Questions:

Assessment Feedback:

1. When do I get my marked assignment back?

In accordance with the ‘Assessment (Higher Education Courses) Procedure’ (clause 18) feedback on the assignment will be provided within 15 working days of the due date or extension date of the assignment task. Exceptions will be where an assignment maybe being second marked (for a combination of reasons), or reported for academic misconduct (http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/assessments/misconduct).

2. Can I appeal my marks?

Yes, in the first instance you need to talk to the assessor/marker of your assignment that in most cases will be your campus coordinator. If you are still dissatisfied with their explanation, you can chat to the unit chair.

Please note that if you want the assignment to be re-marked you will need to make the request in writing to the unit chair and provide all of your details (eg., full name, student ID).

Once your request for re-marking has been approved, a clean copy of the assignment will be marked by another team member (not the original assessor) and fresh marks and comments will be provided to you. It is important to note that in such instances you will be required to accept the new marks – whether they go up, down or remain the same.

Description and Requirements

This is an individual assignment.

Requirements

In this assignment you will present a folio of two (2) articles that you have read and reviewed during the first half of the trimester. Articles must be print-dated after June 1st, 2016.

Each article must be from the print media (newspaper article, magazine article, internet article). The articles that you select must have at least 200 words of text. Please note that academic journal articles are not regarded as print media for the purpose of this assignment and if used you will be given a zero for that article.

The articles must be concerned with issues of a business ethics nature. If you are not sure of the article’s applicability please think through the situation before using it, perhaps choose another one that you are sure fits what is required. The unit team cannot give you an assessment of the article’s applicability. As this is a third year unit, we expect students to take responsibility for their own learning decisions, therefore deciding on the articles that you choose is a part of the assessment process.

Please ensure that your articles are business ethics related and do not cover social, cultural or political issues. Sometimes there is a fine line and if you are not sure, then choose another article which clearly outlines a business ethics issue(s).

The discussion of each article must contain:

• the title of the article
• the media from which it was obtained: i.e. newspaper or magazine name, internet site location
• the date of the article (it must be after June 1st, 2016; if not that article discussion will score 0)
• an overview of the essence of the article with a brief discussion of the identified ethical issue(s)
• a discussion that links the essence of the article and ethical issues(s) to the theory (referenced theory to support your ideas is expected and will be deemed as essential)*. Here you also need to include your recommendations (that are realistic and practical) as a manager to resolve the issues identified in the article. If no resolution has been mentioned in the article, you can give your suggestions of how to resolve the issues here. If a resolution has been mentioned, discuss whether you would had resolved the issue in the same manner or other ways, and why.
• Who are the stakeholders being impacted (now and in the future) by the issue and how? Briefly discuss impact (positive and/or negative) on each stakeholder.
• a conclusion in which you proffer an opinion on the article’s ethical issue(s)
• an academic reference list that is constructed correctly (using Harvard or author-date referencing style).

*as this unit is at 3rd year level, you can use any theory that relates to business ethics regardless of having already formally studied it in the unit schedule: i.e. you can read ahead and use ideas and theories from weeks outside of 1-7.

You must include a scanned copy of the article with your assignment, else your assignment will NOT be marked until after the exams. In these circumstances, you will receive a maximum of 25/50.

You are to write 2250 words per article (10% +/– of the word limit is acceptable).

The reference list incorporating in-text references from both (2) articles should be included at the end of the last article following the Harvard referencing style.

Assignment: Frequently Asked Queries

Hello Everyone,

With this assignment we always have some inquiries. Accordingly, below we have responded to some of the commonly asked queries and highly recommend that you read this document before commencing on the assignment.

Articles

1. What should be the focus of business ethics?

The articles must be concerned with issues of a business ethics nature. For example, drinking is a social issue, but drinking in the workplace/ on the job is a business ethics issue as it can have an impact on your performance. Business ethics issues are those issues that have a direct bearing on the business operations of an organisation. The issues can be in either the corporate sector or the public sector, as long as you can demonstrate a business implication.

2. Advice regarding suitability of an article.

If you are not sure of the article’s applicability please think through before you use it; perhaps choose another one that you are sure fits with what is required. The unit team cannot give you an assessment of the article’s applicability. As a third year unit, we expect students to take responsibility for their own learning decisions, therefore deciding on the articles that you choose is a part of the assessment process.

We cannot comment on the suitability of your article choice. Your choice is a part of the demonstration to us of your understanding of the unit content.

