how the stakeholders were affected by the violations 5 Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Independence) Meets “Proficient” criteria , and examination includes harm caused by independence violations Examines independence -type ethical violations (as defined by the AICPA Code ) within the case and addresses the importance of independence in fact and appearance Examines independence -type ethical violations (as defined by the AICPA Code) within the case , but omits key independence violations or does not address the importance of independence in fact and appearance Does not examine independence -type ethical violations within the case 3 Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Integrity) Meets “Proficient” criteria , and examination includes harm caused by integrity violations Examines ethical violations in regard to the integrity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of the main participants within the case Examines ethical violations in regard to the integrity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of the main participants within the case, but omits key integrity violations or examination lacks detail Does not examine ethica l violations of the main participants within the case 3 Ethical Violations: AICPA Codes (Objectivity) Meets “Proficient” criteria , and examination includes specific examples illustrating objectivity or the lack thereof Examines the objectivity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of main stakeholders within the case , inclu ding a detailed analysis of the objectivity of the professional accountants Examines the objectivity (as defined by the AICPA Code) of main stakeholders within the case, but does no t include a detailed analysis of the objectivity of the professional accountants , or overall examination is lacking in detail Does not examine the objectivity of main stakeholders within the case 3 Ethical Violations: Implications (Legal) Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands the analysis beyond obvious legal implications Assess es legal implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession Assesses legal implications of ethical violations on the business and account ing profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case Does not assess the legal implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession 4 Ethical Violations: Implications (Social) Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands assessment beyond obvious social implications Assess es social implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession Assesses social implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case Does not assess social implications of the violations on the business and accounting profession 4 Ethical Violations: Implications (Economic ) Meets “Proficient” criteria and expand s the analysis beyond direct economic impact s Assess es economic implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession Assesses economic implications of ethical violations on the business and accounting profession, but analysis omits key implications or fails to relate the implications directly to the case Does not assess economic implications of the violations on the business and accounting profession 4 Ethical Violation: Code of Ethics Meets “Proficient” criteria and includ es a discuss ion on how the company’s Code of Ethics could have been used to prevent the violations Determines if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company ’s own Code of Ethics and d escribes each violation in detail Determines if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company ’s own Code of Ethics , but does not adequately describe the violations or o mits key violations Does not determine if the ethical violations identified in the case violate components of the company ’s own Code of Ethics 5 Theoretical Models: Violated Meets “Proficient” criteria and uses scholarly research in justification of selected model Applies theoretical models to the chosen case to determine which model was violated and provides justification of claim Applies theoretical models to the chosen case to determine which model was violated, but does not provide adequate justification of claim or om its key models in application to the case Does not apply theoretical models to the chosen case 8 Theoretical Models: Better Decisions Meets “Proficient” criteria and determines which models would be the most effective to the ethics in this case Compares and contrasts applicable theoretical models for the ways they could have contributed to better decisions Compares and contrasts theoretical models for the ways they could have contributed to better decisions , but does not utilize applicable models , or discussion is lacking in detail Does not compare and contrast theoretical models for the ways they could have contributed to better decisions 5 Influences and Standards : Regulatory Activities Meets “Proficient” criteria and relate s the impact s of regulations to the overall ethical environment Evaluates the impact of regulatory activities on the ethics in this case or, if not applicable to this case, the overall impact on ethical situations in general Evaluates the impact of regulatory activitie s on the ethics of the case or in general , but o mits key relevant regulatory activities or fails to apply them directly to the case Does not evaluate the impact of regulatory activ ities on ethical situations 4 Influences and Standards: International Accounting Standards Meets “Proficient” criteria , including both research and examples. Evaluates the impact that international accounting standards have on the ethical environment, in cluding the impact on this case Evaluates the impact of international accounting standards on the ethics in this case or explains why internation al standards were not considered Evaluates the impact of international accounting standards on the ethics in the case or explain s why international standards were not considered, bu t evaluation misses key impacts , fails to apply them directly to the case , or explanation of why international standards were not considered is not adequately detailed Does not evaluate the impact of international accounting standards on the ethics of this case or explain why international standards were not considered 4 Influences and Standards: Emerging Technologies Meets “Proficient” criteria and uses examples to draw connect ion s between technology and ethics Analyzes the impact of emerging technology on ethical violations within the case or, or if not applicable to this case, the overall impact on ethical situations in general Analyzes the impact of emerging technology on the ethical violations within the case or the overall impact on ethical situation s in general, but analysis misses key impacts or analysis is lacking in detail Does not analyze the impact of emerging technology on the ethical violations 5 Ethical Framework: Proposal Meets “Proficient” criteria , and the framework is comprehensive and multi -dimensional Proposes an ethical framework for setting appropriate standards of conduct , including management’s involvement and suggested employee resources Proposes an ethical framework for setting appropriate standards of conduct, but framework is not fully developed or is missing key elements , such as management’s involvement or suggested employee resources Does not propose an ethical framework for setting appropriate standards of conduct 12 Ethical Framework: Internal Controls Meets “Proficient” criteria , and evaluation considers this case as well as other environment s Evaluates the promotion of ethical behaviors through the use of internal controls , including corporate governance Evaluates the promotion of ethical behaviors through the use of internal controls, but evaluation does not include corporate governance or discussion is lacking in detail Does not evaluate the promotion of ethical behaviors through the use of internal controls 10 Articulation of Response Meets “Proficient” criteria and has excellent s yntax and sentence construction Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 11 Earned Total 100%