Category: Accountability

The project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2004, p. 23). According to the definition, we can find that the objective of project management is to realize the value of a project, which is to meet the project requirements. The value of project management includes two dimensions. On the one hand, project management turns resources into the project outputs, thereby realizing the value of a project. On the other hand, value of project management also comprises the sum of incremental values for all of the stakeholders, including cost saving, performance improvement, and other interests through the process of value realization of the project.

Ethics can be defined as a way of thinking and making decisions based on what is right for people we relate to in a project while ensuring maintenance of our own organizational mission and vision. This essay will however discuss three ethical issues which are inter-related to the organizational code, professional code and personal values.

The three ethical issues that I can already identify in the K2m cocoa project: accountability; conflicts of interest; health and safety concerns at workplace.

Stakeholder Engagement

The project stakeholders are the National Department of National Planning, Asian Development Bank, 5 villages in Central Bougainville and their various communities which consists of landowners, farmers, local authorities, NGO’s, CEPA, TPA, DAL, Prov. Govt etc. Some of these stakeholders will favor the project while others might cause concern for the project.

Firstly, in order to properly manage all the stakeholder concerns I would ensure professionals are hired to manage stakeholder engagement process. I would expect the experts to conduct Stakeholder Identification to identify all Project Stakeholders and then Stakeholder Mapping to map out different stakeholders according to their support for the project and what their concerns might be and then prepare a Stakeholder Engagement Management Plan to engage with each of the stakeholder groups to present to them information they might require of the project and address any issues of concerns they might have. A grievances management process will also be established to manage any project related grievances. Ethics will be applied in addressing some of these grievances.

Freeman (1984) developed the original concept. He considered the stakeholders as any group or individual who can affect, or is affected by, the achievement of the firm’s objectives and who may be either primary or secondary.

Different types of stakeholders are involved in a project. Leung, Chong, Ng, and Cheung (2004) pointed out that not all project participants would have agreed upon goals in terms of time, cost, and quality, and conflicts between stakeholders may arise in some circumstances. Therefore, the value of a project has multiple dimensions, which are coordinated and integrated among the value demands of multi stakeholders

At the same time, some potential stakeholders may find that their benefits could be affected, and therefore claim their expectations toward the project. The project manager will then have to balance more value demands as the project progresses.

Accountability

Accountability can be defined as being responsible for what one does and being able to give justification for actions one takes in managing project related decisions. With the case of this project, I as the project manager have to be accountable to all the concerned project stakeholder parties. From an organization code perspective, the organization needs to have project management plans that consist of instruments for accountability to project stakeholders. The various instruments could include stakeholder engagement plans, communication plans and a grievances management system. The organization will also need to have professional standards in hiring professionals to manage the stakeholder engagement process, in disseminating targeted information to its various stakeholders and it must also have professional grievances management personnel in managing grievances. Personal values can be applied through face-to-face consultations to provide information to stakeholders and to address any issues of concern by stakeholders.

Accountability to project stakeholders should be scheduled throughout the project through various stakeholder engagement briefings to address any issues of concern from the various stakeholder groups.

Conflict of Interest

I, as a project manager understand at the enterprise level, this project will involve a large number of people and sometimes several of them will be outside sourced vendors or suppliers. There will be a situation whereby the stakeholders might want to suggest or give inappropriate preference to certain teams or companies. As the project manager, I will ensure to make awareness to concern parties/stakeholders involved in the project to understand the company’s standards and that any biding and tender evaluation will be screened and go through a stringent selection process and criteria’s for (accountability purposes) that is for exercising organizational codes, to ensure the project has policy and standards write ups in place for bidding and tender selection for accountability purposes. This is to ensure and to have a proactive approach and clear directives to address any potential concerns so the definition of conflict of interest is clear and understood to by everyone (all concern stakeholders).

A clear example as stated by Dr. Randell (2009) in UNIFEM/UNDP Consultants Report on gender equality and democratic governance regarding lack of coordination among stakeholders in PNG: “There is no visible coordinating committee in NCD at national, district or ward level to facilitate coordination among all the key stakeholders. CBOs, NGOs, faith-based organizations (FBOs), politicians and businesses all have different committees and programs related to gender issues. Many of these organizations are not registered with the city, and their proliferation leads to competition, duplication and overlapping in some areas while other areas are neglected” (Randalls, 2009, pg.25).

Similarly, to avoid any conflict of interest, Joint Advisory Committees will be set to include concern stakeholder representatives together to make aware the tender bid processes and criteria for accountability to avoid any upcoming grievances.

Health and Safety Concerns

As project manager, ensure the organizational code of health and safety are highly valued. Ensure there are occupational health and safety policies, standards, procedures and management plans are in place. Ensure professional personnel are engaged to manage health and safety concerns in the project. Stakeholders must also be made aware of the project health and safety standards and management processes.

Conclusion

A good person is someone who contributes to the welfare of the whole group. Good acts are those which benefit the whole group, bad acts are those which degrade the whole group. To understand this traditional value system and ethical laws one must remember that they point to one thing and that one thing stands for ‘life’, the absolute value. The only absolute value is what we call in Tok Pisin term ‘Gutpela Sindaun’. Community in PNG over thousands of years was experienced as the only safe way to ‘’Gutpela Sindaun’. Community is the key to ‘Gutpela Sindaun’. Community is a powerful entity, when community says or make a decision, it is always final. And community in PNG always strive for ‘Gutpela Sindaun’ for peace and harmony in the community. Hence, every society in PNG has ethical laws that guide them to live a peaceful and harmonious life. These laws are the guiding pillars that guide the existence of the community. These are not introduced laws like the Ten Commandments of God introduced by Christianity. These are original laws that exist and followed by our ancestors from time immemorial. PNG societies have an ordered in placed already even before the introduction of Christianity and western influences.

References

1. Baccarini,D.(1999).The logical framework method for defining project success. Project Management Journal, 30(4), 25–32.
2. Freeman,R.E.(1984). Strategic management—A stakeholder approach. Marshfield, MA: Pitman Pub
3. Leung,M.Y.,Chong,A.,Ng,S.T.,& Cheung,M.C.K.(2004). Demystifying stakeholders’ commitment and its impacts on construction projects. Construction Management and Economics,22, 701–715. lishing.
4. Mitchell,R.K.,Bradley,R.A.,& Wood, D.J.(1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review,22, 853–886.
5. Olander,S.(2007). Stakeholder impact analysis in construction project management. Construction Management and Economics,25, 277–287.

