Thethical Ethical Issue Of Whistleblowing In The Workplace

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Whistle blowing is a controversial topic in the professional industry. Whistle blowing is the act of speaking out against a fellow colleague or even a friend that has done something non-ethical or illegal in the workplace. A whistleblower raises concerns about the wrongdoing inside of the workplace. Employees hesitate to become a whistleblower because of the idea of becoming a snitch on fellow employees and having a bad rep around the office. This concern was lowered in 1989 with a law called the Whistleblower Protection Act that protects federal government employees in the United States from retaliatory action for voluntarily disclosing information about dishonest or illegal activities occurring at a government organization (whistleblowers.gov). …show more content…

CPA’s have a confidentiality obligation to not distribute client information, which extends to the actions of the firms that deal with client matters, such as failed audits (workplaceethicsadvice.com). A whistleblower can come out and show these audits that are kept a secret and be protected under the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act allows accountants to come forward without punishment and possibly be rewarded with a financial bonus. Even though there will not be any punishment for being a whistle blower, accountants still hesitate because of the image it sends to the companies they may be working for. Corporate accountants might be seen as dishonest or disloyal if they blow the whistle on the wrongdoing of their …show more content…

This occurs when someone tells a coworker about an illegal or immoral practice, in hopes that this person will do something to change the company. This usually occurs when they are trying not to cause any bad publicity for the company. If a company discourages the internal reporting, they are likely to become worse off and the individual that initially started the internal report will have to go out of the company and notify a governmental agency or even the press. From an ethical standpoint, internal reporting is a big part of keeping companies clear from whistle blowing. Even when whistleblowers keep the problem inside the company, they are still often seen as traitors or not company

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