Robert Keating is an accountant for a large firm that manufactures kitchen utensils. In the course of his normal bookkeeping work, he comes across what appears to be strange cheque requisitions. The requisition numbers are out of sequence and the recipient of the funds is an entity which he no knowledge about. The supporting documents that accompany the cheque requisitions appear to be all in order, however. Robert decides to report the matter to his superior who says he will 'follow it up'. Four weeks later, Robert asks the supervisor about the issue. The supervisor says 'Oh sure, yeah, I checked it out. It's all good. Nothing to worry about, Robert'.
Robert identifies that the cheque requisitions continue to appear, they are always for substantial sums and always payable to the same mysterious entity. Robert raises the matter with the auditor and is once again reassured that, after a detailed investigation by the auditor, everything is 'absolutely fine'.
Robert is still perturbed by the strange cheque requisitions and he again raises the issue with his supervisor. The response Robert gets this time is that the supervisor has 'already looked into this and it was all okay. If you keep pestering me and wasting my time then you should think about updating your CV because you'll be looking for another job'. Robert, feeling intimidated, decides that discretion is the better part of valour.
Ten months later, Robert's junior tells him 'in confidence' that he has uncovered a scheme in which the auditor and members of senior management have been siphoning large sums of cash from the business for their own benefit.
Required:
a) Describe to Robert the main normative ethical theories.
b) Advise Robert of an appropriate decision from the teleological ethics perspective of 'ethical egoism'. Explain why it is based on 'ethical egoism'.
c) Advise Robert of an appropriate decision from the deontological ethics perspective. Explain why it is based on deontological ethics.