Stakeholder can be defined as individual

Stakeholder can be defined as individual

Stakeholder can be defined as individual, group, Organization or governmental bodies that are directly or indirectly affected or can affect certain Company by their task and action (Miles S., 2017). Every organization has key stakeholders. These are those who are affected by its products, services and activities or it can be those whose concerns can change the show of business. Stakeholders are mainly divided into two groups. They are internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are those unit that are already committed to serving the organization as board members, staff, volunteers or donors. Whereas external Stakeholders are not really part of business but have keen interest in certain business and are affected by service, policy, action and objectives of business externally. Customers, Creditors, Suppliers and governmental bodies are main example of external stakeholders.

In every situation all stakeholders are not equally important but once Stakeholder are identified and noticed very well the Company can reach its goal very immediately. As different Stakeholders had unique opinions and thoughts, sometimes these opposing thoughts can create clashes and chaos that can lead Company to its danger point (Ulmer R.R., 2009). So, it’s beneficial and advisable to know about good stakeholder management skill and communicate constantly with stakeholders in order to collaborate on the project. Effective stakeholder engagement relies on a commitment to engage and communicate openly and honestly with stakeholder. By doing such can create an effective, friendly, confident and successful targeted service. As a result, future crisis like time consumes on chaos management, high or low turnover in accounting, negative vibe in community about organization can be avoided (Greenwood, M. 2007).

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In the given case, there are 5 stakeholders involved altogether. They are Jenny Pike (assistant director), Russel Bayer (Director of Company, ABB bank (Creditor), Consumers and other Companies board members.
Ethics can be defined as moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics can differ from person to person. Ethics is a moral, principle or behavior and it is highly influenced by the environment that the person lives in. Never the less there is the other ethics that is the organizational ethics, and which is very different from behavior ethics. Organization ethics is a culture, rules or the system which is clearly stated in a company’s rule book. As an employee or the person or other party involved in that organization should hold by its ethics. The main ethical issues involved in this case above are as follows:
Jenny Pike, being the assistant accountant for Blenheim Instruments Ltd, had to be careful about not to miss or ignore any of the accounting information that will lead to accounting errors later in an organization. Russell Bayer is also equally responsible for any of the accounting errors as he is the accountant of the business. There was large loan taken out as part of loan agreement, but measures were not applied to minimize the effect of the loan soon. ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Cohen;/Author;;Year;2001;/Year;;RecNum;11;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(Cohen, Pant ;amp; Sharp 2001);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;11;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”5rtstedrltvda3ez2enpvdwar0zvfewtszxz” timestamp=”1536538617″;11;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Cohen, Jeffrey R;/author;;author;Pant, Laurie W;/author;;author;Sharp, David J;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;An examination of differences in ethical decision-making between Canadian business students and accounting professionals;/title;;secondary-title;Journal of Business Ethics;/secondary-title;;/titles;;periodical;;full-title;Journal of Business Ethics;/full-title;;/periodical;;pages;319-336;/pages;;volume;30;/volume;;number;4;/number;;dates;;year;2001;/year;;/dates;;isbn;0167-4544;/isbn;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(Cohen, Pant ; Sharp 2001).The target of Blenheim Instrument Ltd was to maintain a ratio of current assets (fewer inventories) to current liabilities of at least 1.25:1. After some time Jenny, was concerned that the company might not be able to achieve the desired account receivable. Later they came to know that two of the largest customers companies had gone into liquidation, it might lead the Blenheim Instruments Ltd into trouble as the company would recover no more than 10% of the debts owing. The current allowance for doubtful debts was grossly inadequate and thus the accounts receivable was overstated. ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Tam;/Author;;Year;2002;/Year;;RecNum;12;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(Tam 2002);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;12;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”5rtstedrltvda3ez2enpvdwar0zvfewtszxz” timestamp=”1536539012″;12;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Tam, On Kit;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;Ethical Issues in the Evolution ofCorporate Governance in China;/title;;secondary-title;Journal of Business Ethics;/secondary-title;;/titles;;periodical;;full-title;Journal of Business Ethics;/full-title;;/periodical;;pages;303-320;/pages;;volume;37;/volume;;number;3;/number;;dates;;year;2002;/year;;/dates;;isbn;0167-4544;/isbn;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(Tam 2002)
As two people were involved in this matter; accountant and assistant accountant, there lacks communication to some extent. Jenny could have talked about the queries with Russell in the first phase, but she waited till the last phase about the loan and about how to maintain the ratios. It lacks the transparency here. It is an employee’s ethics to be transparent and communicative about the issues or errors happening inside the company. Jenny here is little slow in taking some actions to prevent loss or damages in future. Jenny missed or ignored to alert the accountant or company’s directors about issues happening in the first place. Russell is equally responsible as he is an accountant but not as responsible for the position that he is in. As an employee, it’s their duty to take little more effort to sort out company’s problem as their own. If these measures were taken into consideration and used throughout then the ethical issues might be solved somehow.