3. We would accept issues that have gone from business ethics issues to legal issues.

By this statement, we mean that often behaviour begins as unethical and over time may become illegal. Often people convicted of criminal intent continue to appeal and protest their innocence and still cannot see that they have done anything wrong. Nonetheless, you should still be able to clearly identify and discuss an ethical issue and differentiate it from legal aspects.

4. Topics that you can use in your theory discussion. Should you confine it just to Topics 1-7?

As this unit is at third year level, you can use any theory that relates to business ethics regardless of having already formally studied it in the unit schedule: i.e. you can read ahead and use ideas and theories from weeks outside of 1-7, or use another textbook.

5. The articles used must be print dated after June 1st 2016

The articles that you use must have appeared in the print media source after June 1st 2016. The articles can be about activities done pre-June 1st 2016. If the article header is dated prior to June 1st 2016, it will receive 0 marks regardless of the quality of content discussion.

6. Journal articles: are they print media?

Each article must be from the print media (newspaper article, magazine article, internet newspaper or internet magazine article). The articles that you select must have at least 200 words of text.

Please note that academic journal articles are not regarded as print media for the purpose of this assignment.

7. Can I use one source (eg., same Newspaper) for all of the articles?

Yes, you can, use the same source (eg., The Age website) for both the articles. Nonetheless, do note the articles should be about 2 different organisations and 2 different business ethics issues.

8. Are overseas newspapers and websites acceptable?

Yes, they are – the only requirement is that they be printed or translated in English.

9. Can I use Wikipedia for my assignment?

Wikipedia use is prohibited for this assignment. You need to search information about the various theories and business ethics issues from various textbooks, journal articles and other sources as opposed to gaining potential inaccurate information from Wikipedia.

10. Can I use blogs for my assignment?

Whilst blogs can be part of the media source, we recommend not to use them as we are looking for your views on various business ethics issues than commentary by other people.

References

1. Where does the reference list go?

Place the combined reference list in alphabetical order after the discussion of the 2 articles, in other words, at the end of the document.

2. Is the final reference list part of the word limit?

The final reference list is not included in the word limit of the assignment nor are the in-text references.

3. Word limits for the assignment.

10% +/- of the 2250 words for each article in the assignment is acceptable.

Formatting Requirements

You also need to ensure that in your assignment you:

• Have 1.5 line spacing.
• Have 12 point font.
• Have Times New Roman or Arial style.
• Have numbered the pages of your assignment.
• Write short sentences (Try not to have one sentence that is 5-6 lines long).
• Write short paragraphs as they increase readability. Paragraphs should not be one page or more long. Use your judgement to ensure that each paragraph talks about a new idea.

Students must correctly use the Author-Date, or Harvard style of referencing.

Submission Instructions

Assignment MUST be submitted on CloudDeakin by December 19^th 2016 by 23:59.

You must keep a backup copy of every assignment you submit, until the marked assignment has been returned to you.  In the unlikely event that one of your assignments is misplaced, you will need to submit your backup copy.

Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion and/or plagiarism.

When you are required to submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment dropbox folder after upload, and check for, and keep, the email receipt of the submission.

Notes

• Penalties for late submission: The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked. You will receive 0% for the task. ‘Day’ means working day for paper submissions and calendar day for electronic submissions. The Unit Chair may refuse to accept a late submission where it is unreasonable or impracticable to assess the task after the due date.
• For more information about academic misconduct, special consideration, extensions, and assessment feedback, please refer to the document Your rights and responsibilities as a student in this Unit in the first folder next to the Unit Guide of the Resources area in the CloudDeakin unit site.
• Building evidence of your experiences, skills and knowledge (Portfolio) – Building a portfolio that evidences your skills, knowledge and experience will provide you with a valuable tool to help you prepare for interviews and to showcase to potential employers. There are a number of tools that you can use to build a portfolio.  You are provided with cloud space through OneDrive, or through the Portfolio tool in the Cloud Unit Site, but you can use any storage repository system that you like. Remember that a Portfolio is YOUR tool. You should be able to store your assessment work, reflections, achievements and artefacts in YOUR Portfolio. Once you have completed this assessment piece, add it to your personal Portfolio to use and showcase your learning later, when applying for jobs, or further studies.  Curate your work by adding meaningful tags to your artefacts that describe what the artefact represents.

