Issue of Contemporary Accounting: Ethical Dilemma Faced by Trainee Accountant

This article discusses the ethical dilemma faced by a trainee accountant in contemporary accounting due to insufficient experience and unrealistic deadline. It identifies relevant ethical principles, stakeholders, and suggests courses of action.

Issue of contemporary accounting

TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUESTION 8.............................................................................................................................3
(i) Outlining the facts of the case...........................................................................................3
(ii) Identifying relevant ethical principles and the values as per APES 110 applicable to this
case.........................................................................................................................................3
(iii) Identifying the stakeholders and how they are affected..................................................3
(iv) Suggested courses of action............................................................................................3

QUESTION 8
(i) Outlining the facts of the case
You are a trainee accountant within a small practice and a senior member is on sick leave and
you are about to go on a study leave. The manager of the company has asked to complete
some complex reconciliation work before leaving. But you do not have sufficient experience
in respect to completing the work alone with an unrealistic deadline. It requires an additional
supervision and support in order to complete it to the required standard. But in case, work is
completed within the proposed timeframe but with not the expected quality and there are
chances of facing repercussions after returning from leave. This has resulted int creation of
pressure in this challenging time.
(ii) Identifying relevant ethical principles and the values as per APES 110 applicable to this
case
Key fundamental principles affected are:
Integrity: One can be honest and open about the current situation. It would not be right to
attempt to do a work which is beyond the person’s abilities and also without any proper
supervision.
Professional competence and due care: Is it possible to complete the task in the given time
frame and still act diligently in order to achieve the required standard quality? This involves
taking care of professional competence along with due care.
Professional behaviour: The information pertaining to whether the work can be carried out
or not is important. One can refuse to perform the work without affecting the reputation of
the company within practice. Or on the other hand, could put the reputation at stake if one
tries to attempt to carry out the work
(iii) Identifying the stakeholders and how they are affected
After taking into consideration the policies and procedures of the practice along with the
ethical code of conduct, the key affected parties are- the trainee accountant, manager, the
other employees and the clients. At first, issue should be resolved with manager and might
required involving person responsible for training into the practice. It might be possible that
the client might be affected if proper and quality work is not submitted in the required time
which will result into affecting the other employees responsible for the same.
(iv) Suggested courses of action
 Explaining the manager about the insufficient time and the experience in order to
complete the work within the required standard quality. In addition to this, a

constructive attitude can be demonstrated and providing other alternative for solving
the problem.
 It might involve using the subcontract bookkeeper or other contacting the client to
enquire about the other deadline or the extension of the deadline so that the work can
be finished after returning from the study leave or when the senior member returns
form the sick leave.
 Another possible action is to assign another member from the staff to supervise the
work and if the manager is unsympathetic or is not able to understand the issue then
the matter should be rise to the person in the practice responsible for providing
training.