Questions from Business Ethics


Q: At the firm, we’ve got a new way of looking at

At the firm, we’ve got a new way of looking at tax issues. It’s called ‘risk management,’ and, in your case, John, it means that we can be more aggressive than in the past. In the past, when there was...

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Q: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created the Public Company Accounting

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). One of the PCAOB’s responsibilitie...

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Q: Google is the world’s largest search engine. In 2009,

Google is the world’s largest search engine. In 2009, it had approximately 400 million Web users, of which 200 million are located in the United States. Its global revenue from advertising amounted to...

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Q: On July 1, 2013, Scott London, a former KPMG

On July 1, 2013, Scott London, a former KPMG audit partner, pleaded guilty to securities fraud. He had been passing information to his friend, Bryan Shaw, over a two-year period ending in 2012. He tol...

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Q: Livent, once the world’s premier live entertainment companies, was sold

Livent, once the world’s premier live entertainment companies, was sold in 1998 to buyers who soon found that the value they had paid for was an illusion. Livent had thrilled audiences with performanc...

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Q: Martin Pilzmaker was a young, aggressive lawyer from Montreal who was

Martin Pilzmaker was a young, aggressive lawyer from Montreal who was invited in 1985 to join the law firm Lang Michener in Toronto. It was expected that his immigration law practice “could enrich the...

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Q: In 1984, twenty-three-year-old Wanda Liczyk

In 1984, twenty-three-year-old Wanda Liczyk received her designation as a chartered accountant. The following year, she left Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) to become a budget a...

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Q: Assume that you are a professional accountant who is CFO of a

Assume that you are a professional accountant who is CFO of a medium-sized manufacturing company that plans to do the following: • Misrepresent products that come from environmentally irresponsible so...

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Q: Harry Potter is known to tens of millions of readers as a

Harry Potter is known to tens of millions of readers as a figment of J. K. Rowling’s imagination. One of the good guys, he is a gifted apprentice magician and budding wizard. Harry and his pals have b...

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Q: A cryptocurrency, such as a Bitcoin, is a digital commodity

A cryptocurrency, such as a Bitcoin, is a digital commodity that can be used in financial transactions. Unlike the U.S. or Canadian dollar, cryptocurrencies have no government backing. It is worth onl...

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