Answers:

Article 1

Overview of the Article

            The article “Uber spying on customers: beyonce, politicians and ex partners stalked by employees and ex partners, investigator claims” by NewsComAu (2016)was published on 14^th December, 2016. According to the article, a forensic investigator for taxi start up Uber had claimed that the company has been breaching the personal information of the customers. The company assures its customers regarding the security of the information being maintained by the company and are protected from spying. Mr. Spangenberg, a 45 year old ex employee of the company has stated the flaws under the information system of the company. He has stated how Uber leaks personal information of the customers to others. With its lack of security regarding the maintenance of customer data, its employees have been able to track high profile politicians, celebrities and even personal acquaintances.  Uber has undergone various unethical practices like hiding its own details, which has led to various raids in the organization on the grounds of noncompliance with government regulations. The centre reported Mr. Spangenberg’s allegations for investigating reporting’s reveal project. Various other concerns have been already raised against the company, which ensures that the organization has undergone various unethical practices internally, which thereby affects the market of the organization. The customers regarding the update of the application has also raised objections after the app had been updates, Uber could track the details of the customer even after the program had been exited.  This resulted into security hazards concerning personal information of the customers.

Discussion

            The news article that has been able to analyse the unethical issues prevailing within the organization of Uber, has pointed out how the employees if the organization has the access of all the personal information of the customers due to lack of security. Secondly, the article has been able to point out how the company has hidden its records from the government by keeping some legally enforceable information confidential. These unethical practices prevailing within the organization lead to various complication and allegations.

            Maintaining the code of ethics is considered as one of the vital aspects of the organization. These ethics helps in formalizing and clarifying the values that exist within the culture of the organization (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015).  In a firm, individuals with various interest and background are united together to work for some pre defined goals and objectives of the organization. It is quite important for the company to frame their code of ethics, thereby making it efficient in achieving the objectives of the organizations. Ethics are used to persuade and guide the employees to comply with the company’s ideology. The ethical framework of an organization helps in providing concrete and extremely useful advice in uncomfortable an ambiguous situations (Weiss 2014).

            Uber is an American organization, which operates globally. The organization provides taxicabs and vehicles being accessed by the people with the help of a software application that has been developed by the firm. With the help of the software application that could be operated from the Smartphone used by the consumers, the Uber driver who is nearest to the customer would be assigned to the respected customers. The Uber app automatically calculates the fare and transfers the payment to the driver.  Uber provides its customers with high quality services, fair pricing techniques with easy to use application software. Many people all over the world have accessed the organization’s services. The software that has been developed by the organization has been set on GPS system. This system helps in tracking the desired destination of the user (Uber.com 2016).

            One of the most important ethical aspect that must be followed by Uber is that the company must maintain the secrecy of the information provided by the customers. These customers have built their trust on the brand and hence have resulted into attracting the customers towards themselves. Yet, this article points out how the firm has not been able to maintain the ethical code of conduct. The company has undertaken unethical measures, thereby violating the laws of ethics. These unethical measures have resulted in the violation of Morality Theory within the organization. Morality is, at the very least, the efforts to guide one’s conduct by reason – that is to do what there are the best reasons for doing – while giving equal weight to the best interests of each individual who will be affected by one’s conduct. By obtaining illegal and unethical measures within the organization, Uber has not been able to frame the moral structure, which throws a negative impact on the productivity of the organization in the long run.

            Uber has been violating the fundamental ethical principle of autonomy. Under this principle, a company must respect the choices of the customers and their dignity. The customers have entrusted upon the company while providing them with their details, whereas, Uber has proved a failure in maintaining the confidentiality of these information given (Hoffman, Frederick and Schwartz 2014). Uber’s GPS system is used to track the past records of certain individuals, which has raised an alarm with respect to the security of the customers. The employees working in the organization have an easy access to all the information provided by the customers. They have used these information to track famous politicians, celebrities or have helped other individuals by providing them with the details of their acquaintances. This has been carried out without the consent of the respected person, which violates the ethical code of conduct.

            Uber has been accused of deleting some record files, which they had been legally obliged to keep. The organization had the audacity to remotely encrypt its systems to stop the authorities from obtaining information during raids (Buchholtz and Carroll 2012). Due to the raised concerns of noncompliance with government regulations, Uber would lock down the office immediately, cut all the connectivity and provide no access Uber’s information. These unethical efforts of Uber have violated the principle of Utilitarianism under Teleology Theory. According to this principle, the organization is under the obligation of choosing such actions, which provides greatest benefits to majority of people (Chell 2016). Here, Uber has been harming the sentiments of the customer by their chosen action. They have raised an alarming situation for the customers and have bluffed the legal obligations.