Accountants in a business organization have many duties in a company such as keeping record of financial transactions, planning, controlling and protecting assets and providing information to the upper level. (Woelfel 1986). While keeping the financial records the accounts receivable of the Blenheim instruments ltd has been overstated, Jenny the assistant accountant of the company realized this error while finalizing the balance sheet of the company. She also found that that company had taken a big sum of loan from ABB bank and as per the agreement signed with ABB bank the Blenheim instruments ltd was supposed to maintain a ratio of 1.25:1 of current assets and currents liabilities. However, after realizing the overstated accounts receivable Jenny found that the Blenheim Instruments ltd was not able to maintain the agreed ratio. While consulting with the accountant Russell Bayer, Jenny was suggested to leave the accounts as it is as they do not know the actual sum that will be recovered from the receivable parties. So, in this case Jenny is confused either to leave the accounts as it is or to take some action to correct the accounts. 
Jenny is challenged to make a decision regarding the given situation. However, Blackburn (1997) suggests that when all the available alternatives violate the moral principle in a certain way then then ethical dilemma takes place. Hence the option is given to the decision maker for the selection of alternative. In the given case following the ethical principles it might be reasonable to inform the ABB bank about the current financial position of the company. However, Simon (1959, 2013) justifies that there are limitations set for humans to make a decision and should make decisions that is acceptable by the parties he/she is dealing. For instance: if jenny informs the ABB bank about the current status of the company then she should be able to face the results of the consequences as well. 
In a workplace the managers and superiors have an important role in decision making. Sometimes the decision is also based on the personality and the attitude of the manager. To support the statement as suggested by Tversky and kahneman (1981) all the decisions are not made as per the standard decision-making model neither it is based on the emotions but can be based on the perspective of the decision maker. In this case jenny can take action on this matter as per her perspective she can either correct the statement or listen to the advice of her supervisor Russel Bayer and do nothing. As an accountant and as a professional, it is Jenny’s duty to fulfill the job in the best manner and express her concerns to the directors. It is a part of professional ethics to be transparent about the situation and to let the directors know about all the imminent financial danger the company might face in the near futureADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Stoodley”,”given”:”Ian”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:”2009″},”page”:”1-198″,”title”:”IT professionals ‘ experience of ethics and its implications for IT education”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=86e75fcf-5583-45d3-b19d-aabea543a726″},”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Stoodley, 2009)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Stoodley, 2009)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Stoodley, 2009)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Stoodley, 2009).
If I were Jenny, I would have been open with the company’s directors regarding the financial constraints of the company instead of covering the matter up and then letting the company face major setbacks in the future. If I were in the place of Jenny then I would have applied my knowledge, acumen and skills to prevent the company from facing any dire consequencesADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Luegenbiehl”,”given”:”Heinz C.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Davis”,”given”:”Michael”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”January 1987″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:”1992″},”page”:”8″,”title”:”III. Code of Ethics Today”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=2a27bf93-1384-44ab-858e-5cb1699984a0″},”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Luegenbiehl and Davis, 1992)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Luegenbiehl and Davis, 1992)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Luegenbiehl and Davis, 1992)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Luegenbiehl and Davis, 1992). It would be part of my duty to warn the directors regarding the fact that it might be a problem for them to submit the borrowed money and return the loan. I would have given the directors and concerned people a reliable and good financial advice that would prevent the company from facing any major loss. It is evident from the described situation that Russell Bayer is not interested in further exploring the situation and playing his part. This might put some pressure on meADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”978-1-61804-076-3″,”abstract”:”Paper focuses on the particular case of professional ethics in the context of the accounting profession. After briefly discussing recent events that made us reconsider our understanding of corporate governance, accountancy and ethics, we try to delimit the state of the art by looking at ethics from the accounting professions’ perspective. Teaching ethics to accounting students should no longer try to convince them that they should act in an ethical manner, but raise their awareness with regard to ethical issues in accounting practice. Codes of ethics are therefore useful by considering common issues being dealt with within the business environment. It is here that we try to bring our contribution by developing a conceptual approach that would enhance ethical behavior. When aiming to clarify professional ethics, we closely analyze integrity based on the latest developments undertaken by European professional bodies. Findings are used in identifying ways to contribute to the endeavor of aligning the profession’s performance with society’s reasonable expectations.”,”author”:{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”BONACI”,”given”:”CARMEN”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”STROUHAL”,”given”:”JI?Í”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:”2013″},”page”:”138-143″,”title”:”Accounting Ethics: Some Research Note”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=a5de47ea-63df-4514-8731-4039d8f2900f”},”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(BONACI and STROUHAL, 2013)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(BONACI and STROUHAL, 2013)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(BONACI and STROUHAL, 2013)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(BONACI and STROUHAL, 2013).
