Reporting Practices And Ethics Paper Hcs 405

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Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper HCS/405 Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper In the world of financial reporting, numbers can make or break a corporation. Growing competition and diminishing profits are driving some companies to compromise their ethical standards and falsify corporate financial data. These deceptive accounting methods can cause a once thriving corporation to crumble into dust. Ethics must be at the forefront of any healthcare accounting department. Fiscal transparency within the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and statement of equity must all reflect honest and integral data in order maintain the financial stability of the corporation. The end objective of financial management is to achieve…show more content…
The stress that can compel a company to doctor their financial data can override the compromise of ethics within an organization. A look back at the catastrophic financial mistakes of health care organizations in the past illustrates the devastation unethical accounting can cause. HealthSouth provides an excellent glimpse into the horrible consequences when it all comes crashing down. According to Bouchard (2012), "Committing fraud, said the former CFO, had consequences he couldn’t and didn’t foresee. It nearly destroyed him emotionally, which is why he retired to everyone’s surprise in 1997 at the age of 54, just a year after the fraud began. To avoid an ethics meltdown of the proportions that lead to the accounting fraud at HealthSouth, Beam advised that companies support their goals with values, create a culture that allows employees to speak up and report things safely, ensure that the board is strong, avoid conflicts of interest and have clear rules about conflicts of interest and be aware of the basics of economics and economic cycles” (para. 8). In hindsight, the choices that were made do not seem so financially brilliant. However, at the time, it seemed like the only way out. Accountants are often given orders to doctor numbers. They must make a tough decision to keep their jobs and violate their ethics, or refuse, walk away, and lose their jobs. Accountants must stand their ethical ground and resist. It is imperative that health care organizations not only provide integral patient care, but also honest financial practices. Patients can sense when something is not right with a company’s ethics. Although deception may temporarily boost profits, in the end, profits will be decimated. Fraud investigations and ethical violations are punishable by years in federal

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