            The information of the customers are considered as company’s resources. It is of prime importance for the organization, which must not be accessed for personal use. It is considered as the responsibility of the organization to protect and safeguard these information from loss or malfunctioning (Reidenbach and Robin 2013). Accessing the company’s property without permission is considered as an internal theft, which would result into a strict action taken against the individual. Misuse of company’s resources is considered as one of the major violation framed against the organization (DesJardins and McCall 2014).

Stakeholder

            Stakeholders are quite important in supporting the framework of an organization. An action taken by the company has a direct affect on its most important stakeholders. If the action is good, it affects the stakeholders in a positive manner. This helps in expanding the business and attracting more stakeholders towards itself. If the action undertaken by the organization is not beneficial, this affects the stakeholders in a negative manner (Hartman, DesJardins and MacDonald 2014). It might hurt the sentiments of the stakeholders and result in non-compliance issue between them and the company. Under the case of Uber, the most important stakeholder that would be affected by such a violation of code of ethics would be the customers of the organization.

            Customers form an important part of the organization. The products and services of the company are created on order to be accessed by these customers. The customers majorly base profit margin and sales of the organization on the access of the products and services (Hopwood, Leiner and Young 2012). Hence, it could be stated that these stakeholders are quite vital in analysing the business of the organization. The organization has to pay a high price for affecting the interests of the stakeholders in a negative manner. It may harm the growth of the organization.

            Uber has an access of the tracking order of the customers along with their personal information. The customers have entrusted the organization while providing their information to them. By violating the law of maintaining the secrecy of these information, the organization has created an essence of mistrust among the customers (Cooper, Dacin and Palmer 2013). The employees of the organization having access over these information has used them for tracking the politicians, celebrities or helping other individuals to get details of their personal acquaintances. They have carried out these activities without the consent of the customers (Hribar, Kravet and Wilson 2014). Hence, this has violated the ethical rule of maintaining the trust of these stakeholders.

In addition to the misuse of the customers’ information by the employees of the organization, there is a joint adversity in compliance with the update of the software application of the firm. This application through which the customers boo their ride have been updated which has raised the possibility of the tracing the customers even after the ride has been completed. This raised an alarming situation, where the users of such applicator have the possibility of being followed unknowingly. With the spread of this news among the users of Uber, there would be an adverse affect on the business of the organization. In order to maintain personal safety, the customers would reduce their demand of using the services that are being provided by the organization. With the rise in the number of other companies, providing the same services to the customers, it would not be too difficult for the them to access some other company’s services. With the fall in demand of the services provided by Uber, here would be a reduction in the profit margin of the organization, leading to some shrinkage. Hence, it is quite important to maintain n the code of ethics about the customers of the organization, to avoid such adverse impacts in the long run (Purda and Skillicorn 2015).

Recommendation

            Uber must take crucial sets n protecting the confidentiality of the information regarding the customers. Customers are the most important stakeholders of the organization , which would result into an adverse impact on the business made by the organization. Strict steps must be taken by the organization against the employees who have been violating the code of ethics (Reidenbach and Robin 2013). A new system generator for the organization must be created, where the employees would have no access to the information of the customers. The system of the organization must be handles by the expert professionals in this field. They would easily identify any leakage of information or violation that has been conducted. Special softwares must be created by the professionals that would record the information of the customer to keep them away from the access of the employees (Robideaux, Robin and Reidenbach 2015). The tracking system of Uber must be controlled in such a manner, so that there is no evidence left with the employees regarding the details of the rides taken. This would help in reducing the information being misused by the workers of the firm.

            The company must maintain the legal record of their business, which would make it easier for them to be presentable in front of the government. There must be restructuring the ethical framework of the organization (Betz, O’Connell and Shepard 2013). This would help in eliminating the misconduct that are prevailing in the organization and respect the dignity of the individuals. Both the theory of autonomy and the principle if utilitarianism would be maintained. This would help in restoring the trust of the stakeholders. Maintain the demand structure of the organization and would not affect the profit of the organization in a negative manner. Business of the organization would flourish without raising any alarming status with respect to the violation of laws and misuse of the resources of the organization (Agle et al. 2014). Uber must maintain a clear view regarding the organization in front of the government and the customers by abiding to the code of ethics and flourishing business.