Patisserie Valerie, founded in 1926, is a food processing company which owned and operated a chain of cafes specializing in handmade cakes. The company’s headquarters are situated in Birmingham UK, and as of March 2019 had a revenue of $86.8M and 2,500 employees. Patisserie Valerie is owned by Luke Oliver and Steve Francis was the CEO after Paul May stepped down.

The Collapse of Patisserie Valerie

According to the Guardian, Patisserie Valerie has fallen into administration when the company was refused funding by debtors which would have been a potential lifeline since they were aware the company was under critical financial stress since October 2018 (Butler and Wood 2019).

In October 2018, the company had come to realization that there was a major cash shortfall and accounting irregularities, due to possible fraudulent activities. Patisserie Valerie also had a number of issues with paying suppliers. They had a deal in place with the suppliers to pay any credit outstanding within 60 days, however this failed to be met and often stretched to double the timeline resulting in some suppliers resorting to pursuing legal actions. Patisserie Valerie was later rescued by Luke Johnson by investing cash to pull the company out of trouble (Eley 2019).

In May, the company had declared its net cash position at £28.8 million and Johnson had claimed the company had a strong balance sheet. However, when the company directors had come to realization of the accounting irregularities, the firm had suspended Mr. Marsh the finance director. The company had also suspended trading of shares and launched an investigation (Herbert 2019).

October 2018, Luke Johnson was informed by the CEO, Paul May, that their understanding of £28.8m of cash was incorrect and this in fact consisted of a debt of £10m and £9.7m deposited into two bank overdrafts which was unknown to the management and as a result, all accounts was put on hold (Irvine 2019).

Accountancy age had interviewed Simon Bonney, partners and insolvency expert at Quantuma. Bonney had commented on the fraud, quoting: “Was it a fraud of a successful business where money was removed from the accounts of the company or was it a fraud which caused an unsuccessful business to appear successful. I don’t think that question has yet been answered” (Practice et al. 2019). The statement Bonney had made clearly states that the fraud which had taken place was a well -organized plan, it also states (Practice et al. 2019) the directors was asked to inject more funds to keep the firm running. If they had failed to do so the company could’ve collapsed. This course of events took place two months prior to going into administration. This shows a clear indication that company management was not aware of the fraud taking place (Practice et al. 2019).

According to a recent journal, KPMG had made it public that there has been a total of £94m accounting black hole, this is more than what was originally anticipated. The journal also states a further five arrests have been made (Wood 2019).

The accounting irregularities were only uncovered by HMRC when they had created a petition for an unpaid tax bill of £1.14m, and this resulted in an immediate investigation and it was later discovered that instead of a £28m profit, the company was in fact in debt of £10m. (Halstead 2019). The recent collapse of Patisserie Valerie has created a substantial impact by the closure of 70 out of 200 stores being closed down and over 900 jobs lost (Partington 2019).

The Extent of Patisserie Valerie’s Compliance with the UK Code

There are five main code compliances with corporate governance: leadership, effectiveness, accountability, remuneration and relations with shareholders.

Leadership

Leadership within a corporation or any organization is vital, this ensures the operation to run smoothly and efficiently. Responsibilities should be clearly divided between the chairman and chief executive, and neither individuals should carry out the same job role nor should they be given any power to do so individually. Patisserie Valerie was known to have followed this compliantly however they were not as effective as expected. The role of the board is to manage risk and identify any possible fraudulent activities earlier to prevent possible bankruptcy. Patisserie Valerie made a delayed discovery of the ‘black hole’, and this is a clear indication of poor and possibly a corrupt leadership. Given the fact that the chief executive had stepped down when the accounting irregularities was discovered also concludes the possible involvement (Rach 2019).

Non-executive members of the board are expected to criticize the managements performance, this allows a non-biased view on the firm and controls that the goals of the company are met. Non-executive members have the power to appoint and if necessary, remove executives to allow smooth operation. Patisserie Valarie had a well-structured board however they had failed to monitor any risks (The UK Corporate Governance Code 2016).

Effectiveness

Patisserie Valerie had an effective team of board members and each member consisted of different specialties in order to aid the businesses success, as they had a strong portfolio of previous successes. The company has a mixture of executive and non-executive members on the board. However, although each member had their own specialty and previous experiences, they had failed to comply with risk management (Disclaimer – Patisserie Valerie 2019).

The chairman and head of finance had previously worked together on a business venture which was a great success, and this could be a possible reason why the financial reports were not being questioned in depth (Irvine 2019). The compliant procedure of hiring members of a board should be done via a nomination committee, this enables a fair evaluation of the individuals background and ability to assess any skills sets. However, the board members believed that due to the size of the board, there will be no need for a nomination committee and any decisions that takes place will be made through the board itself.

Accountability

Accountability is a crucial part of governance within any company, it enables directors to monitor one another and ensure all board members are compliant and have the same interest for the company (The UK Corporate Governance Code 2016).

Patisserie Valerie has clearly failed to have any fraud prevention/detection methods in place and a as result the board failed to identify accounting irregularities and rectify them accordingly. If the directors within the firm had a strategy to monitor any risks, this would have possibly enabled the identification of two overdraft accounts being authorized by a single member of the board which also indicates a clear lack of communication (Parrish 2019). Directors are expected to monitor yearly reports and assess any potential risks that may occur to the company, this could affect any future performances or may have risks of liquidity.

Patisserie Valerie had a basic risk management strategy where they had only concentrated on risk of liquidation. The board should have implemented a fraud detection process and serious consequences policy. The initial fraud taken place was by signing off an overdraft, Patisserie Valarie should have had made sure that any borrowing or lending needs to be foreseen by two or more members of the board, if this strategy was in place for risk management the company could have prevented numerous accounting irregularities (Christopher 2019).

Due to the lack of communication and information provided between each other within Patisserie Valerie, the shareholders were not aware of the crisis they were in when the fraud was uncovered. There has also been a period off statement missing which could have put the shareholders at ease but the whereabouts of this is unknown. If the directors had communicated all issues with the shareholders from the start, there could have been a possible chance in saving the company from going to administration. (Butler 2019)

Another example of failure within accountability is where the CFO of the company had overstated the accounts to make the company’s performance look positive which provides false information to investors and influences the stock market incorrectly where the accounts were overstated by £94M (Croft 2019). Tesco had a similar incident. Overstating accounts for companies are a common fraudulent activity which occurs within companies whether or not it is intentional for example, Tesco had overstated their accounts by approximately £250M (Oakley and Felsted 2019).

