Question Tag: Ethics

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SCS – Nov 2024 – L3 – Q5c – Board Independence and Accountability in Corporate Governance

Evaluation of how the governance structure at BOGML affects board independence and accountability.

There are a number of concepts of good corporate governance that every entity, including BOGML, must strive to adhere to.

Required:
Provide an evaluation of how the existing corporate governance structure at BOGML may undermine or compromise the following key concepts of good corporate governance, with particular reference to the current composition and organisation of the board.

i) Independence
ii) Responsibility and accountability

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SCS – Nov 2024 – L3 – Q5b – Board Responsibilities in Corporate Governance

Evaluate the role of the board in corporate governance, focusing on responsibilities for strategy, oversight, and ethical leadership.

The role of the board of directors is critical in corporate governance. The National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana (the National Code) issued in November 2022 outlines the board’s core responsibilities.

Required:

Advise the board of BOGML on the FIVE key responsibilities of the board of directors as outlined in the National Code.

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SCS – Nov 2024 – L3 – Q5b – Board Responsibilities in Corporate Governance

Identify and explain the five governance pillars in the National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana 2022.

It is evident that all is not well with the current corporate governance at BOGML. However, for the company to achieve sustainable growth and remain competitive, it must adhere to sound corporate governance principles.

Required:

Using the FIVE governance pillars identified in the National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana 2022 (the National Code), issued in November 2022 by the Institute of Directors-Ghana, advise the company on how to improve upon its current governance structure.

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CR – Nov 2024 – L3 – Q5b – Financial Performance & Digital Technology Integration

Evaluating the financial performance of Nsawkaw PLC and addressing challenges of digital technology integration in accounting.

(a) Compute the following ratios for the years ended 2024 & 2023:
i) Operating profit margin
ii) Return on parent’s equity
iii) Earnings per share
iv) Current ratio
v) Trade receivables days
vi) Total liabilities to total assets %

(b) Write a report to the directors of DPEF evaluating the inter-period financial performance and position of NK using the above six (6) ratios. The report should draw attention to how the non-financial metrics combine with the financial counterparts to showcase the prospects and viability of NK.                                                                      c) The concept of double materiality is relevant to sustainability impacts and dependencies. It
incorporates financial materiality and impact materiality. 

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AAA – Nov 2024 – L3 – Q1a – Ethical Issues in Audit Engagements

Ethical issues and professional conduct in an audit engagement involving conflict of interest.

You are the Audit Partner of a mid-sized audit firm, Amoah Sonko and Associates. One of your major clients, Kudi LTD (Kudi), has approached you for a significant audit engagement. Kudi has been experiencing rapid growth and plans to get listed on the Ghana Alternative Market within the next year. During preliminary discussions, the Managing Director of Kudi, a friend, promised you a bonus if the audit report is completed quickly and is favourable, highlighting the company’s strengths.

In the course of the audit of Kudi, you came across a series of unusual financial transactions. These included large intercompany loans with its sister companies, other significant related-party transactions with the directors, and an unusually high volume of sales recorded a few days before the end of the financial year. Upon further investigation, your team found discrepancies in inventory records and evidence of potential non-compliance with revenue recognition standards. The Finance Manager insists these transactions are legitimate and necessary for the company’s rapid growth.

Additionally, you noticed that Kudi was involved in a high-profile legal battle with a major competitor, which was not fully disclosed in the financial statements. The lawyer for Kudi insists that you omit this information from the audit report, arguing it would damage the company’s reputation and its plans to get listed on the Ghana Alternative Market.

Required:
i) Identify TWO potential ethical issues in the scenario and explain the potential impact on your professional conduct.                      ii) Identify the steps you should take to address the conflict of interest presented by the Managing Director’s offer. 
iii) Discuss the potential sanctions for accepting the Managing Director’s offer and providing a favourable audit report without proper verification. 
iv) Evaluate the impact of the undisclosed legal battle on Kudi LTD’s financial statements and the upcoming initial public offer.