However, I would go against all the odds and be a responsible professional. Not complying with the loan agreement may lead to heavy financial setbacks to the company. The company won’t be able to maintain the desired ratio as the company’s major customers had gone into liquidation. Hence it’s impossible for the company to maintain the ratio of 1.25:1 in future. If I were in place of Jenny then I would have made the concerned authority alert and tell them that the current allowance for doubtful debts is a major concern for the company and this might cause trouble to the company. Moreover, I would have refrained from overstating the account receivable figuresADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/08.05.2014/016″,”author”:{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Akenbor”,”given”:”Cletus”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”August 2014″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:”2015″},”title”:”Ethics of Accounting Profession in Nigeria Ethics of Accounting Profession in Nigeria”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=c07a9d97-240f-4989-b932-16097dfd7821″},”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Akenbor, 2015)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Akenbor, 2015)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Akenbor, 2015)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Akenbor, 2015). It is obvious that the current financial situation of the company looks very dilapidated and the chances of recovering the hefty loans are quite bleak. In the light of this situation, instead of listening to Russell, I would have shared my concerns with the director as acting upon Russell’s advice doesn’t seem to be the best of interests of the company. Instead of relying on short term stability, I would like to think about the future of company and try my best to deliver according to my insight and knowledgeADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“abstract”:”In the presented exploratory study, we demonstrate some empirical evidences on relations between social responsibility of business, managerial ethics, and economic environment. We conducted desk research on 26 European countries, using different secondary information sources. We confirmed a set of hypothesis, which links high social responsibility and professional ethics with enhanced economic performance, higher economic freedom and lower level of corruption. However, we rejected the hypothesis that the EU member states with high social responsibility and professional ethics are more resilient, and will exit the current crisis faster than other countries. The rationale behind the research hypothesis is a rather disputed perception that socially responsible and ethically managed business is economically more successful and sustainable. Finally, we discussed the possibility for more comprehensive benchmarking of few selected EU member states to see in more detail if social responsibility in business means just financial and organizational overhead, or it could be compensated with potential benefits offered by the social environment. It is also an intriguing question if we could reduce corruption with systematic support to social components of the business. The answer is far from trivial, because any state or local community involvement in business could trigger the opposite effect, and increase corruption. We also raised the question if the results at national level could be applied at the level of individual company. We hypothesize that companies consciously select where it is beneficial to be socially responsible and ethical, and where it is more profitably to make business ruthlessly.”,”author”:{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Bavec”,”given”:”Cene”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”November”,”issued”:{“date-parts”:”2010″},”page”:”75-88″,”title”:”Social Responsibility, Professional Ethics In Management: Does It Matter”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=eb8b225c-d89d-4236-8933-356e7706accd”},”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Bavec, 2010)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Bavec, 2010)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Bavec, 2010)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Bavec, 2010).
The assignment has given a brief analysis of the role and importance of stakeholders in an organisation. The management of the company is always liable and answerable to the stakeholders of the company. The stakeholders are the investors of the company where the long term interest for growth and profitability should align together in the context of view of the management and the stakeholders (Hatherly 2016). The stakeholders of the company suffer both the financial and business risk of the company. It is the operations, working and utilization of the company by the management to ensure every asset and resources deployed furnishes better return. It is always advisable that firms should be following proper accounting standards and guidelines that govern the company (Lawrence and Weber 2014). It should be noted that from the above report that stakeholder’s ad investors should not be presented with incorrect financial statements which can destroy company’s goodwill and its continuity in the long term. As discussed above that the stakeholders are generally divided into two categories as internal who are already serving the company in the form of directors, volunteers and others. The external directors are those that which are affected by the influence and working policy of company’s operations. Creditors, governmental bodies and suppliers are some of the important stakeholders of the company. It should be note that both the parties should have a common view and perception about the company. The report also highlighted about the ethical issues involved in the Blenheim Instruments Ltd where the company had represented its financial statements incorrectly. It is the primary rule of proper corporate governance and ethics that stakeholders should not be presented with false information (Vosselman 2016).
The company had taken financial loan which were on certain terms and condition like the company should maintain a desired current ratio 0:1.25 times but the company could not do so. The requirements are generally made by banks and creditors to ensure that the liquidity ratio of the company remains solvent. However it was also noticed that the company had inflated its component of current assets like accounts receivable or debtors. The company had recognised that a major part of debtors which is represented by a group of customers were not able to payback. The company should have made provisions for the same keeping in view that the same amount would no longer be recovered. As highlighted by Russell Bayer the accountant of the company that he was not sure about the recoverable amount there the company could use probability approach for determining the recoverable amount. However as noted that Jenny did her best she should inform the board of directors and other stakeholders know about the financial issue company is undergoing through as part of a professional ethical guideline of whistle-blower. The entitlement danger could be even worse and the consequences for the company could be worst if the company is going through such a heavy business risk and along with that financial risks and incorrect or false representation of financial statement could destroy the company. Thus it is advisable to follow the highest ethical guidelines and act and work with corporate governance principles and guidelines set (Eisenberg 2017).