Remuneration

Remuneration committee should consist of two non-executive separate to the board members. Patisserie Valerie has their own remuneration committee with two non-executive members, Lee Ginsberg and James Horler, however, the committee is chaired by the company chairman (Disclaimer – Patisserie Valerie 2019). Directors should not be involved in the decision making of their own remuneration, having the company chairman being the chair of the committee could possibly affect any decisions made for himself or may even affect any decisions made on other directors of the board. The chair of the committee should be an independent non-executive director and they are required to attend yearly meetings with shareholders to answer any concerns they may have. Having the chairman play the same role as the chair of committee may cause conflict of interest which may affect the decisions made along with any remuneration to other directors (Nomination and Remuneration Committee – Terms of Reference 2019).

The directors of Patisserie Valerie were paid through short term employment benefits and share based payments. Paying directors through shares make them more involved within the company; the more shares they have the more they’ll be getting paid.

Relations with Shareholders

The mutual understanding is between board members and the shareholders is creating long term value for shareholders and putting in place tactical methods to efficiently manage and achieve objectives. This has been successfully achieved as the 191 premises has been open within 11 years with an increased revenue of £109m (Disclaimer – Patisserie Valerie 2019). Although the directors and shareholders have mutual understanding, shareholders were not informed or even consulted to when the CFO and CEO were awarded million pounds of share bonuses and this goes against other principles of governance such as accountability, remuneration and leadership (Cocco and Mooney 2019).

Although Patisserie Valerie had complied with most of the code of governance, they had failed to meet all relevant provisions. If the company had a strategic leadership in place, they would have been able to identify all illegal activities being performed. It is the director’s responsibility to identify any fraudulent activities at an early stage and deal with it. There have been two directors in particular who have been working together and violating the code of governance, the CFO and CEO. The CFO manipulated the accounts to show more profitability as well as signing off two ‘secret’ bank overdrafts and they have both been paid share bonuses without other shareholders having any knowledge of this. This is clear evidence that other shareholders and board members were not managing one another, and no questions were being raised. If Patisserie Valerie had complied with all the provisions, they would have been able to monitor all activities carried out within the company and ensure everyone’s interest is the same, which is to maximize shareholders value and company value.

External Auditors

An external auditors’ duty is to analyze reports being conducted by the company accountants and ensure no officer of the company has manipulated the accounts in any way. They are required to promote accountability to the firm and suggest possible consequences to any person who does commit fraud (Keith 2019). However, Grant Thornton, the external auditors for Patisserie Valerie, claims that is not within their duties to identify any fraudulent activities (Kollewe and Butler 2019).

The core responsibility of the external auditors is to ensure the company has relevant strategies in place to identify risks and eliminate those risks. They are also responsible for reporting any irregular activities to the relevant person (Financial Reporting Council 2019). Grant Thornton has failed to compliantly audit company financial reports. They had been the worst performer in the Financial Reporting Councils (FRC) annual review for the last 5 years (Farrell 2019). It may not be grant Thornton’s duty to identify fraud within the company or predict the future, but they have a duty to identify manipulated accounts. HMRC reports indicate that the auditors have simply completed the reports without properly analyzing the company and as a result has overlooked the existence of two ‘secret’ overdraft accounts, overstating accounts and outstanding balances with creditors.

Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Patisserie Valerie

There are a number of lessons to be learnt from the collapse of Patisserie Valerie. The initial lesson is to be cautious in a rapidly growing business and before investing into any such companies, to do substantial research into previous financial reports and assess whether or not the current reports are trustworthy. If there are huge rises in its revenue, always ensure to investigate in how the company has been able to accomplish this. Management within a small business differs vastly in comparison to a large business and this consists of employment of new management or more training for existing management. Although there may be a well-known successful investor, this does not necessarily imply security for the firm. All members of the board are required to have the same best interests of the firm. Risk management is a key control for any business – small or a large. Having knowledge of all activities taking place within the business is crucial as this enables you to monitor these activities and ensure they are being performed compliantly. In order to accomplish this, regular checks and spot checks should be carried out to ensure all procedures are done correctly and any person who is not compliantly performing given tasks should face penalties and possible dismissal depending on the extent. This would create a deterrent and encourage everyone to ensure they are following the correct procedures.

By prosecuting someone who commits fraud rather than just dismissing them or letting them resign prevent the person to from committing the similar actions.

If someone who commits fraudulent activities is simply dismissed or given the option to resign then they have the chance to carry out the same activity within another company

Companies should have to carry out an internal controlling strategy as a compulsory action and this is regulated by the FRC to ensure they are following their given duties. Internal control is vital for the company to be able to run smoothly with no downfalls. Having a nomination committee for the hiring process within a company will allow thorough checks to be conducted and to ensure the interests of the individual is aligned to the company’s interest.

Patisserie Valerie collapsed as a result of internal fraud committed by two officers of the board who have carried out these fraudulent activities for their benefit, and if the company had the correct measures of internal control in place, they may have identified this misconduct. However, the company directors and non-executive directors did not question other members intensely, this could be due to the fact the CFO was a well-known acquaintance to the chairman Luke Johnson. This is also another lesson to be learnt from Patisserie Valerie – to avoid any private relationship within the board as it could affect the judgement or influence decisions made. Prior to hiring any member of the board, intense background and knowledge checks should be performed and this would be a healthier option for the firms. The key lesson learnt from the collapse of Patisserie Valerie and other similar cases is to follow the code of governance to its full capacity which will ensures a level of security for the company and enhances the experiences for shareholders and directors, possibly even future investors as they have a reassurance the company is running compliantly and efficiently It is also important that any non-compliances are picked up immediately and risk management strategies are implemented to overcome critical consequences. All board members of a company have a responsible for the effective running of the business and therefore are held responsible for any downfall.

Accountability is an essential part of an individual’s life, such as personal life or work. It is an important factor for exploring mistakes and taking responsibility to avoid serious problems. Accountability stipulates the initiative to inquire about the employees’ performance of duties. Taking responsibility for its negligence and interpretation is the reason for negligence in carrying out the duty, and the organization or individual will be evaluated on how they behave or perform related to something for which they are responsible, accountability is very important to the accuracy and efficiency of the work that employees produce. Also, accountability of the company knows that the organization must be responsible for any defects or deviations from its declared values and goals. In general, the concept of companies is defined in accountability to include a prerequisite for the business sector in order to complete responsible, sustainable and ethical practices.

