Code of ethics for the hospital

Discussion #1 In the scenario for creative accounting Susie modified financial documents to ensure the hospital was able to gain financial assistance to acquire 2 other hospitals. It did not seem as though she did this with bad intentions however it is unethical and illegal to falsify legal documents. This is a form of fraud. The correct legal and ethical option here was to complete the documents accurately and if an issue occurred they could explain the situation to the financial backers and hope for the best. Miranda the CEO should have never gone along with this and Susie should have been reported and stopped. Now Miranda is an accomplice and if found out she and Susie could lose their jobs and have legal repercussions as well. This scenario broke most all of St. Martha’s Code of Ethics. The virtue ethic of veracity/honesty was broken by the women as well. Virtues such as courage honesty and justice are abstract moral principles. Veracity is devotion to and conformity with what is truthful. It involves an obligation to be truthful (Pozgar 2016). A person who follows utilitarian or nonconsequential ethics may think that what the women did was not wrong because it was done for the right reason which was to help the hospital and doing so would provide the most good for the most people. A person who follows deontological ethics may think what the women did was wrong no matter if it helped people or not because no matter the outcome telling the trust is the most important thing. Since this is also a matter or legality falsifying the financial documents would never be legally acceptable. Discussion #2 Scenario: Creative AccountingMiranda recruited Susie to head St. Martha’s General Hospital’s accounting department. Susie and Miranda have been friends since childhood and Susie is so grateful to Miranda for the position and salary increase. Susie helps Miranda by pushing the hospital’s poor financial performance to the next quarter. In this way Susie allows Miranda to make up the differences before the next financial period. Susie promises Miranda that she can use creative accounting to ensure that the hospital acquisition takes place. Miranda appreciates Susie’s creative accounting and tells her that St. Martha’s General Hospital would not get finances for the new hospitals without her efforts. Susie accepts the appreciation and tells Miranda that she can do anything to help her.Creative accounting involves the changing and falsification of an organization’s financial information. This practice is risky and may attract civil and legal charges (Gallup n.d.). Susie was at liberty to practice creative accounting to maintain her friendship with Miranda. Also Susie believed that her relationship with Miranda would further her career and professional goals. She believed that Miranda would not put her at risk of losing her job. Susie should not have allowed Miranda to take advantage of their friendship to compromise her professional standards (BlackStorm Consulting 2019). As a professional accountant Susie should have advised Miranda that creative accounting would get them into trouble. In case Miranda failed to understand her opinion she should have threatened to resign from the position.Susie should have also raised the HR departments issues if Miranda threatened her for failing to engage in creative accounting. Susie should have tried to make Miranda understand that such a practice would spoil the hospital’s reputation. This accounting practice follows required laws and regulations but does not follow what these standards intend to accomplish (BlackStorm Consulting 2019). Organizations should prevent loopholes that may facilitate creative accounting practices. Please respond to discussion posts separately.The TWO peer posts should state whether you agree or disagree with the post then provide a short explanation to support your reasoning (50 – 100 words each). Set metric and report codes accurately: It states that financial reports shall not be falsified not even to meet a business goal. That is exactly what was done. Avoid conflict of interest: It states that relationships that may impair judgement should be avoided. Miranda hired her best friend to be her accountant which may be why she was ok with her falsifying reports. It is a conflict of interest for her best friend to be her employee. Uphold the law: It states that laws rules and regulations should be upheld as mentioned above the law is being broken. Set tone at the top: it states that ethical codes must first be upheld by the managers and other leaders in the hospital so that hey can lead by example. Miranda’s acceptance of illegal acts shows that she is not leading by example. Build trust and credibility: It states that they are open and honest to their employees customers and shareholders. Falsifying documents breaks trust and if the shareholders find out that they are falsifying financial documents they will lose credibility and financial backing. Stay accountable: It states that each person is held accountable for knowing and following the code of ethics for the hospital. The 2 women knowingly break the hospital ethical codes.