Impact of Unethical Behavior Analysis

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Impact of Unethical Behavior Analysis Impact of Unethical Behavior Analysis With a rich history in financial scandals, organizations need to protect themselves against bad publicity. The scandals highlighted the need for legislation. “Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to provide greater protection against corporate and securities fraud for public companies, mandating stronger internal controls, independent audit committees, the creation of anonymous hotlines, and, importantly, the implementation of safeguards against retaliation.” (Bannon, Ford, & Meltzer, 2010). While the effectiveness of the legislation has been heavily debated, there are still opportunities for unethical behavior. Top executives of companies are hired to improve performance and the pressure to do so can lead them to take unethical action to ensure their success. Publicly traded companies are consistently pressured by internal and external stakeholders to perform at higher level. When organizations are about to release financial reports that would possibly lead to a financial loss to the shareholders, the pressure to perform unethical accounting practices will increase. There is an opportunity to adjust the numbers so the financial reports will represent a more desirable outcome. Employees have the same opportunity to perform unethical accounting activities as the top executives. If an employee fears getting fired for making a mistake with the accounting transactions, the employee may decide to make adjustments to hide the mistake. This mistake could result in large amounts of money either gained or lost to the shareholders and the organizational could take disciplinary action to correct the problem. Another reason that employees could make unethical decisions with the accounting practice is for sabotage. If an employee becomes frustrated or feels the need to retaliate

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