Dave Schonhardt, president of Schonhardt Industries, wishes to issue a press release to bolster his company’s image and maybe even its stock price, which has been gradually falling. As controller, you have been asked to provide a list of 20 financial ratios along with some other operating statistics relative to Schonhardt Industries’ first quarter financials and operations. Two days after you provide the ratios and data requested, Steven Verlin, the public relations director of Schonhardt, asks you to prove the accuracy of the financial and operating data contained in the press release written by the president and edited by Steven. In the press release, the president highlights the sales increase of 25% over last year’s fi rst quarter and the positive change in the current ratio from 1.5:1 last year to 3:1 this year. He also emphasizes that production was up 50% over the prior year’s first quarter. You note that the press release contains only positive or improved ratios and none of the negative or deteriorated ratios. For instance, no mention is made that the debt to assets ratio has increased from 35% to 55%, that inventories are up 89%, and that while the current ratio improved, the acid-test ratio fell from 1:1 to 0.5:1. Nor is there any mention that the reported profit for the quarter would have been a loss had not the estimated lives of Schonhardt’s plant and machinery been increased by 30%. Steven emphasizes, “The prez wants this release by early this afternoon.” Instructions (a) Who are the stakeholders in this situation? (b) Is there anything unethical in president Schonhardt’s actions? (c) Should you as controller remain silent? Does Steven have any responsibility?
Several scholarly explorations delineate the stakeholder as a group, individual, or community that are affected by the operations of an organization (Miles, 2012). As a result, the interests of stakeholders must be considered in organisational functions. Schonhardt Industries External stakeholders have no shares in the organization, but are indirectly impacted by the organization’s operations. In contrast, internal stakeholders are individuals or groups who are directly and/or financially involved in the operational process. This includes employees, owners, and managers. Each of these groups is potentially rewarded directly for the success of the firm. Employees are fundamentally eminent internal stakeholders. Schonhardt Industries’ stakeholders include managers, owners, customers, suppliers and community.
Every winter, millions of birds fly down the Mississippi and Central flyways, on their way to warmer temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico. Ducks, geese, and other waterfowl rely on the Delta’s food-rich habitats, whether it be preparing for the 600-mile journey across the Gulf in the fall or recuperating after the flight back north in the spring. Therefore, the destruction of the Delta doesn’t only affect its yearlong residents; waterfowl hunters as far north as Canada feel the effects of the Paradise’s degradation. The entire North American duck hunting community relies on the Mississippi River Delta, as it vanishes before our blind eyes.
The spotted sea trout, commonly known as the speckled trout, is arguably the most widely sought after aquatic species that inhabits the Delta. Even though the speckled trout is a migrating species, they crowd the warm, shallow channels during the spring and summer, feeding on anything from shrimp to mullet. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) defines the maximum length of speckled trout at 25 inches, but I’ve witnessed three over 30 inches. All three were released, purely out of respect.
Due to decades of mismanagement, along with damaging hurricanes and the 2010 Gulf oil spill, coastal Louisiana is disappearing at a rate of one football field every 100 minutes. In the past 100 years, Louisiana has lost over 1,900 square miles, roughly the size of Delaware. Several major factors contribute to this land loss.
First off, the delta’s wetlands are, and always will be, sustained by the rich sediments delivered by the Mississippi River, but huge levees built to protect communities and other resources have in turn cut the tie between the delta and its lifeline, completely wasting the sediments that keep the marshes replenished. Even without these levees, the amount of sediment left in the lower Mississippi most l