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MA – Nov 2024 – L2 – Q2b – Ethical Standards in Business

Explanation of the need for ethical standards in business with reference to threats to ethical behavior.

According to the IESBA Handbook of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, 2024 Edition, a distinguishing mark of the accountancy profession is its acceptance of the responsibility to act in the public interest and uphold ethical standards.

Required:

Explain the need for ethical standards in business (make reference to threats to ethical behavior).

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FR – Nov 2024 – L2 – Q5b – Ethical Issues in Government Grants

Identification of ethical issues in recording a government grant and recommended corrective actions.

Dahn is a Chartered Accountant who works for a large Pharmaceutical Company, Nimely Company Ltd (Nimely), as an Assistant Financial Controller. The Financial Controller of Nimely is also a Chartered Accountant with more than ten years of experience.

During the year, Nimely received a vehicle worth GH¢800,000 from the government to support its operations. According to the Government Official who presented the vehicle to the management of Nimely, the company has been compliant in filing and paying its taxes.

At the year-end, the Financial Controller passed the following entry in the Tally Software of Nimely Company Ltd:

Dr Vehicle GH¢800,000
Cr Income GH¢800,000

Dahn explained to the Financial Controller that the grant should be treated in line with the provisions of IAS 20: Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance. It is the company’s policy that such grants should be treated as deferred income.

The Financial Controller agreed that the treatment should have been in line with IAS 20, but mentioned that the entries should not be changed since the current treatment may help them meet their profit targets.

It is Nimely’s policy to depreciate its vehicles at a rate of 25% per annum on a straight-line basis.

Required:

i) Identify the ethical issues involved.
ii) Recommend the appropriate actions to be taken by Dahn.

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FM – Nov 2024 – L2 – Q1b – Ethical Issues in Financial Management

Discuss four ethical issues in financial management and their impact on decision-making.

Finance Managers often encounter decisions that affect the organisation’s financial health and reflect its commitment to ethical standards. Balancing profitability with ethical considerations can be challenging, yet it is essential for sustaining long-term success and protecting an organisation’s reputation.

Required:
Discuss FOUR ethical issues in financial management.

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AAA – May 2016 – L3 – Q2a – Ethical Issues in Auditing

Discuss the importance of ethical guidance for accountants in addressing money laundering concerns.

(a) Comment on the need for ethical guidance for accountants on money laundering.
(5 Marks)

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CR – Nov 2016 – L3 – SC – Q5 – Ethical Issues in Corporate Reporting

Explain the concepts of creative accounting and window dressing, provide examples, reasons, and suggest preventive measures.

Manipulation of reporting entities book’s and records have been termed in many quarters as “Creative Accounting” and “Window Dressing”. The Management of Wastage Plc requires clarification of these two concepts.

Write a report to the management of Wastage Plc that includes:
a. Definitions of Creative Accounting and Window Dressing. (2 Marks)
b. Five examples of each concept. (5 Marks)
c. Three possible reasons for Creative Accounting and Window Dressing. (3 Marks)
d. Advice to management on five possible preventive measures of Creative Accounting. (5 Marks)

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CSEG – May 2019 – L2 – Q2a – Corporate governance framework

Describe a director’s fiduciary duty in relation to conflict of interest and assess whether this duty was breached by Gyeabour.

Muntaka Property Investments Ltd (MPI) owns a variety of shopping centres and retail units throughout Ghana. Last year, it decided to build a new outlet shopping centre in Adenta, Accra City, in the belief that the opening of the new light-rail line in this area would facilitate customer access to this centre and could attract customers from all parts of the country. To finance this development, MPI decided to sell some of its other properties. One of these properties was a small retail park located within three kilometers off Weija (a large provincial town). Gyeabour, a director of MPI, was tasked with overseeing this sale. Within three weeks of the Weija property being advertised for sale, Gyeabour reported that he had received an offer on the property for the full asking price. Delighted with this, the Board of MPI authorized Gyeabour to effect the sale of this property.

