ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Professionalism, ethical codes and the public interest
Dalton plc's finance manager, Priya, a professional accountant, discovers that a senior director has been manipulating reported profit to secure bonuses. She considers staying silent because the director is powerful and she fears for her job. Using the idea of professional accountability, which analysis is most appropriate?
Priya is accountable not just to her employer but to her professional body and the public interest. She must not be associated with misleading profit figures and should escalate the matter, for example to the audit committee, rather than staying silent or relying on a verbal objection.
- APriya is accountable only to her employer, so she should follow the director's instructions
- BPriya is accountable to her professional body and the public interest as well as her employer, so she must not be party to misleading reporting and should escalate itCorrect
- CPriya is accountable only to the law, so as no prosecution has occurred she has no further duty
- DPriya's accountability is satisfied once she records her objection verbally to the director
Explanation
Accountability for a professional accountant extends beyond the employer to the professional body, its ethical code and the public who rely on reporting. Priya should therefore refuse to be associated with misleading information and escalate through internal channels, such as the audit committee. Option C is wrong because professional duty is wider than legal compliance, and a verbal objection alone is not adequate.
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