Wiley Jackson, Accounting Major
Wiley Jackson spent three months as an audit intern with a local practice office of a major accounting firm while he was earning an undergraduate accounting degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee' Wiley thoroughly enjoyed the three-month Internship. He made several friends and, more importantly, gained valuable work ex perience and insight into the nature and work environment of independent auditing, On the final day of his internship, Wiley had an exit interview with the office man aging partner (OMP) The OMP fold Wiley that he had impressed his superiors and co-workers Wiley's performance reviews indicated that he had strong technical and interpersonal skills and always conducted himself in a professional and ethical man ner, At the end of the exit interview, the OMP offered Wiley a full-time position with the firm once he completed his master's degree in accounting at UWM Wiley was thrilled by the offer and accepted it immediately.
While working on his graduate degree, Wiley received a packet of documents from his future employer that he was to complete and return. The packet contained standard insurance forms, 401-K elections, a W-4 form, a personal investments work sheet for independence-compliance purposes, and a "Statement of Arrests and Convictions form Wiley recalled having completed an earlier version of the latter document before beginning his internship. Among the questions included in this form was the following:
Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor (excluding minor traffic violations) or a felony, or drcing while intoxicated in this or any other state, or are criminal charges curently pending against you?
The form required a full explanation if this question was answered "Yes. Wiley had previously responded "No" to this question because, at the time, he had had a "clean"
record, except for a few parking tickets and one speeding violation. But now, as he sat at his desk staring at the form, he was not sure how to respond to the question.
After completing his internship, Wiley had been invited to a graduation party at an off- campus location. Although he was not a "party animal," Wiley had decided to accept the invitation since it would likely be his final opportunity to see many of his friends who were graduating from UWM. When he arrived at the site of the party. Wiley was surprised by the large number of people there. In fact, because the older two-story home could not accommodate all the partygoers, several dozen of them were congregated in the front yard and on the residential street on which the house was located.
As he made his way through the boisterous crowd, Wiley suddenly came face to face with Sally Jones. Sally, a UWM alumna, had been the audit senior assigned to Wiley's largest client during his internship. While Wiley was talking to Sally, an acquaintance thrust a cold beer into his hand and slapped him on the shoulder. "No talking business here, Dude. It's party time!" As luck would have it, just a few minutes later, the party was
"busted" by the local police. Before Wiley realized exactly what was happening. a policeman approached him and asked for his LD. As he handed over his driver's license, Wiley, who was three days short of his 21st birthday, realized that he was in trouble.
Moments later, the stone-faced policeman began writing out a minor-in- possession citation. The citation ordered Wiley to appear before a local judge the fol lowing month.
Wiley was distraught and had a difficult time sleeping that night. The next morn ing, he called an attorney and told him what had happened. The attorney informed Wiley that he had dealt with many similar situations involving college students and that Wiley should not be "stressed out by the incident. For first-time offenders, like Wiley, the attorney had always been successful in persuading a judge to approve "deferred adjudication. As long as Wiley stayed out of trouble over the following two years, the minor-in-possession charge would be expunged from his record, "just like it never happened," according to the attorney.
Questions
1. Place yourself in Wiley's position. How would you respond to the "Arrests and Convictions question? Before responding, identify the decision alternatives available to you.
2. Suppose that Wiley does not disclose the citation he received. A few weeks after going to work for his new employer, Wiley is called into the OMP's office. The OMP tells Wiley that he recently learned of the minor-in-possession citation that Wiley had been given. The OMP then hands Wiley a copy of the Arrest and Convictions form that he completed after receiving the job offer from the firm.
How should the OMP deal with this matter? How, if at all, should Wiley be disciplined? Defend your answer.
3. Assume that Sally Jones was the individual who told the OMP that Wiley had been given a police citation at the graduation party. Do you believe Sally had a moral or ethical responsibility to inform the OMP of that matter? Why or why not?
Arvel Smart, Accounting Major
Arvel Ray Smart was born in Lebanon, Missouri, and grew up in the small town of Bolivar, 40 miles west of Lebanon in southeastern Missouri Arvel's mother and father graduated from the University of Missouri with accounting degrees in the mid-1970s.
The Smarts spent three years working on the tax staff of a Big Eight practice office in Kansas City before deciding to establish their own accounting firm in Bolivar, Arvel helped out in his parents office during high school, especially when they were lacing tax deadlines. He enjoyed the work, which is why he decided to major in accounting when he enrolled at the University of Missouri following graduation from high school. Arvel realized that he would most likely have the opportunity to take over his parents accounting firm when they retired. His only sibling, an older sister, was a performing arts major at Washington University in St. Louis and had no interest in becoming in- volved in the family business.
During his junior year at Mizzou, Arvel was admitted into the five-year program in the School of Accountancy. Arvel would receive Bachelor of Science and Master of
Accountancy degrees when he completed the 150-hour program. After completing his junior year, Arvel accepted an internship with a Big Four practice office in Kansas City Because he wanted to gain a better understanding of auditing, Arvel chose to intern on the audit staff of that office. Arvel was surprised by the number of interesting as
signments he was given that summer. In fact, by the end of the summer he was recon sidering the decision he had made earlier to choose the tax track of Mizzou's five-year accounting program.
On the final day of Arvel's internship, the office managing partner met with him and offered him an entry-level auditing position. Arvel thanked the partner for the job offer and told him that he would seriously consider accepting it. He explained to the partner that he had not made a final decision about whether to focus on auditing or taxation early in his career. The partner was very understanding and told Arvel that he had plenty of time to make up his mind and then added that the job offer would remain open for 12 months, until the end of the following summer.
Arvel enrolled in the undergraduate auditing course during the spring semester of his fourth year in college. He enjoyed the course so much that he made up his mind to begin his career as an auditor and to accept the job offer from the firm with which he had interned the previous summer. He planned to delay accepting that offer, how ever, until the end of the summer. Arvel's girlfriend, who was also an accounting major at Mizzou, had accepted an offer for a summer internship with a Big Four prac- tice office in St.
Louis. Arvel was hoping to spend the summer in St. Louis, so he had interviewed earlier in the year with two regional accounting firms based in that city. Both of the firms had offered him an internship.
During the final week of the spring semester of his fourth year, Arvel accepted an
internship offer from one of the two St. Louis-based accounting firms. Arvel realized that both regional and national accounting firms use internships as a tool to recruit
permanent employees and that they typically offer internships to students who they believe have an interest in eventually accepting a permanent position with them. That realization caused Arvel to experience some degree of guilt when he called and accepted the internship with the St. Louis firm. He quickly cleared his guilty conscience by
convincing himself that there was some remote chance he would change his mind and accept a job with the St. Louis accounting firm. In fact, in Arvel's mind, that firm had a responsibility to prove to him that it offered more op- portunities than the Big Four accounting firm from which he had already received a job offer.
Questions
1. Before interviewing with the two St. Louis accounting firms, did Arvel have an obligation to inform them that he had an outstanding job offer from a Big Four practice office in Kansas City? Why or why not?
2. Did Arvel Smart behave unethically by accepting the internship with the St. Louis accounting firm when he intended to accept the outstanding job offer from the Big Four accounting firm at the completion of that internship? Defend your answer.
