Business Law 1 Case Study: Analysis of Brenda's Ethical Dilemma

This case study presents Brenda's ethical dilemma, where she discovers employees incorrectly entering data in the company's new accounting software. The case explores whether Brenda should disclose the employees' identities or handle the situation internally, considering the company's confidentiality policy. It applies Chris MacDonald's methodology for resolving ethical dilemmas, emphasizing employee training, involvement, work-specific policies, and rules of enforcement. The analysis advises Brenda to uphold ethical standards, maintain objectivity, confidentiality, and integrity, as per the APES 110 Code of Ethics. The solution suggests a face-to-face meeting with the employees to discuss errors and request leniency from management while ensuring no repetition of mistakes. The study also recommends communication with the corporate governance team for additional support and emphasizes the importance of honesty, competence, professionalism, and public interest. The case concludes with a focus on implementing good morals and professional development to ensure employees understand their responsibilities.

Running head: BUSINESS LAW
BUSINESS LAW
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Case: 2
Brenda’s ethical dilemma
Brenda is in an ethical dilemma for finding out certain employees to have been
entering data incorrectly on the new accounting software of the company. as per the
company policy, the identity of an employee is to be kept secret at any given point and that
is why Brenda is in a dilemma as to whether she should disclose the defaulter employees’
identity in order to take action against them or whether to handle the situation without
involving the management.
MacDonald’s Methodology
To resolve Brenda’s dilemma in situation, a few of Chris MacDonald’s methodology
of solving ethical dilemma could be applied here. The following ethical standards from Chris
MacDonald’s methodology is discussed pertaining to the scenario of this case:
1. Providing formal training to the employees
Employees should be adequately trained so that the chance of making errors
diminishes and therefore Brenda should ensure that employees have enough knowledge to
operate the new software (Liu, Mai and MacDonald 2018).
2. Involving the employees
Companies should take the opinion of the employees while drafting company policies
which would give them a sense of importance for the company and in return the company
would also get valuable feedback from its employees (Brussalis and Pallitto 2017). Brenda
should arrange for a session to document the views of the employees pertaining to the
policies of the company.
3. Work specific policies
Along with a uniform code for the entire organisation, the company must have special
policy for certain group of employees whose genre of work is completely different from
others. In this situation, Brenda must see whether the policy is too harsh or unjustified for the
defaulters (Liu, Mai and MacDonald 2018).
4. Rules of enforcement
Enforcement of rules is important for that helps the employees understand their
mistakes and rectify them. Brenda must make the defaulters aware of their mistakes and
warn them about the consequences.
Advice to Brenda
Following the ethical framework of Chris MacDonald and the regulations contained in
the APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, Brenda must ensure that the
employees are being professional towards their work along with maintain objectivity,
confidentiality and integrity. Section 100 of the Code asks the accountants ensure care and
competence. While section 100.21 of the Code directs the employees to seek legal help in
case of legal ethical issues. Brenda is advised to arrange for a face to face interactive
session with the defaulters and discuss the errors that they have been making, along with
asking them to ensure no such erroneous conducts in future. Additionally, Brenda must
communicate with the management for requesting them to be a little lenient to the users of
the new software for it is complicated and time consuming (Acwa.org.au 2018). In this way,
Brenda could handle the situation in secrecy without involving the management about it, yet
ensuring that the employees do not repeat their mistakes again.
Advice of Communication
As for Brenda’s duty to communicate with the appropriate authority in the company,
she could approach the corporate governance team that deals with ethical and policy issues

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for them to allow some time for the employees to be well-versed with the new accounting
software. Brenda should talk to the defaulters and ask them to ensure no erroneous
professional conduct in the future.

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List of ACS Code of Ethics:
1. Honesty
2. Competence
3. Professional development
List of ACS Code of Professional Conduct:
1. Honesty
2. Competence
3. Professional development
4. professionalism
5. Public interest
Brenda must ensure honesty, professionalism, competency and the importance for
public interest from the employees in order to maintain an issue free working environment.
Implementation of good morals and sense of professionalism and professional development
would make sure that the defaulters are aware of their responsibility, accept their faults and
would ensure that they would not repeat their errors in the future.

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References:
Acs.org.au. (2018). ACS - The Professional Association for Australia's ICT sector. [online]
Available at: https://www.acs.org.au/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2018].
Acwa.org.au. (2018). Code of ethics and Practice guidelines - Australian Community
Workers Association | ACWA. [online] Available at:
http://www.acwa.org.au/resources/ethics-and-standards [Accessed 24 Aug. 2018].
APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants
Apesb.org.au. (2018). Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board. [online]
Available at: http://www.apesb.org.au/page.php?id=12 [Accessed 24 Aug. 2018].
Brussalis, C. W., & Pallitto, J. R. (2017). MANAGEMENT CONSULTING 94-808. Cell, 724,
3517.
Liu, Y., Mai, F., & MacDonald, C. (2018). A Big-Data Approach to Understanding the
Thematic Landscape of the Field of Business Ethics, 1982–2016. Journal of
Business Ethics, 1-24.