The three type that relate with the accountability is:

• Market responsibility is about the individuals who purchase from, decide to utilize or support the association. In this view the association’s supervisors and trustees are responsible to the client, managerial responsibility is worried about guidelines and guidelines that determine models against which the association’s (and people inside it) execution is estimated.
• Political responsibility is worried about more extensive ideas of municipal and fair commitment and infers thoughts of correspondence of rights and obligations.
• Required responsibility that streams from the authoritative condition: the legitimate, political and financial setting in which the association works. The individuals who request this sort of responsibility by and large have solid forces of solution for inability to conform to their requests (for instance: preclude individuals who fall underneath guidelines).
• Proactive or intentional responsibility that streams from authoritative qualities: the conviction that the association ought to in its activities and working techniques deliberately look to adjust itself to specific gatherings and interests. This is likewise called offered responsibility. Here the association decides to be responsible in light of the fact that it is esteemed fitting. Such responsibility is offered to recipients and the more extensive open for instance through gatherings or by means of a site.

The issues getup since individuals need to keep absent from terrifying values profoundly inserted inside the organization. Although supervisors and board members’ ‘espoused concept’ holds values of being in control, winning and now not terrifying individuals – their genuine conduct supports resistances that act in restriction to these. Hence senior directors in non-profit bunches and funders routinely nation that they esteem ‘feedback’, cooperation and inclusion through those they support or support. Although their ‘espoused principle’ emphasizes organization and support, their ‘theory in use’ emphasizes one-sided control, reliance, accommodation and urgently not humiliating others be that as it may be letting them keep up ‘face’. These organizational protecting administrations are, anti-learning, overprotective and self-sealing. Senior directors may comment over a concept by means of saying “It’s a totally curiously concept …”, in any case, ‘interesting’ is the word we most ordinarily utilize to unequivocal either our lack of concern or complaint, whereas acting as in spite of the fact that we got to be strong.

We have three approaches must consider and know to resolve the organizational problem. The first approach is the ‘conversation for accountability’ has the impact of conversion the emphasis faraway from what was performed incorrect to what has been executed well. The second approach is the ‘educative strategy’. It lets in to develop ways of speaking that provide organizational members higher ways of discussing the competing commitments that save them adopt commitments turning into fact. This manner moving from positions of negative critical thinking and taking obligation for issues inside the agency in preference to seeing the issues lying with others. It way developing agreements that permit all involved to point to shortcomings. By developing these one of a kind method of talking, leaders, managers and front-line personnel may even be capable of change the way wherein they method their work. And here are the thirdly approach. Mode 2 approach point to having right information, knowledgeable choice and duty to reveal the implementation of that preference. Mode 2 approach leads to action techniques where issues or problems are proposed and inquiry into and confirmation of those strategies is sought and that face-saving is minimized, the task is to exchange the mind-set of the actors in the corporation via people gaining knowledge of to be greater reflective.

The accountant is responsible for the integrity and accuracy of the financial statements, even if they do not make mistakes. Company managers may attempt to tamper with the financial statements of their companies without the accountant’s knowledge. There are clear incentives for managers to do this, as their pay is usually related to the company’s performance. This is the reason why independent external accountants should review the financial statements, and accountability forces them to exercise caution and knowledge in their audit. Public companies are also required to have an audit committee as part of their board of directors from outside individuals with accounting knowledge. Their job is to supervise the review.

In the end we know that accountability means that the person responsible for his duties assigned to the job level, then his accountability, meaning that accountability means the duty of those responsible for the jobs (whether they are elected or appointed) to submit periodic reports on their work, policy and successes in implementing them.

In Kenya, the need to improve tax compliance has been necessitated by the need to increase government revenue, bridge the widening budget deficit and generate adequate revenues to pay debts. While as, taxpayers are generally aware of their obligations and need to make their contribution towards raising the government revenue, there is a growing consensus on focus to role of the state capacity in improving the efficiency of tax administration in a way that contribute to a more accountable and responsive state.

According to Olaoye, Ayeni-Agbaje, and Alaran-Ajewole (2017 p.133), defines tax compliance “as the willingness of taxpayers to act in accordance with tax laws, declare the correct and true incomes in each year and pay the right amount of taxes on time”. Tax compliance can either be voluntary or enforced by tax authorities. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is the main income tax body with the powers of collecting revenue on behalf of the government of Kenya. In the past it used enforcement as the main driving tool for tax compliance. This however had negative consequences on KRA’s image as they relied on unduly punitive methods of securing compliance. In the recent times, KRA has made significant strides in seeking to amend the relationship with the taxpayers by deployment of avenues that encourage better engagement and facilitation of voluntary tax compliance.

According to the Khalif (2017), reported that despite KRA’s media campaigns for taxpayers to file returns, only 2.4 million people heeded the call to file their returns. This was an indication of very low compliance because despite KRA’s database having 8.1 million registered number of taxpayers, only 2.9 million were active. Further, Khalif (2017), included a report on a study on tax evasion and tax avoidance in developing countries published by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in 2010 that gave reasons for low compliance. These included low tax morale, high compliance costs and weak enforcement of tax laws. On the low morale (Khalif, 2017) expounds that firstly, it was the quality of public services provided affects willingness to pay taxes. Secondly, the tax rates and the overall structure of the tax system affect the disposition to evade or avoid tax. Thirdly, low level of accountability and transparency in the use of public resources created a distrust of the tax system and government leading to the willingness to evade taxes. Fourthly, misuse of tax revenue by officials entrusted with management affects tax morale thus leading to evasion.

Background to the Study

Tax is a principle source of government revenue. The challenge of tax evasion, tax avoidance and siphoning of funds by corrupt government officials has therefore had a direct impact on government administrative and development agenda. According to Ochieng’ (2015), Kenya is estimated to loss Kshs. 639 Billion annually in tax evasion by multinational corporation, significantly hampering economic growth. Further, ‘Tax and Development: Aid Modalities for Strengthening Tax Systems’ (2013), stated that developing countries need to establish tax systems that are not only effective in mobilizing resources, but also distribute the tax burden fairly and minimize tax distortions that may deter productive investment and impair growth. This two-way interaction between taxation and governance suggests that there can be a virtuous circle in which tax reforms lead to improvements in governance which, in turn, facilitate revenue mobilization.

Effective governance ensures equal participation from all sectors. The United Nations Economic and Social Commissions for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) list 8 major characteristics of good governance. Good governance is said to be participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. The Constitution of Kenya gives prominence to national values and principles of governance.

Article 10 (2) of the Constitution provides the national values and principles of governance as follows: 1) patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the people; 2) human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, nondiscrimination and protection of the marginalized; 3) good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability; 4) sustainable development (KNCHR, 2016).

However, the government is still far from achieving this objectives due challenges such as rampant corruptions scandals allegations witnessed involving senior public officials and misuse of public fund among others.