Conclusion

Services rendered by Uber are considered as one of the most used service in today’s life. The organization has helped various individuals to reach their desired destination hassle free. By rendering such advanced services, the organization has been able to achieve customer loyalty towards the company. Customers play a vital role in analysing the long run growth of the organization. One of the most effective methods of raising the customer loyalty is by maintaining the code of ethics within the organization. Ethics play an important role in guiding the projected path of the firm, for the long run growth. Uber recently has been on news for using various unethical measures in order to track their customers. These unethical methods of misusing the information of the customers and nit maintaining the records under legal obligations have raised an alarming situation for the company. The company has been violating the ethical theory of autonomy and the ethical principle of utilitarian. These aspects would throw an adverse impact on customer loyalty and profit earned by the organization. Hence, the company must guide their employees, reduce their aces to the information of the customers and maintain a clean record of themselves by abiding to the code of ethics.

Article 2

Overview of the Article

            The article “America’s audit watchdog uncovers serious misconduct at Deloitte Brazil” by Sao Paulo, was published in The Economist (2016),the economist on 10^th December 2016. The news article deals with the accounting scandal that has been investigated in the Brazilian arm of Deloitte. On 5^th December, it was found that America’s public company accounting oversight board (PCAOB) fined the Brazilian arm of Deloitte $8 million for the most serious misconduct. Deloitte had failed to co-operate with a probe by the PCAOB resulting from a massive accounting scandal. It was in 2012 that the PCAOB examined the firm’s audit papers during a routine review. Its inspectors found that a year before, Deloitte’s senior auditors had signed off on the carrier’s books despite knowing that its staff were still reviewing these for missed statements, in particular related to reserves set aside to cover aircraft-maintenance costs. A subsequent probe unearthed systematic attempts by managers and partners to doctor paperwork, conceal evidence and withhold information from inspectors. The organization has been evident in suffering from the outbreak of accounting fraud. Various arms of Deloitte have been charged by the PCAOB for tampering with documents in the audit.

Discussion

            Ethical code of conduct within an organization is concerned with the judgements of the organization, whether right or wrong. The individuals or the group makes the decisions that are made within an organization (Cavanagh 2012). In order to take better and justified decisions, it is quite vital for an organization to follow the code of ethics. By following the ethical behaviour and corporate social responsibility, an organization can bring significant benefits in business. The ethical behaviour in an organization helps in attracting more customers, boost the sales and profits of the organization, increase employee loyalty and customer loyalty towards the organization, and attract various employees and investors (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). All these aspects would help in raising the productivity of the organization.

            The benefits of ethical nature in the organization are to raise the employee loyalty and to strengthen the bond of the management team. The ethical operation of the company is directly proportional to the profitability in the long and short run terms of the organizations. The ethical nature of the organization helps in building the reputation of the firm, which thereby helps in maintaining the sustainability of the company (Carroll and Buchholtz 2014).

            Incorporating unethical measures in the conduct of business would affect the organization adversely in the long run. This would damage the organization’s reputation thereby, making it less appealing for the various stakeholders (Halinen and Jokela 2016). By following such methods, the organization fails to follow something, which is not acceptable according to the standards of the operations followed by the organization. In some cases, unethical measured are followed by an individual or a team as a whole. No matter who follows the unethical measures within the organization, the effect of such measures falls on the firm as a whole.

            In the chosen news article, the case of Deloitte Company has been highlighted. The organization has been following unethical measures of production, which could be termed as accounting scandals. Accounting scandals arises in an organization where the trusted employees or executives of the firm uses various unethical measures of misdirecting the funds if the organization, overstating the revenues, understating expenses in misdirecting the accounting values in relation to the company (Swanson and Frederick 2016). These scandals are also termed as accounting fraud, where the organization goes against the ethical code of conduct. They mislead the stakeholders, thereby not abiding to the legal obligations as prescribed by law. These legal obligations are enforced by law, hence, on investigating the breaches that has been done under the name of accounting fraud, the company is under the obligation of paying fines to the investigating department of the country.

            The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is a non-profit organization, which was established by the congress in order to foresee the audits of the public companies. The PCAOB also oversees the audits of brokers and dealers, including compliance reports filed pursuant to federal securities laws, to promote investor protection. The main aim of the organization is to oversee the audit of the public companies in order to protect the interests of the investors and thereby protecting the investor protection. Concerning the unethical code of conduct followed by Deloitte (Pcaobus.org 2016).

