Question

Shannon and Ian, student consultants, chose a home construction business as a client for a semester strategic planning assignment. Upon examination of the client's financial statements, the students discover that their client has been cheating the government out of several thousand dollars a year in taxes. Their client is a company owned by a couple who are in their late 50s and who have two children in college. Shannon and Ian are the only persons other than the owners who are in a position to know about this situation. Which ethical principle should guide Shannon and Ian in their decision whether or not to report the owners to the Internal Revenue Service

Answer 1

Answer: e. Adherence to universal ethical norms always takes precedence over local ethical norms.

Explanation:

As there are different cultures in the world, one finds that the ethical norms in an area might be different from those in another area and sometimes these norms can come into conflict.

This is why universal ethical norms are best to follow. They take into account the best norms and so smoothen out the negatives in local ethical norms.

Shannon and Ian should therefore follow universal ethical norms instead of local ones in this decision and they should find that these would encourage them to report the incident to the IRS.