However, two months after the sale was completed, it was announced that one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world was establishing its global head office on the site adjacent to the former Weija property, and as a consequence of this fact, the value of the property had already increased by an excess of 60%. Upon further investigation, MPI discovered that the Weija property was purchased by Gyasco Properties Ltd., a company wholly owned by Gyeabour’s two sons, and that the mother-in-law of one of these sons is a local politician in Weija. Consequently, she would have been aware of the impending purchase of the adjacent property by the pharmaceutical company.

Required:
Describe a director’s fiduciary duty regarding conflict of interest and determine whether this duty has been breached by Gyeabour in this situation.

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AAA – July 2023 – L3 – Q1b – Rules of professional conduct | Professional responsibility and liability | Reporting

Assess ethical and professional implications in scenarios involving audit team members and client requests.

You are the Audit Manager at Ndaa & Associates whose client portfolio includes ABC Credit Plc, a listed financial institution offering loans and credit facilities to both commercial and retail customers. You have received an email from the Audit Supervisor who is currently supervising interim testing on systems and controls in relation to the audit of ABC Credit Plc for the year ending 31 October 2022. The email gives the following details for your consideration:

  1. One of the audit team members, Obiba JK, has provisionally agreed to apply for a loan from ABC Credit Plc to finance the purchase of a domestic residence. The loan will be secured on a property, and the client’s business manager has promised Obiba JK that he will ensure that she gets ‘the very best deal which the bank can offer.’ (5 marks)
  2. The payroll manager at ABC Credit Plc has asked the audit supervisor if it would be possible for Ndaa & Associates to provide a member of staff on secondment to work in the payroll department. The payroll manager has struggled to recruit a new supervisor for the organisation’s main payroll system and wants to assign a qualified member of the audit firm’s staff for an initial period of six months. (5 marks)

Required:
Assess the ethical and professional implications of the issues raised in respect of the audit of ABC Credit Plc and recommend actions to be taken in each case by the audit firm.

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BCL – Mar 2024 – L1 – Q1d – Governance and Ethical Issues Relating to Business, Company Directors and Other Officers

Discuss the concept of Good Corporate Governance and identify principles breached in the provided scenario.

The Managing Director of Dakubo Ltd, a company which engages in the business of iron rods production, on his own, contracted a loan of GH¢1,000,000 from Dilidom Bank. The loan is repayable in twelve months’ time. The Managing Director disclosed the contents of the agreement to his wife who is neither a Director nor a member of the company. In further disregard for the regulations of the company, the Managing Director squandered the loan contracted from the bank.

Required:

i) Explain the concept of Good Corporate Governance.

(5 marks)

ii) From the scenario above, state FIVE (5) principles of Good Corporate Governance that may have been breached by the Managing Director of Dakubo Ltd. (5 marks)

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BMIS – Jul 2023 – L1 – Q1a – Professional ethics in accounting and business

Outlines ethical obligations of a company towards employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and the community.

The basis for assessing excellent company performance is gradually moving away from profitability to how ethical the company operates and treats its stakeholders.

Required:
Outline TWO (2) ethical obligations of a company towards the following stakeholders.
i) Employees (2 marks)
ii) Customers (2 marks)
iii) Shareholders (2 marks)
iv) Suppliers (2 marks)
v) Community (2 marks)

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BMIS – Aug 2022 – L1 – Q1a – Professional ethics in accounting and business

Explains five duties expected of those charged with governance in an organization.

In 2017, some financial institutions in Ghana were placed under receivership. This was mainly due to poor corporate governance practices. Some of these practices were in clear violation of the duties and responsibilities of those charged with governance.

Required:

Explain FIVE (5) duties those charged with governance were expected to perform.

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AAA – Nov 2019 – L3 – Q1b – Professional responsibility and liability, Practice management

Evaluation of challenges and risks when auditing a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

b) You are a partner in a two-partner practice in a small rural town in Ashanti Region. Some local community groups recently got together and established a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). It aims to reduce poverty and inequality by supporting, influencing and advocacy around three interconnected pillars; Agriculture, Essential Services and Extractive Industry Governance.