            On 5^th December of this year, PCAOB had fined Deloitte an amount of $1.6 million against the charges of accounting scandals. During a routine review, the investigators at PCAOB found that Deloitte’s senior auditors had signed off on the carrier’s books despite knowing that their staffs were still reviewing these for missed statements, in particular related to reserves set aside to cover aircraft-maintenance costs. A subsequent probe unearthed systematic attempts by managers and partners to doctor paperwork, conceal evidence and withhold information from inspectors. As part of its settlement with the agency, Deloitte Brazil also faces the humiliating presence of an independent monitor until at least mid-2017. This states that the organization has been committing White Collar Crime under the theory of Justice. Under this theory, a group of people or individuals have been committing an illegal acts in relation to their employment. They are highly educated and in the position of power in the organization, yet these people have abused the trust of the firm and have been normally associated with the position of personal gains.

            Accounting frauds and lead to substantial effect on an organization, where the site of the organization does not play an important aspect of it. One of the most misleading fraud that occurs in an organization is financial loss. When someone misappropriates the assets of the companies, the loss is easily quantifiable by the organization (Jones and Gautschi 2013). Fines are assessed by the organization who underrated the investigation of the organizations, which thereby affects the financial structure of the organization. Second problem that is faced by the organization is that the firm faces an issue of ongoing problem of public trust. The company would not be entrusted upon as it was before. The investors and clients would not be able to completely trust the company with their resources after it had been placed guilty with accounting fraud (Audi 2012). The effect of the accounting fraud could be seen in the company’s culture and morale. Accounting fraud has portrayed a troubling and embarrassing for the employees of the organization. There would be increased in the cost of audits of the organization. When an auditor is required to perform more procedures, the cost of the audit will increase (Hoffman, Frederick and Schwartz 2014). This can often be mitigated by demonstrating that the offending managers or employees have left the company and the company has instituted strict procedures to thwart future attempts at fraud.

Stakeholder

            Stakeholders are quite important in supporting the framework of an organization. An action taken by the company has a direct affect on its most important stakeholders. If the action is good, it affects the stakeholders in a positive manner. This helps in expanding the business and attracting more stakeholders towards itself. If the action undertaken by the organization is not beneficial, this affects the stakeholders in a negative manner. It might hurt the sentiments of the stakeholders and result in non compliance issue between them and the company. Under the case of Uber, the most important stakeholder that would be affected by such a violation of code of ethics would be the customers of the organization.

            Customers from an important part of an organization. The products and services of the company are created on order to be accessed by these customers. Profit margin and sales of the organization are majorly based on the access of the products and services by the customers. Hence, it could be stated that these stakeholders are quite vital in analysing the business of the organization. The organization has to pay a high price for affecting the interests of the stakeholders in a negative manner. It may harm the growth of the organization.

            By practising accounting scandal in an organization, a negative impact would fall on the customers of the organization.  The customers or clients of Deloitte are some major companies. Auditing scandal would affect the relation of Deloitte with these clients. The clients would not feel reliable being with the organization. This would affect the business of Deloitte. False obligations by the organization would affect the productivity and profit of the firm. A severe negative blow is visible in the organization long term growth plan. Scope for future perspectives would be quite less in comparison to the times when the organization was not investigated due to any scam or scandals prevailing. The clients those who have already framed the association with the Deloitte seem to suffer due to the scandal. They are being victimised for availing the service from the organization, hence, these organizations are in agony for the future demonstration of business.

Recommendation

            There are several effective ways of preventing fraud scandals within an organization. Some of the most vital tools that the organization must incorporate in order to incorporate as a guard from further scams are  internal controls and to undertake an ethical structure within an organization. The ethical culture of an organization is driven by senior management control environment. The internal controls to be assessed within an organization to strengthen the ethical framework of the company should be dynamic in nature adhered with set of tools that would evolve over time with respect to business, technology and fraud environment changes in response to competition, industry practices, legislation, regulation and current economic conditions (Cavanagh 2012).

            It is a known fact that none of the companies are free from any form of frauds or scandals, yet the organizations are could strengthen their internal controls by incorporating various ethical strategies. This would help the organization in attracting the external criminals and targets less. In order to strengthen the internal controls of the company, a comprehensive review of risks must be faced by the organization along with other strategies to be framed. There must be a change in the attitude of the employees towards the auditors of the organization. The internal affairs group must be responsible to point out the mistakes that are occurring within the organization and viewing the key auditors as key partners and allies in the battle against fraud. Secondly, part of strengthening internal controls is simply a matter of defining, or clarifying, ownership roles and responsibilities. An effective team must be selected who would encompass different business units in the organization and include various representatives of the organization. These members would take the responsibility of looking after the ethical structure of the organization. To manage the process effectively, individual departments work together in an interactive manner. Working together increases issue awareness, strengthens communication, reduces opportunity for fraud and ensures a more comprehensive and robust internal control process.

