You are the assistant controller in charge of general ledger accounting at Springtime Bottling Company. Your company has a large loan from an insurance company. The loan agreement requires that the company’s cash account balance be maintained at $200,000 or more, as reported monthly. On June 30, the cash balance is $80,000, which you report to Anne Shirley, the financial vice president. Anne excitedly instructs you to keep the cash receipts book open for one additional day for purposes of the June 30 report to the insurance company. Anne says, “If we don’t get that cash balance over $200,000, we’ll default on our loan agreement. They could close us down, put us all out of our jobs!” Anne continues, “I talked to Oconto Distributors (one of Spring time’s largest customers) this morning. They said they sent us a check for $150,000 yesterday. We should receive it tomorrow. If we include just that one check in our cash balance, we’ll be in the clear. It’s in the mail!”
Instructions
(a) Who will suffer negative effects if you do not comply with Anne Shirley’s instructions? Who will suffer if you do comply?
(b) What are the ethical considerations in this case?
(c) What alternatives do you have?