Personal Ethics and the Workplace

Ethics are an important part of Life. Every Decision we make is influenced by

our perception of what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable behavior and
what is not. Our society has laws in place that support correct courses of action and
that discourages incorrect ones. Those with high moral standards are often held in
high regard in society, considered as people of integrity, people that can be trusted.
These type of people and this type of ethical behavior is earnestly sought for in the
workplace. Employers search for individuals with high moral and ethical standards
that they can trust to work effectively and honestly. This is particularly true when it
comes to accounting and financial reporting. If an employer were to make the poor
choice of hiring an individual of low moral standards as their CFO, for example, they
would put their whole business at risk. It is no wonder then that great care is taken
when hiring new employees especially accountants and financial assistants. When
considering who would be a good candidate for this position in their company an
employer may ask himself the following; what motivates this guy? or is this a man
I can trust with my finances? Ultimately he wants to know; will this individual
accurately and honestly conduct the financial reporting of this company? So, what
is it that leads one to act in decency over deception? And why is this so vital to a
companys financial position? To answer these questions I have examined my own
life and have come up with experiences and situations that I believe may give a
potential conclusion.
I grew up in a happy and secure home with my 9 siblings and my parents.
Money was tight so we didnt always get everything that we wanted. I remember
one time when I was somewhere around the age of 4 or 5 we were at the grocery

store and I asked my mom to get me a ring pop, which is a piece of candy attached
to a ring that you can put on your finger. My mother refused to get it for me and
when she wasnt looking I snuck it into my pocket. We made it out of the store to
our 9 passenger van and I sat in the back content that I had gotten away with my
plan. With what I can only guess was mothers intuition she asked me a question
Peter she said What do you have in your pocket?. I had been found out. We
went back in the store my mom called the manager and had me return the ring pop
and apologize. I begged him not to call the police. He said something like I think
well let you off this time with a smile and I sighed with relief. These small
moments of my life had a big influence on the development of my ethical standards.
This was the first time I seriously considered the consequences of my unethical
behavior. My 5 year old mind knew what happened to bad people and I thought
that I was going to be handed over to the cops and thrown in jail. This was a harsh
reality for a 5 year old but it led me to striving for moral excellence in my future
decisions. I can only imagine what might have happened had I succeeded in my
plot. As I continued to mature life threw several situations at me. There was
cheating at school, smoking and drinking underage, and lying to protect people who
were important to me. I believe that my parents example and the influence of our
church, which we attended weekly, helped me to learn, occasionally the hard way,
which decisions were acceptable and which were not.
It is clear to me that this early experience has helped lead to my current
moral character, but it is essential for you to understand religions contributions to
my moral growth as well. The phrase do unto others as you would have them do
unto you has always been an important phrase in my life.

I believe that the

relationships that we have with our fellow human beings is one of the most

important and that no success can compensate for failing in our relationships with
the ones around us and the ones that we love. I also believe that one of the
principle purposes of religion is to assist us in that regard. In my religion there are
commandments that we are supposed to follow as well as consequences to
breaking them. However If the reason I acted honestly was simply in fear of the
consequences then no doubt my moral compass would only point north when faced
with a negative outcome which would allow social or financial problems to through
me off course. I do admit however that consequences are a significant motivating
factor but I believe there is a deeper underlying motivation. So what is it that really
motivates me to continue to choose correct behavior over that which is incorrect? I
sometimes ask myself these questions? When it is our time to leave this earth what
will our legacy be? How will the collective decisions of our lives affect those we love
the most? If there is an afterlife will the choices weve made be important? These
are some of the questions that religion has brought up in my life. I believe that the
decisions that we make, even when we think no one is watching, change us and
make us who we are. Why does it matter who we are? Well some people dont
care. One is free to choose what is important to oneself. Some people dont care
about anything or anyone other than themselves. Some dont even care about
themselves or what happens to them. I think the underlying reason I do what I do
and choose what I choose comes down to this. I care about who I am and what I
become, I care about where Im going, and I care about other human beings. I am
who I am simply because I choose to be that way. Everyone is free to do the same
but they dont always do so because they care more about what car they drive,
getting revenge, where they should go on vacation, who Americas next top model
is, or an innumerable list of other things that they consider more important. I feel