Trust is a critical aspect of contractual fiscal exchange relationship between the government and its citizens. Therefore, the call to increased transparency in terms of the level of information provided cannot be ignored. This is because tax payers often seek to evaluate their benefits relative to the tax burden. In his book The Wealth of the Nations, Smith (1776) lays down four principles or cannons of taxation namely: a person’s ability to pay; certainty; convenience and should be administratively efficiently without causing economic distortion. Eragbhe and Izedonmi (2012), stresses that the rationale for the cannons of tax is to ensure voluntary compliance and timely filling of returns on the part of the taxpayer. In addition, transparency and accountability of tax revenue positively impacts the number of taxpayers willing to comply with the tax laws and by extension the tax revenue collection by the government.

Government Revenue

Government revenue refers to all income the government gets from taxes, custom duties, revenue from state-owned corporations, capital revenue and foreign grants or aid. Taxation is the main source of Kenya’s government revenue. According to ICPAK (2016), a study focused on Kenya’s annual revenue performance between the financial years 2010/2011 to 2014/2015, findings showed that Kenya’s tax contribution to the revenue portfolio averaged 96% while non-tax revenue accounted for 4%. It was also observed that the country’s total revenue significantly increased from Kshs. 651 billion in 2010/2011 to Kshs. 1.1 trillion in 2014/2015 which represented a 44% increase in revenue in 5 years. In addition, ICPAK (2016) showed that the growth is largely attributed to increase in income tax, which increased from Kshs. 272 billion in 2010/ 2011 to Kshs. 542 billion in 2015. Further analysis showed that Kenya’s revenue portfolio is heavily dependent on direct taxes with Pay As You Earn (PAYE) contributing a larger proportion to overall tax revenue (ICPAK 2016).

Tax System in Kenya

Kenya has a broad taxation system that comprises of direct taxes and indirect taxes. The main direct taxes are namely: individual income and corporate taxes, while the main indirect taxes are: Value Added Tax (VAT); Excise tax and Customs duties. Taxation is one of the ways through which redistribution of income can be achieved depending on the design of the tax system.

Personal income taxes are levies in Kenya as legislated under the Income Tax Act. This is direct tax that is imposed on individuals income derived from employment, dividends, and business among others. According to Kinuthia (2017), following the implementation of Finance Act 2017, new tax rates for PAYE came into effect from January 1st 2018. It is expected that the expansion of the tax bands coupled with the increase in personal relief will have an effect on lowering the tax burden for employees.

The rate of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) for resident companies, including subsidiary companies of foreign parent companies, is 30 % and the rate for branches of foreign companies is 37.5%. According to PWC (2018), there are special rates for certain resident and non-resident companies such as Export Processing Zone (EPZ) enterprises at Zero rate for the first ten tears and 25% for next ten years.

According to Wanjala (2006), income taxes can play a major role in redistribution of income. The widening of tax brackets, reduction of top marginal rates and increasing the levels of personal relief over time have played a big role in making the income tax more progressive and therefore more equitable. Value Added Tax (VAT) is charged by businesses at the point of sale of goods and services in Kenya. VAT is considered to be highly regressive. However, the use of exemptions and zero rating of specific commodities has made the system more progressive and thus more equitable (Wanjala, 2016). Excise Duty is tax levied on the importation or local manufacture of certain products and supply of excisable services. It is levied at high rates commodities that are considered to be luxuries like alcoholic drinks and chocolates. Wanjala (2006) argues that there is a clear policy direction of increasing reliance towards indirect taxes (mainly consumption taxes) with VAT being seen as the tax for the future.

Government Accountability

According to Finel and Lord (1999 p.316), government accountability is defined as “government transparency comprising of the legal, political, and institutional structures that make information about the internal characteristics of a government and society available to actors both inside and outside the domestic political system”. Everest-Philip and Sanfall (2009), (cited in Eragbhe & Izedonmi, 2012) argues that the public perception of government accountability can influence tax morale and tacitly, voluntary compliance. Therefore, how the government goes about in fulling these obligations should matter to the taxpayers because they provide the finance for its sustenance.

According to Mberere (2011), argues that while the duty of collecting revenue or taxes belongs to the government. This duty gives the government the obligation to account for its activities, accept its responsibility, and disclose the results in a transparent manner. In other words, the taxpayers have the right to know how the money collected in terms of taxes is being used and demand for services from the government. Further, taxpayers who believe that their interests are represented in a democracy have been found to be willing to pay taxes (Mberere, 2011). Taxation can be used as an effective bargaining tool between states and citizens in strengthening state capacity and democracy. The bargain might involve governments’ ability to raise substantial amounts of their revenue through taxation while the taxpayers pressure the governments to be accountable for the use of their money. OECD (2008) stated that taxation systems can contribute significantly to shaping accountability relationships and strengthening state capacities. However, states that are reliant on revenue from foreign aid and natural resources tend to have little incentive to be accountable, responsive or efficient. Limited dependence on taxes has shown to lead to bad governance outcomes.

Tax Compliance

According to Singh (2003) tax compliance is a person’s act of filling the Income Tax form, declaring all taxable income accurately and disbursing all payable taxes within the stipulated period without having to wait for follow-up actions from authority. Revenue raised from taxation is crucial to supporting the provision of services, the maintenance of infrastructure, employment of civil servants and running of various government functions. Compliance is therefore, a key concern for governments due to budgetary deficits as a result of tax evasion and low compliance. According to Isbell (2017), low tax compliance weakens the state’s ability to invest and develop. Ali, Fjeldstad and Sjursen (2013) have found that not understanding how taxes are used is negatively correlated with tax compliance. Isbell (2017), points out that while most Africans found taxes to be necessary for development, many citizens mistrusted the tax officials and found them to be corrupt. This appears to contribute to attitudes that could affect compliance. Other correlations between positive attitudes towards tax compliance, is their role as taxpayer to have meaningful say in politics. In a study by Musau (2015), the findings revealed that individuals who are more satisfied with public service provision; have enough tax information; trust government officials in handling their taxes; and have the perception that tax filing procedures are less complex and tax evasion was difficult are more likely to be tax compliant.

