Sample Wharton/MBA Essay 1
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Describe a situation where your values, ethics, or morals were challenged. How did you handle the situation? 500 words
One of the most challenging ethical dilemmas that I faced occurred during the audit of a large utility company. I led the audit of Accounts Receivables Allowance used to make provisions for losses that may result from potentially uncollectible debts. Because the company is service oriented, this account was very material to the financial statements. During my work, I discovered that the client, in order to bolster profit had significantly underreported potential bad debts for the current year. I was enthusiastic to share my findings with my team and recommended that we inform the client to book adjusting entries to correct the under accrual.
But because the client was going through a period of financial downturn and needed to maintain certain financial ratios stipulated in its debt convenants, booking this correcting entries could result in the breach of loan agreements and force the company into Chapter 11. Clearly, my team manager was against my recommendations as this could bruise the firm’s relationship with the client and result in loss of future income.
My dilemma was whether to report the independent findings to the client against the wishes of my supervisor or heed the request to “adjust” my numbers and dilute my findings for fear of retribution or unpleasant consequences on my career. On the one hand, the financial statements will be used by a vast array of people to make substantial investment decisions. On the other hand, we risked breaching the trust of the client’s audit committee because it viewed our fair and independent opinion as a check on the accuracy of the client’s financial statements. We also risked jeopardizing the credibility of my firm.
To handle this dilemma, we considered our options. First, we analyzed the consequences of our actions: who will be affected and/or harmed, the short and long run effects, benefits and disadvantages. After analyzing the consequence, we considered alternative courses of action and determined how they measure up against moral principles such as fairness, equality, integrity and honesty. Our reflection yielded one conclusion with two possible solutions: the client must be notified of our findings to tighten controls around allowance for doubtful debts. One solution was to force the client to take a “hit” for the underreported bad debt expenses in the current year and fail the debt covenants. The second was to make it disclose the findings in the notes to the financial statements, not book any entries in the current fiscal year and post the entries in subsequent years. Ultimately, the second option was recommended to the client. Though, this was not necessarily the better solution, it was not completely wrong.
From that experience, I learned that ethical issues often involve a lot of gray areas and there is no right or wrong answers. The solution was better than diluting our reports as suggested by some colleagues. It provided the necessary information to alert the client’s management of the problem and was more satisfactory to both my firm and the client.
NB: This is a made up story!
Power and Roads to Africa: A Tanzanian Perspective by President J.M. Kikwete.
December 14, 2007 | 10 Comments
WASHINGTON DC, USA - (December 14, 2007) - The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete today delivered a lecture at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row, in an event organized by the Center for Global Development. During the event, President Kikwete offered his perspective on infrastructure obstacles to growth in Tanzania including how the donor community, private sector, and African governments can work together to find new and innovative ways to bring power and roads to Africa.
President Kikwete spoke eloquently about the dire state of electricity and the transport system in Tanzania and pointed out that less than 10% of the Tanzanian population have stable supply of electricity. He also decried the high cost of transportation in Tanzania and appealed to the western nations not to see the African problem as a humanitarian concern but rather an economic problem that requires urgent solutions. He asserted that the only way to jump start African economies is by providing means to build infrastructures including good road networks, electricity, educational systems etc.
Mr. John Simon, an Executive Vice President with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) responded that the US is willing to help the African nations but mainly through the private sector framework and cited examples of two private equity funds established by OPIC in the spirit of the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). Dr David Wheeler, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development also spoke about ways to solve the infrastructural problems in Africa. The event was moderated by the President of the Center for Global Development - Nancy Birdsall.
Please click on the image slider below to view pictures from the event.
For more information about the event, please visit www.cgdev.org .
Oberlin (Jamaica) Past Students Association 2007 Annual Xmas Party
December 9, 2007 | 27 Comments
Kesington, MD - (December 08, 2007) - Oberlin (Jamaica) Past Students Association (North American Chapter - OPSA - NAC) came together from within and outside the country to celebrate their first ever Annual Christmas Party at the Kenmont Swim & Tennis club in Maryland, USA. The colorful event was primarily organized to honor Ms. Thelma James for her contributions to the Oberlin High School.
The event also featured auction and other fund-raising events and money generated will be used to set-up a scholarship fund. Black Herald is pleased to bring you pictures from the event.
Please note that the pictures are still being updated so come back soon for more beautiful images.
For more information about the organization, please contact oberlin_alumni@hotmail.com
African Path launches Social Networking Site - Press Release
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Minneapolis, MN December 07, 2007 - African Path (www.africanpath.com) has just launched the African Path Village (http://village.africanpath.com). African Path works at providing Africans with a platform where they can own and tell their stories on the global stage.
“The Village will allow our site visitors to connect and share the unique cultures from within Africa,” says Joshua Wanyama, founder of African Path. “We strive to provide a great online space that represents the continent. We are excited about the African Path Village as we have now opened doors for a lot of people to tell their stories while interacting with friends and family on our space.”
The growth of online communities has also made it possible for people to connect and discover new worlds. The African Path Village will facilitate this connection while providing the added benefit of news and opinion content from our flagship site African Path and our business site Cheetah Index.
This additional service allows African Path to better serve a growing number of site visitors seeking to connect with African culture, access breaking news and opinion on the continent and discover new businesses serving the African communities worldwide.
About African Path
African Path is an online portal that allows Africans to tell their own stories on the global stage. While most representation of Africa outside the continent is by foreign media houses, African Path provides the platform for Africans to express themselves. The site features daily headlines, opinion and commentary through our comprehensive blogs and an interactive calendar.
Visit us today http://www.africanpath.com, http://village.africanpath.com
For comprehensive business news in Africa: http://www.cheetahindex.com
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For further information please contact us:
African Path
242 W Franklin Av, Ste. 301
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone: 612 424 5459
Benin “Mwangi” Brown
benin@africanpath.com
Joshua Wanyama
Joshua@africanpath.com