The organisation is registered as a charity with a legal requirement to reinvest any excess of income over expenditure into the operation, or into other local community initiatives, as the management committee sees fit. The organisation is run by a management committee consisting of a member of the community council, the principal of the local school, two local business people, and the Parish Priest. Although, between them, they have considerable experience of various ‘for-profit’ and ‘not-for-profit’ ventures, none has particular experience of managing NGOs or charity organisations. The organisation is run on a day-to-day basis by the manager who is the only full-time employee experienced in the type of businesses involved. There is one other paid part-time employee – the assistant manager – but all other staff are volunteers.

It has been just over a year since the NGO was incorporated, and you are approached by a member of the management committee (a local business owner who is also one of your largest clients) to become the auditor of the NGO. He tells you that the committee, of course, would not expect you to provide this service entirely pro bono (free of charge). He also mentions that he knows you wouldn’t want to be seen to turn down this opportunity, given the way that “news can travel around in a small town”.

He is well aware that the revenue generated by the organisation is very low. The committee feels that the absence of an audit could be perceived as “negligent” or a “cover up” should any problems involving, for example, the misappropriation of assets emerge in the future.

Required:

Evaluate FIVE (5) challenges and other risks presented to your practice as a result of the request from your client to become the auditor of this NGO. (10 marks)

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AAA – Nov 2019 – L3 – Q1a – Rules of professional conduct, Professional responsibility and liability

Discusses the importance of integrity in professional relationships and evaluates the ethical and professional behavior issues in audit practice.

a) Asumasi Opoku has recently been appointed as a partner of Offei-Ansah & Co, a firm of Chartered Accountants. He has been a close friend of the Engagement Partner (EP), the firm’s managing partner for many years. Asumasi was previously the training manager in the firm and he has now been asked to act as training partner. This is the first time Offei-Ansah & Co have designated a particular partner as having responsibility for training.

One of the audit trainees, Ellen Danso, noted that she was disturbed by something that had happened on an audit of a company called Bremang Ltd, a medium-sized family-run business and longstanding client of Offei-Ansah & Co.

Ellen was auditing purchases of non-current assets when she noticed a transaction that she thought might be suspicious. There was a charge of GH¢125,000 (an individually material amount) for a Power Plant for an address in a rural area (no electricity) with no obvious link to the company. When she asked Bremang’s financial controller about the matter, she was told it referred to the installation of such a plant in a house owned by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This was to facilitate excellent communications and interaction with the CEO especially during the last quarter of the year when he liked to reside there with his family. She further explained that part of the cost was attributed to having to pay for a personal broadband connection since the house was in an isolated area where normal broadband connections were unavailable.

The financial controller appeared surprised and even irritated by the queries about the matter and said that auditors had not previously been concerned about the company being charged for non-current assets and operational expenses at properties owned by the CEO.

The engagement partner on the assignment happened to be the managing partner. Ellen told him what she had found and the Engagement Partner simply said that the charge could probably be ignored. He did, however, say that he would include a reference to the matter in the written representations letter required by ISA 580: Written Representations adding with a smile that “paper never refused ink”. About two months later, Ellen looked at the completed files and the letter of representation in which there was no reference to the matter.

When Asumasi Opoku heard about Ellen’s concerns, he realised that there was an ethical issue. At the very least the transaction should have been disclosed as a related party transaction under IAS 24: Related Party Disclosures but the situation was made more complicated by the fact that the Engagement Partner was (for all practical purposes) still Asumasi’s boss in Offei-Ansah & Co.

Required:

i) Explain TWO (2) reasons why integrity in professional relationships such as those described in the above scenario is vital. (2 marks)

ii) Evaluate FOUR (4) ethical and professional behavior issues relating to the stance of the Engagement Partner. (8 marks)

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AAA – Nov 2017 – L3 – Q3a – Current Issues, Professional Responsibility and Liability

Evaluate potential money laundering issues in an audit client and discuss the need for ethical guidance for accountants on money laundering.

