1. You are a financial analyst. You have just come back from a meeting of
analysts where the president of ACME Widgets gave a forecast of ACME's
earnings for the next quarter. What should you do?
a. You cannot act on this information under any circumstances, since it is insider
information.
b. Since ACME's president has disclosed the information, you can go ahead and
trade ACME's stock based on the forecast.
c. Encourage the ACME board of directors to release the information to the general
public.
d. This is not an ethical issue at all; you can do whatever you want.
2. You are working on the final group assignment in this course. It is
Thursday night, and you promised the other members in your group that
you would email your part of the assignment to them by midnight. But
there’s a great movie on television – one that you have always wanted to
see. You decide to watch it, even though this means that you won’t get
the material to your group on time. (After all, you say to yourself, what
do a few hours matter?)
What kind of ethical position is this?
a. Categorical imperative
b. Utilitarian
c. A principle that would be chosen by a virtuous person
d. Egoistic
e. A principle that would be chosen by any free and rationale person
3. Your manager has asked you to inflate the sales projections for next
year so she can convince the company president to increase the salaries
of the department staff. You believe that this contravenes the principles
that all accountants must follow, so you are going to refuse. TRUE OR
FALSE: Since you are basing your decision on an ethical principle
mandated by your profession, there’s no need to think about how this
will affect you, your manager, the department staff, or the company.
True / False
4. You are part of a management team in a pharmaceutical firm that has
just received approval to distribute a new drug. Your team is discussing
the release date. Of course you are interested in the potential profit, but
two of the team members have also said that they are worried about the
side-effects that the drug may have on patients. In response, the head
of the team pointed out that the drug will provide major benefits to
many patients, and that only a few will suffer serious side-effects. TRUE
OR FALSE: This is an example of utilitarian ethics.
True False
5. Consider this ethical discussion between two doctors:
Dr. Smith: “Can I ever lie to a patient?”
Dr. Jones: “Imagine you have a terminally-ill patient. She only has a few
days to live. When you informed her family, they begged you not to tell
her she was dying. She is afraid of death and nothing would be gained
by making her last few days more difficult than they will already be. Her
affairs are in order (for example, she has a will already written), so
analysts where the president of ACME Widgets gave a forecast of ACME's
earnings for the next quarter. What should you do?
a. You cannot act on this information under any circumstances, since it is insider
information.
b. Since ACME's president has disclosed the information, you can go ahead and
trade ACME's stock based on the forecast.
c. Encourage the ACME board of directors to release the information to the general
public.
d. This is not an ethical issue at all; you can do whatever you want.
2. You are working on the final group assignment in this course. It is
Thursday night, and you promised the other members in your group that
you would email your part of the assignment to them by midnight. But
there’s a great movie on television – one that you have always wanted to
see. You decide to watch it, even though this means that you won’t get
the material to your group on time. (After all, you say to yourself, what
do a few hours matter?)
What kind of ethical position is this?
a. Categorical imperative
b. Utilitarian
c. A principle that would be chosen by a virtuous person
d. Egoistic
e. A principle that would be chosen by any free and rationale person
3. Your manager has asked you to inflate the sales projections for next
year so she can convince the company president to increase the salaries
of the department staff. You believe that this contravenes the principles
that all accountants must follow, so you are going to refuse. TRUE OR
FALSE: Since you are basing your decision on an ethical principle
mandated by your profession, there’s no need to think about how this
will affect you, your manager, the department staff, or the company.
True / False
4. You are part of a management team in a pharmaceutical firm that has
just received approval to distribute a new drug. Your team is discussing
the release date. Of course you are interested in the potential profit, but
two of the team members have also said that they are worried about the
side-effects that the drug may have on patients. In response, the head
of the team pointed out that the drug will provide major benefits to
many patients, and that only a few will suffer serious side-effects. TRUE
OR FALSE: This is an example of utilitarian ethics.
True False
5. Consider this ethical discussion between two doctors:
Dr. Smith: “Can I ever lie to a patient?”
Dr. Jones: “Imagine you have a terminally-ill patient. She only has a few
days to live. When you informed her family, they begged you not to tell
her she was dying. She is afraid of death and nothing would be gained
by making her last few days more difficult than they will already be. Her
affairs are in order (for example, she has a will already written), so