Conclusion

            Ethical code of conduct within an organization is concerned with the judgements of the organization, whether right or wrong. By following the ethical behaviour and corporate social responsibility, an organization can bring significant benefits in business. The ethical behaviour in an organization helps in attracting more customers, boost the sales and profits of the organization, increase employee loyalty and customer loyalty towards the organization, and attract various employees and investors. Incorporating unethical measures in the conduct of business would affect the organization adversely in the long run. This would damage the organization’s reputation thereby, making it less appealing for the various stakeholders. Deloitte has been following unethical measures of production, which could be termed as accounting scandals. On 5^th December of this year, PCAOB had fined Deloitte an amount of $1.6 million against the charges of accounting scandals. During a routine review, the investigators at PCAOB found that Deloitte’s senior auditors had signed off on the carrier’s books despite knowing that its staff were still reviewing these for missed statements, in particular related to reserves set aside to cover aircraft-maintenance costs. Accounting frauds an lead to substantial effect on an organization, where the size of the organization does not play an important aspect of it. One of the most misleading fraud that occurs in an organization is financial loss, effect on public trust, fall in the company’s morale and culture and increase in the cost of audit. The most important stakeholder of the organization that would get affected with such scandals is its clients. Tis would harm the long run productivity of the organization. One of the most efficient ways to prevent the accounting scandals in the organization in future would be by incorporating stronger internal controls and maintaining strict ethical framework within the organization. The organization must incorporate various ways of working together with the employees of the company as a whole. It would help in strengthening communications within the company and reduce the opportunity of the occurrence of any form of fraud.

Reference

Agle, B.R., Hart, D.W., Thompson, J. and Hendricks, H.M. eds., 2014. Research companion to ethical behavior in organizations: Constructs and measures. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Audi, R., 2012. Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(02), pp.273-291.

Betz, M., O’Connell, L. and Shepard, J.M., 2013. Gender Differences in Proclivity for Unethical Behavior. In Citation Classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 427-432). Springer Netherlands.

Buchholtz, A.K. and Carroll, A.B., 2012. Business & society: Ethics & stakeholder management. South-Western Cengage Learning.

Carroll, A.B. and Buchholtz, A.K., 2014. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

Cavanagh, G.F., 2012. American business values. Pearson Higher Ed.

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Appendix

Copy Of Article 1

Uber ‘spying on customers’: Beyonce, politicians and ex-partners stalked by employees, investigator claims

A FORMER forensic investigator for taxi start-up Uber claims people’s personal information is not safe despite assurances passengers are protected from spying.

Samuel Ward Spangenberg claims he was fired from the company after raising security concerns and other ethical breaches reportedly taking place at Uber.

Mr Spangenberg is suing Uber alleging age discrimination and whistleblower retaliation.

In a court declaration made in October, Mr Spangenberg claims Uber employees used customer data to help men stalk their ex-girlfriends and track celebrities, such as Beyonce.

He claims he told Uber executives, including the company’s head of information security, John Flynn, and its HR chief Andrew Wegley, of his concerns surrounding lack of security but was fired less than a year later.

“Uber’s lack of security regarding its customer data was resulting in Uber employees being able to track high profile politicians, celebrities, and even personal acquaintances of Uber employees, including ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, and ex-spouses,” his court declaration reads.

The 45-year-old, whose job involved helping develop security procedures and responding to problems and issues, claims Uber also deleted files it was legally obliged to keep.

Mr Spangenberg also claimed the company remotely encrypted its pcs to stop authorities from obtaining information during raids.

“As part of Uber’s incident response team, I would be called when governmental agencies raided Uber’s offices due to concerns regarding noncompliance with governmental regulations,” Mr Spangenberg said.

“In those instances, Uber would lock down the office and immediately cut all connectivity so that law enforcement could not access Uber’s information. I would then be tasked with purchasing all new equipment for the office within the day, which I did when Uber’s Montreal office was raided.”

