Guide Questions:
1. Differentiate between direct and indirect misrepresentations.
How can you tell whether something is grossly misrepresented or not, and prevent being
victimized by it?
Direct misrepresentations are characterized by actively misrepresenting about the
product or customers. For instance, deceptive packaging, misbranding or mislabeling,
adulteration, etc. On the other, indirect misrepresentation are characterized by omitting
adverse or unfavorable information about the product or service. To determine whether
something is grossly misrepresented or not, it often involves intentional acts. Here are
some signs:
Discrepancies in documents or reports.
Contradictions in statements or records.
Too-good-to-be-true promises.
To prevent yourself from being victimized by it, you should:
Do some research
Ask questions
Get in writing/document
Seek professional advice
Trust your instincts
2. Give some examples of unethical business practices done by the board of directors,
executives and officers, and by the employees. How can you, as future accountant, make sure
that you will be able to detect and prevent such practices?
Some examples of unethical business practices done by the boards of directors:
Plain Graft
Interlocking Dictatorship
Insider Trading
Negligence of Duty
Some examples of unethical business practices done by the executives and officers:
Claiming a vacation trip to be a business trip
Loose or ineffective controls
Unfair labor practices
Some examples of unethical business practices done by the employees:
Conflicts of interest
Dishonesty
As a future accountant, we are trained to be ethical professionals to prevent those acts.
We have goals and objectives to follow, and one of those is to build an ethical workplace
where everyone can work with their colleagues safely. Having a regular audit can
detect/prevent such unethical practices in the organization.
3. State the steps in resolving ethical dilemmas. What do you think is the most important factor
in addressing ethical conflicts?
These are the steps in resolving ethical dilemmas:
Obtain the relevant facts.
Identify the ethical issues from the facts.
Determine who is affected by the outcome of the dilemma and how each person
or group is affected.
Identify the alternatives available to the person who must resolve the dilemma.
Identify the likely consequences of each alternative.
Decide the appropriate action.
In my opinion, each step is important because they play a crucial role in resolving ethical
dilemmas. If one of these steps is neglected, it might be hard to resolve such cases.
However, deciding the appropriate action, for me, is the most important factor in
addressing ethical conflicts. Maintaining a strong ethical compass and sticking to moral
values, even when difficult, ensures that decisions are made honestly and transparently.
Integrity promotes trust and respect, both of which are critical in ethical decision-making.
4. What are the ill effects of corruption? How can our government and culture address these?
Increases to a significant degree the cost of doing business
Leads to waste or inefficient use of resources
Corrodes trust, undermines the rule of law, and ultimately delegitimizes the
organization
Leads to apathy, discontent, and fuels extremism & terrorism
Can lead to a breakdown of social order
Creates unfair competition
Like a cancer that spreads rapidly
Corruption is the abuse of private and public office for personal gain. To prevent or
minimize this, we, the voters, should be responsible in choosing leaders. It is us, the
citizens of the country, that will suffer from poverty, economic instability, unemployment,
etc. There is nothing that the government can do to prevent corruption if they are the
ones who are doing it for their own sake. Therefore, let us have our own research about
these candidates, choose the most capable among them, and do not let money or
flowery words get your votes on them.
5. How can corruption be prevented? What can you do, as private citizen, to discourage it?
To prevent corruption, the voters must be smart in choosing their leaders. Education is
an essential tool that we can use to stop these unethical acts that have been circulating
for decades now. If we still allow corrupt officials to lead us, then it will have a huge
impact not only on our lives but also on our country’s image. The marginalized sector
suffers the most if we let corrupt authorities in the government. As a private citizen, we
can have our own research about these candidates, check their own credentials, and
most importantly, we should not give our votes to those undeserving ones.
Guide Questions:
1. What did the video talk about?
The first video talks about neoliberal economics, which has two features: 1)
individual autonomy supreme and 2) the market is perfect and self-
regulating. The speaker also talks about how ethics should be prioritized in
doing business. He emphasizes the difference between making money and
doing good. He also emphasizes the three pillars that we should remember:
good goods, good work, and good wealth. Overall, he discussed the changes
brought by doing good and making money at the same time.
The second video talks about ethics, its fields such as applied, bioethics,
business ethics, meta ethics, feminist ethics. The speaker emphasizes how a
feminist perspective on ethics challenges traditional ethical concepts across
different fields of ethics.
2. What ethical issues were discussed?
In the first video, it discusses the ethical issue of choosing between making
money and doing good, or what we called a neoliberal economic view.
Furthermore, it also discusses the potential harm that the capitalists can
create for the vulnerable people or the poor. Moreover, it was also tackled
the ethical issue of product quality vs. profit, which some companies have
practiced in order to have less production cost and more profit.
In the second video, some ethical issues discussed focused more on women,
such as 1) the gender biases in education and stereotypes on students and
teachers, 2) the gendered moral reasoning of Aristotle and Kant, making an
unfair favor to men, and 3) the rape culture and victim blaming that are still
relevant in this modern era.
3. What have you learned about Business Ethics in class that were applicable or
were relevant to the issues discussed in the video?
As a student, business ethics taught me that we can do business in the
essence of ethics. Business is not just about making profit, abiding by the
requirements needed to conduct a business, or doing financial statements; it
is also about integrating ethics into our work. Making fair decisions, being
socially responsible, being accountable, being transparent, and many more
can improve not just our businesses but also us, individuals who drive the
community. When I look at the topics we tackled, particularly feminist ethics
and gender dynamics in business, it becomes apparent how much influence
ethical decision-making can have on individuals in reality. The decisions we
make create small impacts that become huge if we continue to neglect these
issues, which eventually become social issues. Therefore, it is essential to
recognize how influential ethics is and how it can affect one’s mind and
beliefs. After all, our job is not just to check the financial statements of a
company but also to check if they adhere to the ethical standards.
