Sarahh Roberts is the assistant chief accountant at the HK Company, a manufacturer of computer chips and cell phones. The company presently has total sales of $20 million. It is the end of the first quarter, Sarahh is hurriedly trying to prepare a general ledger trial balance so that the quarterly financial statements can be prepared and released to management and the regulatory agencies. The total credits on the trial balance exceed the debits by $1,000. In order to meet the 5 PM deadline, Sarahh decides to force the debits and credits into balance by adding the amount of the difference to the Equipment account. She chose Equipment because it is one of the larger account balances; percentage-wise, it will be the least misstated. Sarahh “plugs” the difference! She believes that the difference will not affect anyone’s decisions. She wishes that she had another few days to find the error but realizes that the financial statements are already late.
REQUIRED:
1. What are the ethical issues?
2. Who are the stakeholders?
3. What are Sarahh’s alternatives?
4. What would you do? Explain