Sampa Sawmill Ltd. is a company located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, involved in the exportation of wood products to overseas countries. Sampa Sawmill Ltd. is of late being accused of involvement in money laundering. Sampa had been an audit client of Tetteh and Associates, a firm of Chartered Accountants for the past three years.

Required:

i) As an Audit Manager of Tetteh and Associates in charge of Sampa Sawmill Ltd., evaluate the issues you will consider to prove or disprove the allegation. (5 marks)

ii) Discuss the need for ethical guidance for professional accountants on money laundering.

(5 marks)

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AAA – Nov 2016 – L3 – Q1a – Rules of professional conduct | Professional responsibility and liability

Discuss ethical and professional issues raised concerning auditors holding shares, fund management by a company with ties to the audit firm, and an audit team member’s spouse inheriting shares in an audit client.

a) i) Sampson Quaye & Co. has been auditors for Stawac plantations Ltd (a company engaged in rubber production) for the past 10 years. Sampson Quaye & Co owns 1% of the shares in Stawac Plantation Ltd., since it is required by the policy of Stawac Plantation Ltd. for their auditors to do so.

ii) United Funds Ltd. are the fund managers of Sampson Quaye & Co.’s Provident Fund Scheme. United Funds Ltd. owns shares in Standard Group, a company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange with many subsidiaries. Sampson Quaye & Co has been invited by Akroma Ltd., a Subsidiary of Standard Group to tender for its audit.

iii) Nenebi is the audit senior of Sampson Quaye & Co. responsible for the audit of Minimade Ltd. a company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Two weeks into the audit of the accounts of Minimade Ltd for the year ended 31 December 2014, Narteykie, the wife of Nenebi, inherited 2000 equity shares owned by her late father in Minimade Ltd.

Required: Comment on the ethical and other professional issues raised by the above matters. (10 marks)

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AAA – Nov 2017 – L3 – Q2a – Rules of Professional Conduct, Professional Responsibility and Liability

Discuss ethical issues and recommended actions related to long-term audit engagements and conflicts of interest in two separate cases.

You are the Ethics partner of the firm Minnow Associates and the following issues have been brought to your attention for a number of clients for the audit for the year ended 29 February 2016. Each case is separate:

i) Forest Hotel Limited
This has been an audit client of your firm for over fifteen years. The partners and audit teams have been rotated every four to five years. A review of the audit file shows that the company acquired a number of flat screen televisions for a refurbished section of the hotel. These flat screen televisions were imported from China in the names of the children of the directors to avoid paying import duties. The audit engagement partner did not make any comment on this, though an audit note from the Audit Manager had requested direction from the engagement partner on what needed to be done on the issue.

Further investigation revealed that the Procurement Advisory Section of your firm had handled the importation and clearing of the TVs for the client.

ii) Kwahu Microfinance Limited (KML)
Kwahu Microfinance is a first-time audit client. The audit was acquired through a bidding process supervised by Bank of Ghana (BOG) as the previous auditors had not performed to the satisfaction of the regulator.

The Engagement partner has reported that the time and cost budgets have all been substantially exceeded due to unforeseen difficulties associated with getting reliable information for agreeing the opening balances. The current year’s information and its audit, however, did not seem to pose any problems.

However, a business controlled by the husband of the Audit Manager has been found to have taken a huge loan from KML just before the start of the bidding process for the audit. The engagement partner reported that this loan has been written off by the company in the year without any payments being made. The Audit Manager says she is unaware of the loan write-off because she’s not a director of her husband’s company. She was, however, aware of the loan when she was asked to become the manager on the audit. The Financial Manager of Kwahu Microfinance Limited believes that this is not an audit matter.

Required:
For each issue above, discuss the ethical issues raised and recommend the relevant actions to be taken by your firm.

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