Voluntary Tax Compliance

A voluntary act is unrestricted act in the absence of a pre-exiting obligation. However, according to Manhire (2015), since taxpayers have a legal obligation to act in accordance with tax laws, just as they are obligated to comply with all rules that carry the force and effect of law then tax compliance is anything but voluntary in this sense. Manhire (2015) argues that tax authorities do not have adequate resources to assess taxes against each taxpayer directly or audit every return; they therefore rely on individual taxpayers to accurately assess their own tax liability on the annual returns and timely pay the correct amount due. According to Kosiba (2016), the primary role of a revenue authority compliance activity is to improve overall compliance with the tax laws, and in the process instill confidence in the community that the tax system and its administration are fair. However, tax audits remain a major tool for tackling non-compliance. According to Wandera (2018), while KRA has for a long time been seem as an enforcement agency in the eyes of taxpayers it has been working on cultivating better working relationship with taxpayers anchored on trust by exploring measures that promote voluntary compliance among taxpayers. Wandera, (2018) added that the KRA taxpayer education programme is founded on the need to bridge knowledge, attitude, perception and practice gaps among the taxpayers.

The aim of this essay is to explore and define accountability and responsibility and how this will be applied using the perspective of a newly qualified nurse. There will also be a discussion surrounding delegation with the addition of an action plan which will provide strategies that can be implemented to enable me to become an accountable and successful delegator.

Accountability and responsibility within nursing are considered to be critical issues and are included in the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives as important principles. Although different principles, the concept of responsibility and accountability are interlinked, however, they are often used interchangeably. Siviter (2008) states that accountability implies the acceptance of ownership whatever the outcome of the task at hand. They go further to state that responsibility signifies an obligation to perform a task. Once I become a newly qualified nurse, there are a number of people to whom I shall become accountable: I will have a duty of care to the patients whom I will be looking after, my employer who will expect me to work safely whilst I carry out the duties required of me, and I shall be accountable to the public. Additionally, I shall be accountable to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the governing board that has developed the code of conduct with which all nurses and midwives must comply to minimize any potential risks in nursing practice.

During my placements as a student, I have experienced delegation and have been required to delegate, on occasions, but only limited to my own capabilities. However, as a newly qualified nurse, delegation is a task that I will have to become increasingly confident and efficient with. Delegation can be defined as a process in which responsibility and authority for the accomplishment of a task is given to another individual who accepts the responsibility and authority. The significance of delegation as an important skill in nursing must not be overemphasized.

As a newly qualified nurse, it is important that I am aware that I am not able to carry out all tasks on my own. If attempted could lead to serious errors being made, it could lead to stress, eventually leading to burnout, reinforcing the importance of delegating to other staff members. To ensure that I am fully aware of what is expected of me when I am delegating, I have included in the action plan the five rights of delegation which should assist me when making my delegation choices. The NMC (2018) state the importance of when delegating tasks to take into consideration the delegates’ level of competency and ensure that there is adequate supervision. Once I have delegated a task, I remain accountable for that task, therefore I need to ensure the colleague to whom I have delegated to has the appropriate level of competency.

When done correctly, delegation can have many benefits, however, Sullivan and Decker (2009) identify that there can also be barriers that prevent given tasks from being completed correctly. These can include a lack of resources, poor communication, failure to plan adequately, or the delegate’s unwillingness to complete the task. It will be my duty as a newly qualified nurse to work around these barriers effectively, even when some may be out of my control. An example of this would be: for communication to be effective, ensure that all instructions given to my colleague are clear and that they understand what is expected of them to complete the task competently. This complies with the NMC (2018) which states that delegates clearly understand the instructions given.

Weydt (2010) states that for delegation to be effective, there is a requirement for competency in both management and leadership. Therefore, it is important that I, as a newly qualified nurse, understand the various approaches to leadership and employ the correct one for whichever circumstance I am faced with at the time. It is also important that I am aware of my strengths and weaknesses and acknowledge these. Being able to identify my weaknesses will allow me to delegate these tasks to colleagues who are more competent.

Summing up, this essay has discussed responsibility, accountability, and delegation. In addition to this, an action plan has been created to assist with the continuing improvement of my delegation skills.

Nowadays green is a new evolving concept to furnish marketing with image branding and marketing spin. If we look beyond, we found how ethical or green it is (product/services). This is real/true rather than rational. After stripping, we explore the product; who made or grew- this information or using this, we can develop our ideas to connect with people. Originality of brand (branding) comes with image marketing to create sustainable brands (John Grant). This looks like a challenge for today’s generation, how they tackle the problem of consumer accountability w. r. t. green marketing. This is a huge challenge, but isn’t it giving a life a meaning? And we really don’t have plan B (perform or perish situation). In this paper, we explore the facets of green marketing with consumer accountability.

Consumer Accountability

Consumer accountability is the current state of account of happy (satisfied) consumers with organization’s product or service. Organizations should consider policies before serving consumers. CSR Corporate Social Responsibility is a combination of economic responsibility (consumer buying behavior and reasonable profit), legal responsibility (follow laws and regulations), ethical responsibility (right decision making and follow the rules) and philanthropic responsibility (voluntary participation in societal programs/activities).

Organizations should understand the importance of green practices to lessen the burden of climate change or global warming. From making till disposal each process should get revised to avoid further consequences of impact on environment. Quality plays an important role to maintain long term relationship and sustain in the cut throat competition. An affordable price with quantity (justified amount of product) can lead to faith on brand followed by loyalty. Loyalty, brand and relationship are only visible when customer is happy with what you are offering continuously without hampering quality. That bond making brings sustainable association and growth with hard core relationship with consumers and brand. Genuineness is the only key if organization wants to sustain in competition. People take time to faith on but when they got assured then they will never ever leave organization in any crisis situation. That is the beauty of transparency with public. Organizations earned the faith of public by implementing policies which are in favor of society. The bond/ association become stronger day by day and results in purchase (regular mode). After purchase if organization fails to perform (false commitment) consumers refuse to return to the same brand and search for the suitable alternative. That means the only selling and earning profit once is not the mission for organizations. The vision is to get modified or revised with societal benefit flowed by organizations growth with sustainable relationship.

This above mentioned process of consumer accountability is applicable to any business. All traditional businesses can follow all policies depending upon their capacity. That means all policies are not structured when they designed vision and mission. Their ultimate aim is to earn profit. So, if scenario is only earning the profit then who will take care of consequences on earth. Who will think about proper disposal of product and not just only disposal it has to be in less detrimental to earth. Only green businesses have those strategies to take environmental dimension on priority. So, let’s understand the concept of green marketing.

Green Marketing

It is the study of all efforts to consume, produce, distribute, promote, package and reclaim products in a manner that is sensitive or responsive to ecological concerns (Robert Dahlstrom, 2010). A firm has to make efforts to pursue green marketing and focus on sustainability as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Firms can pursue green marketing via triple bottom line perspective focused on achieving economic, relational and ecological outcomes (Robert Dahlstrom, 2010).

