Ethics Article Review - Adelphia Communication Corp

Ethics Article Review Adelphia Communication Corp

"Personal ethics is not a topic one typically expects to study in a financial accounting course. However, the large number of accounting scandals in 2001 and 2002 demonstrated that personal ethics and financial reporting are inextricably connected." (Albrecht, Stice & Swain Accounting Concepts and Applications Chap 5, pg. 200). One corporation in particular that displayed unethical transactions was the Adelphia Communication Corp, founded by John J. Rigas and his son Timothy J. Rigas.

Company founders were found guilty of fraud by trying to take advantage of the system. As I read the article, one unethical decision-making issue that stuck out the most lead their family members to falsify Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documentation with their own personal signatures. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established in order to give investors and creditors an accurate account of a company's financial reporting with an accurate accounting of transactions. So when human beings, investors and, creditors such as we decide to invest the hard earned savings to help better not only our lives, but our children lives. We can make better investment decisions; again this is possible through the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Unethical decision making exist in many organizations and these organizations may range from small to large accounting firms. Fraudulent practices occur when employees do misleading things to satisfy their own personal gain and do not have the best interest of the organization at heart.

In any organization integrity has to be maintained. Maintaining corporate integrity is usually done through establishing laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and in the military integrity is maintained through the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

If putting our own needs before some else's causes a dishonest act and breaks the code of military justice, the service member actions will be held accountable and they stand a chance of possibly losing their military career or even being prosecuted and facing prison time. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 because corporations falsely provided the public with inaccurate reporting which led to various accounting scandals in numerous titans companies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 puts the ownership of reliable reporting of the companies' financial state in the hands of the corporate managers.

Measures of these sorts are in effect to prevent bad decision making. Constant training and reminders of doing the right thing will aid in making the organization successful. Establishing organizational goals and visions provide other means of keeping team members on the right path to success and honesty. Unethical decisions will continue to surface, but with sound training and