Reference
Eisenberg, M.A., 2017. Legal models of management structure in the modern corporation: Officers, directors, and accountants. In Corporate Governance (pp. 103-167). Gower.

Hatherly, D., 2016. The failure and the future of accounting: Strategy, stakeholders, and business value. Rutledge.

Lawrence, A.T. and Weber, J., 2014. Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Vosselman, E., 2016. Accounting, accountability, and ethics in public sector organizations: Toward a duality between instrumental accountability and relational response-ability. Administration & Society, 48(5), pp.602-627.

ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Akenbor, C. (2015) ‘Ethics of Accounting Profession in Nigeria Ethics of Accounting Profession in Nigeria’, (August 2014). doi: 10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/08.05.2014/016.

Bavec, C. (2010) ‘Social Responsibility, Professional Ethics in Management: Does It Matter’, (November), pp. 75–88. Available at: http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISBN/978-961-266-098-7/papers/MIC4157.pdf.

BONACI, C. and STROUHAL, J. (2013) ‘Accounting Ethics: Some Research Note’, pp. 138–143.

Luegenbiehl, H. C. and Davis, M. (1992) ‘III. Code of Ethics Today’, (January 1987), p. 8. Available at: http://share.iit.edu/handle/10560/2228.

Stoodley, I. (2009) ‘IT professionals ‘ experience of ethics and its implications for IT education’, pp. 1–198.

Woelfel, C. J. (1986). Standards of ethical conduct for management accountants. Journal of Business Ethics, 5(5), 365–371. 
Blackburn, S. (1997). Dicionario de filodofia. Lisboa: Editora Gradiva 
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Miles, S. (2017). Stakeholder Theory Classification: Definitions and Essential Contestability. In Stakeholder Management, 21-47.
Ulmer, R.R. (2009). Effective crisis management through established stakeholder relationships: Malden Mills as a case study. Management Communication Quarterly, 14(4), 590-615.

Greenwood, M. (2007). Stakeholder Engagement: Beyond the Myth of Corporate Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 315-327.

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