Beyond the environmental benefits that can accrue from green marketing, several sectors of the global economy benefit from green marketing. Emerging economy have potential to curb hunger and poverty by engaging in green marketing. Incorporating with green marketing can result into consumer welfare and enhancement in corporate strategy. There is need for consumers and government to understand green marketing but some firms should understand green marketing to retain their environmental reputations and brand exposure like always.

Several analyst of green marketing defines the psychographic segmentation of consumers to distinguish them on the basis of consumption pattern.

• True Blues. Consumers (politically active) with strong environmental values that seek to bring about positive change and avoid products which are detrimental to environment.
• Greenback greens. Consumers (politically inactive) concerns the sustainability and more willing to purchase environmentally friendly products than average consumers.
• Sprouts. Consumers appreciate the merits of environmental causes but they are making purchase of regular products; to avoid burden on pocket (not ready to pay more for green products).
• Grousers. Consumers tend to be cynical and uneducated about ecological concerns. They prefer traditional product over green (they might thought green products are expensive and less effective).
• Apathetics. Consumers do not concern with sustainability and green marketing practices.

It is interesting to know that the preferences of Pune consumers have shifted over the time. The number of greenback and sprouts are constant while true blue shows the increase and the result of these shows that grousers and apathetics are reducing day by day. Let’s jump into the actual methodology to grab the knowledge about what consumers are up to with green products.

Objectives

1. To understand consumer awareness of green marketing;
2. To study the impact of demographic and psychographic factors on green marketing;
3. To study the market for green products;
4. To investigate the factors considerations for green products;
5. To understand the satisfaction with the quality of green product.

Research Methodology

A close and open ended questionnaire was made to explore the relationship between demographic (age, income, employment, education, gender, children) and psychographic factors (environmental consciousness, healthy, price, safety, quality, ingredient and label) with awareness of green marketing in FMCG personal care products; leads to prospective business in coming future. The consumer accountability is there but required to have more adhesive bond to get sustainable relationship and profit. All issues were discussed like price, promotion, brand, labeling, environmental concern and many more to derive the actual relationship with consumers. The respondents were selected from one of the major corporations in Pune (PMC). A questionnaire filled by 361 responses and data were collected. The duration for the data was July-Sept 2018. Questionnaire includes age, gender, education, employment status, income, gender, marital status, children to understand demographic profile of respondents. Then, the questions related to use of organic product category, green awareness level, benefits of green products towards environment, health, certifications and various brands of green products. Other than this we directly asked them about which green product they are using, cost is high compared to traditional, what characteristics should be there in green product if it launched, etc. There were many questions which gave us psychographic approach of respondents.

Results

1. Consumers are using green products in terms of cosmetics and personal care as people are aware about benefits of it.
2. As half of the population knows importance of green products for the health, environment as well as their various types and symbols to pick the green one.
3. Maximum consumers are happy with the price, quality and performance of green product so they are not lure to offers by brand.
4. Print media and electronic media plays important role to generate awareness and so that consumers can accept new brand of green product with quality and affordable price.
5. Some certifications or logo should be only for green product identification to avoid label content reading (no knowledge about contents).
6. Consumers are very sure that there is a need for awareness in India about green product (proper understanding) (avoid situation of green myopia).
7. Consumers are happy to accept the more green products but it should be healthy and with affordable price.

Conclusion

Consumers are aware (not 100%) of green products but firms should have to generate awareness among people through print and electronic media. Consumers are accepts the green product as they are health and price conscious but firm should revised their vision to get sustainable growth as if they are running green practices in long run. And lastly, people know everything about green product, even they are happy with quality so, what is bothering is firms continuous efforts to have bond with consumers by their visibility and character; comes with brand (consumer accountability in true sense).

References

1. 1. Bhatia, M. and Jain, A. (2013) Green Marketing: A Study of Consumer Perception and Preferences in India. Electronic Green Journal, 1, 1-19.
2. Bhattacharya, S. (2011) Consumer Attitude towards Green Marketing in India. The IUP Journal of Marketing Management, X, 62-70.
3. Braimah, M. and Tweneboah-Koduah, E.H. (2011) An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Green Brand Awareness on Consumer Purchase Decision in Ghana. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 5, 11-18.
4. Carroll, A. (1991) The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34, 39-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0007-6813(91)90005-G
5. Chamorro, A., Rubio, S. and Miranda, F.J. (2009) Characteristics of Research on Green Marketing. Business Strategy and the Environment, 18, 223-239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.571
6. ‘Consumer Responses to Green Marketing in Cambodia’ written by Leaksmy Chhay, Md Manik Mian, Rathny Suy, published by Open Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.3 No.10, 2015.
7. Dahlsrom,R. (2011) Green Marketing Management. South-Western Cengage Learning.
8. Grant, J. (2007) Green Marketing Manifesto. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
9. Laroche, M., Bergeron, J. and Babaro-Forleo, G. (2001) Targeting Consumers Who Are Willing to Pay More for Environmentally Friendly Products. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18, 503-520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006155
10. Ottman, J.A. (1993) Green Marketing: Challenges and Opportunities. NTC Business Books, Chicago.
11. Polonsky, M.J. (1994) An Introduction to Green Marketing. Electronic Green Journal, 1, 2-3.
12. Polonsky, M.J. (2011) Transformative Green Marketing: Impediments and Opportunities. Journal of Business Research, 64, 1311-1319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.01.016

With the advanced rapid growth of technology within computer networks and multiple business organizations during the last few decades and unpredictable growth of using Internet, and the growth in security attacks of users also increased. Amount of data stored in storage devices, electronic media and cloud storage have immensely increased in past few years. The increase in usage of information technology has increased the privacy and security of business and project procedures and in personal use of data. Security principles enable primitive measures which are needed to protect data by providing building blocks of security. Security vulnerabilities regularly misuse infringement of these standards. Great security arrangements or countermeasures take after these standards. At some point few overlaps, and a few be tension between standards and policies. More for the most part, checklists are valuable for security. These standards can be connected at numerous levels, e.g., in source code of an application, between applications on a machine at OS level, at network level, inside an organization, between organizations (Fruhlinger, J., n.d.).

