Why did the Stuart Machin claim to have known nothing of the agreements?
Given the point of directors’ duties and responsibilities, Goyder mentioned (cited in Parker 2016; Wesfarmers’ News Release 2016) the board should have acknowledged the rebate agreements. As the expert experiences working in manufacturing management, Machin should have known the problem with the decrease cost of supplier in financial statement or at least raised a question of supplier agreements. Even though, Machin has taken responsibility by resignation from management team. Another concern is whether Machin certainly have known nothing of the agreements due to being not fully informed. As mentioned above in internal control sector, there were an issue with information
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systems which led to information asymmetry within organizations and an uninformed board of directors or senior executives. Otherwise, it can be claimed that not all information will be informed to senior managements to making ethical decisions. The board of directors or senior executive might rely on an expert advice from external audit (Beck et al. 2017, p. 187). However, the board’s responsibilities were not excused from reliance on other advice to not pay attention and due care on the important matters. Thus, Machin should have not claimed to be aware of such supplier agreements. Why did the external auditors, Ernst & Young, not find evidence of the irregularities or the agreements? Regarding to Boyd’s report and Parker’s report, Target were all checked by external auditors. However, 90% of supplier rebates was not taken to the profit line of Wesfarmers without awareness from senior auditors, Ernst & Young. The usual excuse was not to be informed the agreements. In fact, supplier rebates were not uncommon in retailing field. As mentioned in corporate governance statements in 2016, the role of external auditor was to be effectiveness, performance and independence, which was annually reviewed by the Audit Committee. Additionally, according Mitchell (2016), as the high level of competition in retailing industry with the increase of overseas competitors and pressure of online retailers, the issue of quickly improvement of margins has been become a serious attention and subject to auditors and Audit committee. The restriction of access to information of external auditors might have been a reason for not finding evidence of the irregularities. Notwithstanding the issue of organization’s information disclosure policy, external auditors could raise concerns in terms of internal controls, policies or procedure to support the boards to manage business risks and prevent such incident. What is the role of the Target board in providing adequate information to Wesfarmers? Was there a breakdown in its obligations to the parent company? As mention in Wesfarmers’ corporate governance statement, the Target board was responsibility to ensure Wesfarmers’ board being fully informed any concerns or significant issues relating to the corporate activities.
For instance, Wesfarmers’ board has set up a separate whistleblower policy to promote reporting of suspected unethical, illegal either with management or Protected Disclosure Officer. Thus, the role of the Target board not only dissemination of parent’s policy to all employees, but importantly to prompt report with adequate and precise information to Wesfarmers. Target board should keep in mind of acting in the best interest of stakeholders of all group instead of its own entity. Notwithstanding those roles, Wesfarmers was aware of Target’s accounting treatment 2015 on March 2016. The accounting arrangements was the case indicated the lack of information reporting or the weakness of information system from Target board to the parent company. When the question about the certainly attention of Target board to the accounting scandal was still open, it could not be concluded that there was a breakdown in its obligation in providing adequate information to the parent company. The responsibility of Target board was not fulfilled with the due care and objective their delegated
duties. Conclusion Although Wesfarmers have known as a high-quality organization and have set out a successful governance practice. Target’s accounting scandal, which boosting $21 million and involved to more than 31 supplier rebate agreements, had not only affected to Target finance performance, but also led to negative impacts on Wesfarmers reputation. There were a number of issues in code of ethics as long as governance issues that need to be reconsidered by Wesfarmers board. Thus, no corporate governance model was successful without changing to adopt with the constant change of business environment. The need of ethical behaviors and compliance with laws, regulation as well as corporate policy were the key factors which should be dissemination among employees and management. The strict supervision and adequate monitor corporate governance should be taken along with board delegations.