that the activity in or the study of religion has caused me to reflect on my life, my
actions, and my future and that this self-awareness increases the likelihood of moral
action. It carries with me wherever I go and whatever I do.
Eventually I entered the workplace. The first Job I ever had was at a Grocery
store. In our store we had a little coffee shop. I had worked there for a year when a
situation occurred. Several members of the staff that worked in the shop were
fired. I assume that the business found an error in their information system and
discovered one or more of their employees was skimming money, a prime example
of misappropriation of assets. The company was not able to locate the culprits so
they assessed their risks and made the decision to fire almost the whole
department in order to protect those assets. This unethical behavior lost several
people their jobs. I later started work for a Solar Company in the position of a Site
Surveyor. For about 4-12 hours a day I worked all by myself. I had access to our
companys inventory, entered our potential customers homes, and had a freedom
of action I had not experienced before in the workplace. Honestly the autonomy
was amazing I loved that aspect of my job. I loved having that kind of trust from
our company. It did not last though. In our office there was internal audit of the
inventory that was conducted on a regular basis and it became evident that
someone was taking more than they used. This internal audit led to the discovery
of the theft of assets and resulted in more strict access to company resources and
greater overall micromanagement of our office. These changes negatively impacted
the impact of me and my coworkers though we understood full well the need for the
changes. These two experiences helped me to learn that businesses are serious
when it comes to their assets. It also taught me that ethical behavior creates trust
and that trust can create a pleasant working environment. On the other hand

unethical behavior creates distrust and less enjoyable working conditions. I saw
firsthand what unethical behavior can do in a company and it never turned out to be
beneficial to the company or to its employees. If unethical behavior is capable of
such negative influence in minor departments, imagine what it could do if it affected
the entire company, what it might do in the financial department.
Financial Accountants are always in proximity to financial records and
therefore always have the opportunity to commit fraud. In most cases an individual
with even relatively low standards can perform there duties without incident.
However situations can occur that can change this. Occasionally there are
situations where one has to choose between the lesser of two evils or the greater
good. These types of moral dilemmas can be a product of various pressures in our
lives. They frequently cause the greatest difficulty among us especially to those
who have a low Ethical Standard. There is a great movie called Firewall that
demonstrates such a situation. Firewall stars Harrison Ford as Jack, a bank security
expert for a large bank. He is well known and well respected among his colleagues.
However a situation arises in his personal life, his family is kidnapped and their lives
are put in jeopardy. They use extortion to try to force his hand to steal company
information and assets. This is an extreme comparison to what may happen in the
financial accounting department but relevant nonetheless.

An accounts position

continuously puts him in a position to commit fraud. Fraudulent financial accounting

and cooking the books is always a potential threat to any business. As I mentioned
earlier fear of negative consequence is a general motivator for a great many
people, as nobody wants to go to prison. And even though it is rare for someone to
enter a job with the intention of committing fraud, this simple motivator may not be
enough when other pressures take the forefront of our lives and people start

rationalizing why fraud would be ok. In the situation in Firewall Jacks family is
kidnapped. His fear for his familys life greatly outweighs his fear to go to prison.
His ethical standard is overpowered by and overwhelming pressure in his life. The
outside pressure is so great that no rationalization is even necessary in this case.
His ethical values are simply trumped. This extreme is an exception not the norm.
The pressure that arises in our lives could be anything. Student loans, a mortgage,
hospital bills, anything that puts an individuals finances at risk, or in rare cases
their own lives, or the lives of family members. In the less severe scenarios it all
comes down to the strength of ones core values, the why they do what they do. If
the strength of ones conviction is compromised by rationalization then a likely result
is prison, and worse, a betrayal of oneself. This is something that I consider
personally to be devastating to ones character.
In the Years to come I expect to enter into several lines of work until I settle
down into my chosen field. I do not think that it will be a big change for me as I
have already had several jobs that have prepared me for situations of ethical
signifigance. Although there are innumerable ways to commit fraud as an
employee, I believe that whether I become an accountant or end up on a different
career path that I am prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
In summary, there is no substitute for good Ethical behavior in an employee,
especially in the field of financial accounting. I have learned that there are several
things that can influence someone to be morally just, yet the deciding factor as to
whether a person retains a high level of moral standards ultimately lies in the why
they are who they are and the why they do what they do. I believe that the path to
acquiring this knowledge is serious self-reflection.

It should be apparent now as to

why this is vital to a businesss success. A Business can fall apart because of the

actions of a single man or woman and when a business falls apart it sets us back as
human beings and hurts our economy. Our world is a constantly evolving entity, it
can put anything in our path. No one knows what tomorrow brings. If one looks
back even 50 years ago and compares our current world to the one of the past it is
almost completely unrecognizable. The power that allows us to have confidence in
who we are and the decisions we make in this crazy world we live in comes from
relying upon a firm conviction within our souls. It is my hope that the people of the
human race will find it in themselves to want to be men and women of renown and
respectability. If this occurs I am convinced that our businesses will flourish and
bring us closer to a golden age of prosperity, innovation, and peace.