I.

CASE STUDY ONE: TAKEOVER INFORMATION

You are financial director of a large multinational organisation and have been privy to information about
a takeover bid to acquire a rival firm. A family friend is considering selling shares in this rival organization
and has asked you, as an expert in the industry, for advice on this matter.

What would you do? Which principles are affected and how?

INTEGRITY
OBJECTIVITY
PROFESSIONAL
COMPETENCE
AND DUE CARE
CONFIDENTIALITY
PROFESSIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

II. CASE STUDY TWO: WITHOLDING INFORMATION

You are a CIMA member who is a non-executive director of a large services company. The board of
directors meets on a monthly basis to discuss the quarterly forecast and other business issues.
It is the responsibility of the finance director to distribute papers at least two weeks prior to the date of
the meeting. These papers should first be signed off by the CEO. Recently documents have only been
received a day before the meeting.
You have raised this with the finance director who has stated the delay is due to the sign-off by the CEO.
You do not feel that you are given sufficient time to review the papers and also believe the information
that is available is not complete and therefore difficult to fully appraise.
The CEO is a dominant character and many members of the board are nervous about broaching the
matter.

What would you do? Which principles are affected and how?

INTEGRITY
OBJECTIVITY
PROFESSIONAL
COMPETENCE
AND DUE CARE
CONFIDENTIALITY
PROFESSIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

III. CASE STUDY THREE: POSSIBLE INSOLVENCY

As financial controller at a manufacturing company you have been advised by a colleague that the sales
director is unlawfully declaring fuel benefits as the tax value is high. This has been creating higher profit
margins and if declared those margins will go down. There is potential that this could push the company
into insolvency, which would result in job losses for 300 employees.
You have made the other directors aware of the situation but they have expressed a wish not to disclose
the misleading tax bill. You are aware that by declaring this information to the tax authorities, as
required by law, that the organization may have to declare insolvency and the 300 employees could lose
their jobs.

What would you do? Which principles are affected and how?

INTEGRITY
OBJECTIVITY
PROFESSIONAL
COMPETENCE
AND DUE CARE
CONFIDENTIALITY
PROFESSIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

IV. CASE STUDY FOUR: FAMILY ISSUES

You are a CIMA student employed as a company secretary for a small family owned limited company.
The board is made up of family members, with only one family member holding an executive position as
managing director.
There are some disagreements within the family regarding the will of the recently deceased chair of the
board, the mother of the family. The boards have twice voted to pay pension contributions to one of the
members of the family on the board as non-executive director, a brother of the managing director, and
this has been approved by majority in meeting.
However, you have since been advised by the managing director not to make the payment.

What would you do? Which principles are affected and how?

INTEGRITY
OBJECTIVITY
PROFESSIONAL
COMPETENCE
AND DUE CARE
CONFIDENTIALITY
PROFESSIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

V. CASE STUDY FIVE: EMPLOYEE ISSUES

You are a CIMA member who has recently joined a limited company that processes food. The company
is effectively run by one director. The other directors are non-executive and all have close personal
relationships.
As a key member of the finance team you have discovered that some employees are being paid cash in
hand and not via the formal payroll. You also have suspicions that some of these people are being
employed illegally and you have no records of their formal employment documents or contracts.

What would you do? Which principles are affected and how?

INTEGRITY
OBJECTIVITY
PROFESSIONAL
COMPETENCE
AND DUE CARE
CONFIDENTIALITY
PROFESSIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

CASE STUDY: KRATOS AND POSEIDONS PRINCESS

In the very successful God of War series of videogames, the player controls a Spartan warrior name
Kratos on a mission to revenge against the Greek gods. Kratos displays many of the symptoms of
dissocial personality disorder, which, according to the World Health Organization, is characterized by:
disregard for social obligations, and callous unconcern for the feelings of others..There is a low
tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence; there is a
tendency to blame others.(ICD-10, 204)
Jamal is the father of two boys, one 17 and one 14. He enjoys playing videogames with his sons,
but he usually plays through the games himself, first, to make sure that they are suitable for his kids to
play. Jamal is generally not concerned with cartoonish violence in games, or even the semirealistic
violence in games where there are clear good guys and bad guys, or in situations that are clearly self-
defense or otherwise morally justified by the story.
God of War III is another story, however. While playing through God of War III, Jamal was
particularly disturbed by a sequence involving a computer character named Poseidons Princess. At this
point in the game Kratos is blocked by a metal gate. The gate can be opened by turning a heavy crank,
but as soon as Kratos lets go of the crank, the door closes again.
The solution to this puzzle is to rescue the Princess from a room where she is trapped, and
then push her into the crank mechanism. As Kratos walks toward the door, the Princess begs for mercy,
but Kratos ignores her. As Kratos continues towards the door, the player hears the Princess begin to
scream, and then the gruesome sounds of the princess being crushed by the mechanism.
Jamal finds himself disturbed by this scene, and spends some time looking for alternate
solutions to the puzzle, but there is none. The player cannot complete the game without pushing
Poseidons Princess into the crank.

Question:
1. Based on the description of Kratoss behavior, do you agree that Kratos (if he were real) should
be diagnosed with dissocial personality disorder? Explain your reasoning.
2. Jamal felt disturbed by the Poseidons Princess scene. Does that mean that he is more moral
than someone who was not disturbed by the scene? Would you consider him to be more moral
than someone who actually enjoyed the scene?
3. We have discussed Aristotles idea that we become virtuous by mimicking and repeating
virtuous acts. Explain why Aristotle might argue that Jamal should not let his sons play this
game.
4. We have discussed Kants principle of the end in itself. If the player does, as the game
requires, sacrifice the Princess, is the player violating Kants principle? In particular, does it
matter that the Princess is not a real person, but simply a computer construct?
5. Do you believe that playing this type of video game, where the player is forced to mimic
immoral actions, can cause a person to become less moral? Explain your reasoning. You may
wish to do some online research to provide evidence for your position.