According to the case the problem that needs to be taken care of first is regarding Paul Bertuzzi warehouse supervisor at the Winnipeg facility. Paul on his training met two other supervisors of different locations who revealed to him a moneymaking scheme of selling the company’s latest shoe designs and production techniques to an overseas shoe manufacturer in return for part-ownership in the business. An auditor of the company discovered about scheme of two warehouse supervisors of other facilities and they were fired. Paul and an employee admitted to be aware of this scheme. This problem is very important to be solved as it is related to the company’s confidential information. The manager needs to look deeply into the problem to find out whether they actually had given any information or they just planned about this scheme. Because in case the information has been leaked the company may have to face disastrous problems as the overseas manufacturer may produce and sell the products at cheaper rates than their company, due to which they may have to plan some new ideas to solve the future problem
In a 1973 case, Perin v. Hayne, the District Court System of Iowa addressed the question of whether a cervical fusion performed on a female patient resulted in a paralysis of a vocal chord. (Showalter 160.). In this particular case the plaintiff, Perin, began consulting Dr. Robert A. Hayne for a cervical fusion surgery. Perin underwent the cervical fusion surgery to eliminate the pain, weakness, and numbness in her back, neck, right arm, and hand, which was caused by two protruding cervical disks. Subsequently, Perin alleged she suffered paralysis of a vocal chord because of an injury to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve during the surgery. In a consultation in 1968, Dr. Hayne took on the cervical fusion surgery for the plaintiffs pain, weakness, and numbness in her back, neck, right arm, and hand. The results from this surgery had resolved the plaintiffs injuries. Soon after, the plaintiff admits that even though the surgery resolved her previous
Is Steve Harmon innocent or guilty you decide. Steve Harmon is put on trial of the murder of Mr. Nesbitt and the robbery of his drug store. During the trail Steve Harmon is seen as guilty by the prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli. The witness Allen Forbes testimony proves that the gun used in the murder was registered under Mr. Nesbitt. This helps prove that the gun was used in the murder and the robbery and the gun was later found in the store. This witness helped me prove that Steve Harmon could have used the gun to kill Mr. Nesbitt or had taken part in the robbery at some point in the crime. “I went around behind the counter and I saw Mr. Nesbitt on the floor—there was blood everywhere and the cash register was open. A lot of cigarettes were
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was implemented 1982 has been essential in providing justice for all Canadian citizens. Countless amounts of cases have been decided to create the Charter that is well known in today’s society. Sharon Turpin and Latif Siddiqui were accused of first degree murder and according to the law, the trial was supposed to be tried by a judge and jury. The accused demanded a trial by judge alone because they believed that they were entitled to such a right. The R. v. Turpin case was a significant case that was tough to decide upon because there were many violations of different statutes such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Criminal
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was drafted to encourage and protect whistleblowers from retaliation after the fraud scandal that cause the collapse of Enron in 2001. In a 2010 Senate Report found that “external auditors detected only 4.1 percent of uncovered fraud schemes, “whistleblower tips detected 54.1% of uncovered fraud schemes in public companies” and were thirteen times more effective than external audits” (Turpan, 2016). Whistleblowers serve an important service to the public and are more effective than external audits. The CFAA has been used to by employers to retaliate against employees who act as informants for agencies like Internal Revenue Service or Security Exchange Commission to expose fraud. There employees, not to their financial gain, gather information as evidence of fraud by the company. With a broad interpretation of CFAA, the employee would "exceed their authority" and was "unauthorized" to access the information, therefore allowing the company to hide their illegal
Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).
In August of 2001 Robert Ray Courtney was arrested in Kansas City, Missouri and charged with diluting drugs used to treat cancer patients. Courtney’s actions not only violated criminal and civil laws but they shattered the ethical code and the oath he took as a licensed pharmacist. His actions left many people wondering why anyone would commit such a horrible act, let alone a trusted pharmacist who was providing medication to patients whose very lives depended on him doing his job.
