Ethics for Finance Professionals

ETHICS FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS1
Ethics for finance professionals
Course
Instructor’s name
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City and state
Date

ETHICS FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS2
Question, one
The ethical issue, in this case, is that the air conditioning system lining was made out of
asbestos, this was discovered by the specialists who were carrying out maintenance activities in
the premises of Shady Oaks. These specialists suggested that Shady Oaks must remove the
asbestos and replace it. According to Shady Oaks, the replacement process would cost them
more money, given that there would be inflations the next years to come. At the time when
specialists recommended replacement of the asbestos lining in the air conditioning system, the
asbestos had not yet been degraded, and thus no fibres had been produced. The produced fibres
cause inflammation and genetic alterations to an individual's body cells (King 2017). Continuous
exposure to asbestos is dangerous to human life mainly because it causes a form of cancer known
as mesothelioma. The asbestos fibres are microscopic. Therefore they cannot be detected easily.
The people visiting the premises of Shady Oaks are at high risks of becoming exposed to
asbestos fibres; thus, their lives are in danger. According to the information provided in the case
study, the asbestos in the air conditioning system at Shady Oaks was still intact, and that is why
the management team has not considered replacing the linings of the air conditioning system.
Because the organization of Shady Oaks does not have enough finances to set aside for the
replacement of the asbestos linings in their air conditioning system, they have decided not to do
any maintenance activities. For this reason, Shady Oaks has not considered the lives of the
clients but have instead considered staying in the business area no matter the consequences that
may result.

ETHICS FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS3
For this particular case, Avneet is making the ethical decision, although her boss named
Jane is not agreeing with the amendments brought by Avneet. Jane has refused to accept the
proposals brought in by Avneet. Jane is doing so mainly because she is afraid of losing their
clients and thus is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that the clients do not leave Shady
Oaks. The reviews made by Avneet posse a great danger to Shady Oaks although Jane cannot
notice it. It is terrible to do things in the wrong way, although a chance exists of correcting them.
Question two
The clients of Shady Oaks will be significantly affected by the decision made by Jane as
a top manager in the finance department. Jane's idea of not approving the money to facilitate the
inspection process of the air conditioning system. The three years as recommended earlier by the
specialists have passed although no replacements have been made on the linings of the air
conditioning system. Therefore, the asbestos has degraded, and asbestos fibres have been
produced, thus putting the lives of the clients at considerable risk.
Furthermore, the bank providing the three-year loan to Shady Oaks will be affected. This
is mainly because the information provided by Shady Oaks is not genuine. The information
provided does not categorize assets, whether as current or non-current assets. Besides, some
liabilities and assets have been kept off the balance sheet which violates the accounting
standards. Because the banks based on the balance sheet when giving out loans to its clients or
business organization, Shady Oaks has kept some of its liabilities and assets off the balance
sheet. Thus the bank is using false information provided by Shady Oaks during its course of
acquiring the loan.

ETHICS FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS4
For this case study, the moral agent is Jane. Her interests are to make sure that the clients
stay at Shady Oaks. Jane believes that they can still earn more money from their clients provided
that they continue staying at Shady Oaks. More so, Jane is more concerned about the people who
are employed by Shady Oaks. These employees also have dependents who depend on them
mainly because they work at Shady Oaks and thus earn some money as a salary, which facilitates
their leaving. Therefore reducing the number of employees will not only affect the fired
employees, but it also affects other people who depend on them. In summary, Jane is more
interested in keeping Shady Oaks operating no matter what it takes.
The competing ethical values, in this case, are honesty, mutual benefit, respect for others,
transparency. The values possessed by people define who they are and are important driving
factors towards the choices that are made (Thornton 2015). According to the case study, there is
no honesty between Shady Oaks and the bank mainly because the bank is using non-genuine
information to provide the three-year loan to Shady Oaks. Ethics is all about human actions as
well as the choices that are made by human beings. The values specify the relationship that exists
between a goal and the person (Mintz 2018). Jane chose to employee her brother-in-law as the
auditor for Shady Oaks because of the thinks that he can "see the big picture" of Shady Oaks.
Jane violated the ethical value by considering her relationship with the brother-in-law as a
leading factor other the goals set by Shady Oaks.
Question three
One of the courses of action that need to be put in place is the use of a deontological
approach. Under this approach, the action is considered appropriate because of the traits of the
action but not the consequences that might result after a specific action has been put into practice
(Joseph et-al. 2017). The organization in the case study has made all of its private information