For the six scenarios listed below, couple of paragraphs discussing whether there is a violation of the Code of Ethics. include the following:
1) Identify the possible alternative points of view. You may be able to support either a yes or no answer for any of these scenarios. You must show me you considered both possibilities in formulating your conclusion.
2) Provide your specific conclusion. You must explain how you arrived at each conclusion. In addition, you must reference the applicable section(s) in the Rules of Conduct (e.g. 2.1). There can be more than one section which is relevant to any of these scenarios. You can reference relevant Attribute Standards as well.
3) You are free to make assumptions and in fact are encouraged to do so as long as you clearly document them. You can do some research as well.
Scenarios
1) At lunch during an IIA ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) conference, an internal auditor engages in a discussion with the seven people at his table about their experiences with ERP software implementations at their respective companies. At his company, the ERP implementation is still in progress. Would discussing this information be considered a violation of the Code of Ethics?
2) The in-charge auditor is conducting a meeting with a VP and her staff at the end of the audit. The VP does not believe one of the findings is factually correct. In fact, the VP is upset about it and requests this finding not appear in the final audit report. Would it be appropriate to comply with the VP's request?
3) Fred, a staff auditor, is scheduled to work on an audit in accounts payable. There are several people in the department who Fred does not particularly care for including the head of the department. It is likely he will have to interact with these people on the audit. Given this information, would it be appropriate to leave Fred on the audit team?
4) Does including the CAE (Chief Audit Executive) in a company's stock option program violate the Code of Ethics?
5) After every audit, a survey about the audit work is sent to key management involved. 10% of each auditor's annual bonus is determined based on the results of these surveys. Does this practice violate the Code of Ethics?
6) An internal auditor is assigned to work on an application security audit of SAP (a large ERP application). The auditor has done a number of application security audits but has no experience with SAP. The audit will be starting in two weeks. Should the auditor be allowed to participate on the audit?