In a statement given to news.com.au a spokesman for Uber Australia said it had hundreds of security and privacy experts working around the clock to protect data.

“This includes enforcing strict policies and technical controls to limit access to user data to authorised employees solely for purposes of their job responsibilities, and all potential violations are quickly and thoroughly investigated,” he said.

The spokesman said it was “absolutely untrue” that all or nearly all employees have access to customer data, with or without approval.

“We have built entire systems to implement technical and administrative controls to limit access to customer data to employees who require it to perform their jobs,” he said.

“This could include multiple steps of approval — by managers and the legal team — to ensure there is a legitimate business case for providing access. “

Uber also said even if an employee has access to some customer data, they do not necessarily have access to all customer data.

Mr Spangenberg’s allegations were first reported by the Centre for Investigative Reporting’s (CIR) Reveal project, however it isn’t the first time concerns have been raised over customer data.

Uber was ordered to pay $20,000 after such a case in the US this year, The Sunreported.

US courts ordered the payout after probing into its “God View” tool, which allowed drivers to track their riders in real time before it was phased out.

Passengers also further raised concerns this month following an update to the Uber app.

The update meant passengers’ locations could be tracked even after they’ve been dropped off and exited the program.

It meant Uber could collect data up to five minutes after the journey finished, whereas prior to the update, it could only be done when the app was open.

Uber said the change was designed to better help customers and passengers find each other.

Copy Of Article 2

America’s audit watchdog uncovers serious misconduct at Deloitte Brazil

ACCOUNTING scandals are nothing new in Brazil. Its former president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached in August for cooking her government’s books. The bosses of its biggest building firms have landed behind bars for padding contracts with Petrobras, the state-run oil company. At least, governance gurus joke, all the imbroglios—and a three-year-old law against bribery—have prompted companies to replace what people used to call corruption departments with compliance offices. How ironic, then, that Brazil’s latest affair involves a firm that is meant to ensure that firms stay on the straight and narrow.

On December 5th it emerged that America’s Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) fined the Brazilian arm of Deloitte, the biggest of the “Big Four” accounting networks, $8m, for what Claudius Modesti, the watchdog’s director of enforcement, called “the most serious misconduct we’ve uncovered”. Deloitte is the first of the Big Four to be accused of failing to co-operate with a probe by the PCAOB, created by the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002, itself a response to a massive accounting scandal at Enron, an energy giant. The firm will also have to pay 5.4m reais ($1.6m) to Brazil’s securities regulator.

The bulk of the problems centre on Deloitte’s auditing of Gol, a troubled Brazilian low-cost airline with shares listed in New York. It was in 2012 that the PCAOB examined the firm’s audit papers during a routine review. Its inspectors found that a year before, Deloitte’s senior auditors had signed off on the carrier’s books despite knowing that its staff were still reviewing these for mis-statements, in particular related to reserves set aside to cover aircraft-maintenance costs. A subsequent probe unearthed systematic attempts by managers and partners to doctor paperwork, conceal evidence and withhold information from inspectors. Similar shenanigans apparently marred Deloitte’s audits of Oi, a Brazilian telecoms firm which filed for bankruptcy protection in June.

Relative to the scale of fines that regulators have been doling out to banks in recent years, Deloitte’s bill looks tiny. But it is a record for the PCAOB. A dozen (now former) partners and auditors have been banned from working at any of the accounting firms the PCAOB oversees, all but one of them for life. As part of its settlement with the agency, Deloitte Brazil also faces the humiliating presence of an independent monitor until at least mid-2017.

Critics of auditors will cite the Deloitte case as further evidence that the world is suffering from an outbreak of accounting fraud. The PCAOB has just fined Deloitte Mexico $750,000 for tampering with documents in an audit there. In August pwc settled a case in which a plaintiff was seeking $5.5bn after Colonial bancgroup, an American lender it audited, went bust. Last year EY, another Big Four firm, failed to flag problems at Toshiba that forced the Japanese firm to restate its accounts by $1.9bn.

Still, the overall trend around the world has been for accounting to get cleaner. In America one good measure of this is the size of the biggest accounting restatement in a given year. It has plummeted over the past decade, from over $6bn to under $1bn. The scale of all restatements was only $2.7bn, or just 0.3% of all corporate profits, in 2015. Standards outside America have improved, too, partly because Europe and many emerging economies, including those of Latin America, have adopted common international accounting standards. Deloitte’s Brazilian fiasco is depressing, but at least skulduggery is being uncovered and punished.