Analysis Paper 2: Ethical Dilemma
Last summer I had an opportunity to intern for a regional public accounting firm just outside of Philadelphia. During the internship, I encountered my first real on the job "ethical dilemma." I had been working at the firm for probably 3 weeks before the incident occurred. It happened on a Friday in late June. This was no ordinary Friday, as all of the partners of the firm were out of the office on an annual retreat. Furthermore, on this Friday, many of the managers and principals of the firm were out of the office on vacation. Continuing, it was lunch time and I was approached by a senior staff member (who happened to be kind of the clown of the office). He invited me to a lunch engagement with him and other staff accountants and wanted to know if I would join. Of course being the new intern, I was happy to attend and have the opportunity to meet more people at the firm. Little did I know that this lunch engagement was a small "tradition" and was not a sporadic event. We got to a local restaurant/bar where we ended up eating lunch and hanging around for nearly four hours! During this lunch, I witnessed staff and managers of the firm talking negatively about other employees and partners that I had never even met. On top of that, the beverage of choice at our table was pitchers of beer. It felt weird drinking beer and watching managers of the firm pounding beers on the job. Being new to the professional world of business, I was not sure what to make of all this. I was looking at my first ethical dilemma. Something inside was telling me that it was un ...