Although Hollate introduced a compliance program and code of conduct when it went public, the programs were put on “the back burner”. This outcome is not surprised for that the company does not pay attention to the programs. It is, therefore, important to “reinforce the values” and “employee a boundary system when actions are inconsistent with the code of conduct” for the purpose of early detection. Tyco provides a good example after its scandal, by initiating “mandatory annual compliance training for all its employees worldwide” and creating the Tyco Guide to Ethical Conduct to familiarize employees with company expectations and help them make ethical decisions. As tips is the most useful method for internal and external sources to detect frauds, the whistleblower hotline should be well communicated with encouragement on reporting any suspicious activity. In addition, to improve the effectiveness of the compliance program and code of conducts, Hollate should implement management monitoring and evaluation on a regular
Today in criminal convictions, it is prevalent and necessary that there is evidence collected in order to hopefully find and put away the people who committed the crimes. Serology is an important factor that allows this to occur. Serology is the study and identification of bodily fluids such as blood salvia and semen in order to proceed in criminal investigations and legal processes. Blood, saliva, and semen can be readily found in sexual assault and homicide cases. In the case of Dennis Maher, serology is something that should have been considered in order to make a conviction. Instead, none of the evidence that was collected was tested to exclude him, and he was put away in jail based on eyewitness identifications. The crimes that occurred in 1983 ended with Dennis Maher, a solider for the United States, being charged and convicted for rape, assault with intent to rape, assault & battery, and aggravated rape in the year of 1984 based on Eyewitness testimony (NEIP, 2011).
The first recommendation for KIPP Houston is to creatively increase funding. One option would be to utilize crowdfunding; which is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. This form of crowdsourcing has become a successful alternative finance. Another option is to increase the number of wealthy investors and continue to expand this source of revenue. KIPP needs to decrease the amount spent on salaries for upper management.
Whistle blowing refers to the act of organization members, either former or current, disclosing information on illegal and unethical practices within the organization to parties internal or external to the organization, who can take action. It is becoming increasingly common as more and more employees speak out about their ethical concerns. It cannot be denied that whistleblowing is accompanied by a range of problems, for both the whistleblower and the organization. However, it can be argued that whistleblowing is an important and valid method of endeavoring to control possible unethical behavior by organizations, as well as helping to establish a level of social responsibility. For these reasons, it is important for society to maintain a level
The problem to be investigated is the ethical dilemmas faced by Board members that impact their ability to be effective leaders. This problem relates to the ethical issues raised in the Hewlett- Packard (HP) and Pretexting: Spying on the Board case study which was an examination of leaking Board sensitive information and the investigation of board members. As such this essay explores key factors relating to: (a) the drivers for the investigation and the tacit approval of this conduct; (b) issues of legal versus ethical conduct; (c) issues missed when analyzing the pretext decision and; (d) the governance strengths and weaknesses of the HP board.
Conflict of interest is a big problem between Enron and its auditing firms. It is believes that Enron’s auditors was hide many information and external auditors never aware or hide the losses in Enron. From audit committees to transparency committees would increase the likelihood that a firm’s key business ricks are transparent to investors (Healy & Palepu 2003, p. 21). Besides, a transparency committee can also help with internal auditor appreciate its primary responsibility lies with the board, not for personal interest and pleasing the leader.
The Board of Directors and Senior Management have a fiduciary duty to implement comprehensive monitoring systems, retention of outside consultants, investigate violations, adhere to regulations, and ensure the organization is operating per legal compliance (Bethel, 2016). Ultimately, if the Board of Directors does not do their job properly then they may suffer bad publicity, damage their reputation, and draw proxy attacks (Fraser & Simkins, 2010). Indeed, the Board cannot complete all tasks associated with organizational risk management; therefore, they delegate risk oversight to: the Audit Committee, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the Chief Risk Officer (CRO), and the Executive Committee (Bethel, 2016).
New auditing standards require members of the audit team to discuss the potential for material misstatement due to fraud. This discussion should include an exchange of ideas or “brainstorming” among the audit team members about (1) how and where they believe that an entity’s financial statements might be susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud, and (2) how management could perpetrate and conceal fraudulent financial reporting. The brainstorming can take place during audit planning or during any part of the auditors’ information gathering (and members of the audit engagement are expected to communicate about fraud risk factors throughout the audit until its completion).