Team Reflection

Abstract

During week five team B learned about the financial accounting concepts of ethical responsibility and Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Additional concepts learned were how to improve ethical responsibility in management or changes needed to improve ethics in accounting. In addition to the above concepts team B also learned how to identify unethical situations, why the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was implemented, and the four main dispositions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Week Five Reflection Summary

Week five had yet again proven difficult for some team B group members. However, most found week five the easiest, in the sense that most of the concepts learned was in writing and ethics within the accounting world. The entire team B group members agreed that the main concept learned in week five was ethics and analyzing different ethical situations within the accounting world. Additionally learned concepts in week five included, how to identify unethical situations, why the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was implemented, and the four main dispositions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Team B has agreed that not only ethics start from the top but also more oversight is needed to ensure that ethics are maintained and controlled within the workplace.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

In 2002, WorldCom, Enron, AIG, HealthSouth, and others had been noted for scandals for financial information. Erica mentioned “Most [accounting] unethical behavior is related to fraud, stealing or misleading information on financial statements.” These ethical situations lead to mistrust in the financial reporting system and Congress decided to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was passed in July 2002 as mentioned by Jesse. Additionally, Jesse mentioned a key element of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act stating, “It was supposed to ensure full, fair and accurate financial disclosure by corporations. This piece of legislation was supposed to offer clear guidelines as to what, and how information should be disclosed by businesses in order to provide a consistent, and true representation of an organizations financial reporting across the business world.” Jennever suggested “The Sarbanes-Oxley act was created in order to protect investors, customers and connected others from fraudulent accounting activities that occur within corporations. There is neither confusion nor questions as to the relevance of this act. I think it to be a well thought of protective blanket.” Edgar added “I feel that there is more truth in accounting and the figures that corporations report in their financial statements. The Act is a way to keep people accountable for their wrong-doings and can include jail. Internal controls are only as effective