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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Ethical conflicts and dilemmas

A company applies the 'publicity' test to a proposed decision: would we be comfortable if the decision and its reasoning were reported on the front page of a newspaper? What is this test primarily designed to assess?

The publicity test assesses whether a decision would withstand public scrutiny and reflect acceptable values. If the decision-maker would be uncomfortable seeing it reported openly, that signals a possible ethical problem, regardless of its profit, cost or technical compliance.

  1. AWhether the decision maximises short-term profit
  2. BWhether the decision complies with accounting standards
  3. CWhether the decision would withstand public scrutiny and reflect acceptable valuesCorrect
  4. DWhether the decision is the cheapest available option

Explanation

The publicity (or newspaper) test checks whether a decision would be acceptable if made public, acting as a practical check on fairness and integrity. It does not measure profit, cost or technical compliance.

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