The fundamental goal of any business organization to protect its business data is by using security principles. Security principles provide the best way to protect the data by giving basic guidelines that should be considered to secure the system. The basic goal of any information security principle is to answer questions by determining confidentiality of information and how data can be maintained with integrity. There are many basic principles to protect data in information security. The primary principles are confidentiality, integrity, accountability, availability, least privilege, separation of privilege, and least common mechanisms. The most common security principle is CIA triad with accountability. Each principle is having its own procedure to protect data by means of anyway. The Four basic security principles are discussed below with example, respectively.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is occasionally referred to as the principle of least privilege, which means that users ought to be given best sufficient privilege to perform their responsibilities, and no more. Some different synonyms for confidentiality you may come across consist of privateers, secrecy, and restraint. Confidentiality fashions are in general supposed to make sure that no unauthorized get right of entry to facts is permitted and that accidental disclosure of touchy records is not feasible. Common confidentiality controls are consumer IDs and passwords (Ghahrai, A.,2019). There are many examples of confidential information like personal bank account details like bank account number, account statement, credit card numbers, and personal details of bank clients. The employees in bank should be maintain confidentiality of bank customers PII personal identifiable information data. If confidentiality of bank customers compromise it might lead to complete loss to users and bank also. Because attacker can easily encrypt and stole data by using brute force attack, password cracking and dumpster diving to attack on bank account details of customers. To ensure confidentiality of data all customers must use two factor authentication and strong username and passwords.

Integrity

Integrity is also referred as trustworthiness completeness and correctness of information. As well as the proper preservation of data with only having authorized modification of information. In many ways, information security integrity is not only to integrity of information. Itself but also to maintain the origin, the source code of any data. Integrity has controls like preventive mechanism which prevent unauthorized modification do the original data. And integrity is also having other mechanism that is detective mechanism controls which detect unauthorized modification If there is any fail in preventive mechanism. Integrity ensures data correctness of data between sender and receiver and data which is on transit (Ghahrai, A.,2019). Example of integrity’s man in the middle attack which takes place in data in transit. When a sender and receiver is having the transmission of data between themselves, third person enters the transmission. To capture the data packets and replace them into the original transmission. By manipulating the actual data he then, gains access to complete transmission. This kind of attacks lead to them compromise your integrity between two entities. Data integrity is compromised in many ways like human errors unintentional data manipulation, physical compromises to the devices. The best way to have integrity is by using hashing techniques.

Availability

Availability enables the ability of the users to access any important data at any point of time. Availability make sure to predict timely and uninterrupted access to a system. Availability counter measures to protect data which gives data system availability from malicious attacks likes distributed of denial attack, natural are manmade disasters. Availability keep system data and resources available for only authorized use and makes data available during emergencies like disasters. there are challenges do availability like denial of service and because of undiscovered mistakes during implementation of process. Other challenge is lots of valuable information and sensitive information Because of natural disaster like floods, earthquakes. And any equipment failure (Ghahrai, A.,2019). The basic example of loss availability do an attacker is denial of service attack. In this denial of service attack resources become unavailable to the legitimate users find degrade the performance of the system the attack is done by hitting the same target machine with multiple requests at the same time. This makes the targeted system overload with request and then system fails not even system crashes due to overloaded request by attacker and system may not respond. This can be avoided by having extra security equipment like firewall, proxy servers against attackers.

Accountability

And other important principle of information security is accountability. Accountability refers to the possibility of praising each action and event in time do the users with systems Hard process that perform to enable reliable actions for each task. Accountability is created by logging into each event with the complete information from the user which also include date time network address and other information That could help to identify the condition Which caused an event. Events are audited with the help of network facilities which monitors every action from lowest levels. A system is not considered as secure system if it does not provide accountability for each task because it would be difficult today to mine who is responsible for specific task under system without the safeguard. In information systems reliable accountability is provided by audit trails and system logs (Roberta Bragg., 2002). The best example of accountability is at workplace in business organizations. Every employee in organization no matter what level of seniority is equally responsible in helping further success of company to achieve goals. It is important to have all employees work together to share accountability which makes more business more productive and efficient. Accountability can be increased by having biometric devices suggest fingerprints, retina scanners and having time and attendance software in workplace.

Conclusion

Thus, we recognize fundamental statistics on security concepts and standards for the sensitive information. additionally, walk through to essential elements that constitutes excellent security architectures and practices. Highlighted the significance of essential factors with their respective characteristics. Each security principle is very important to make data secure in every possible way. Systems cannot be completely dependent on both hardware and software, however, wishes to ensure each are tightly coupled with machine to safeguard sensitive information elements.

References

1. Mark S. Merkow, & Jim Breithaupt. (2014, June). Information Security: Principles and Practices. https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780789753250/samplepages/0789
2. Ghahrai, A. (2019, June 24). Confidentiality, integrity, and availability. DevQA.io – For Developers and QAs. https://devqa.io/confidentiality-integrity-availability/
3. Fruhlinger, J. (n.d.). What is information security? Definition, principles, and jobs. CSO Online. https://www.csoonline.com/article/3513899/what-is-information-security-definition-principles-and-jobs.html
4. Roberta Bragg, (2002, December) CISSP Security Management and Practices Retrieved from https://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?=30287&seqNum=2#:~:text=Figure%203.1%20Security’s%20fundamental%20principles%20are%20confidentiality%2C%20integrity%2C%20and%20availability.&text=Depending%20on%20the%20nature%20of,of%20importance%20in%20your%20environment

Accountability represents an under-explored terms lies at the core of any effort to improve quality, build team, and get results Accountability acknowledges the reality of situation (perceives, sees and relate to it) and accepts the responsibility for the situation, finds and implements creative solutions to problems (solves it), and exhibit the commitment and the courage needed to follow through (does it).

Equitable health care is an integral part of the health system, and the accountability in health care is directly related to the level of the safety and the quality of care a patient receives and that same quality of care is directly related to the success of a health care. In health care, improving the quality of life for a patient is the ultimate goal: no patient to treat means, no health business to run.

Accountability and Health Systems

The accountability of health systems is complex with multiple accountability relationships. Health system users, health ministers, social health insurance agencies, public and health providers, legislature, finance ministers and regulatory agencies are all connected to each other in networks of control, oversight cooperation and reporting.

For example, for countries wishing to work to strengthen their system accountability, the starting point is understanding how existing health accountability mechanism work in practise before moving to identifying problem areas and appropriate reform strategies and accountability instruments. Key policy questions for consideration are likely to include how best to:

• Increase transparency and access information to address information asymmetries;
• Establish reliable ground rules for various accountable relationships;
• Effectively monitor and control accountability requirements;
• Improve access to resources where accountability obligations are not met;
• Better articulate the needs of those to whom duties are owned.

Elements of Accountability

Accountability involves following key elements:

1. Delimitation of responsibility: defining over what, whom and how they duty holders are responsible for their action.
2. Answerability: the obligation for duty holders to inform about and explain their actions. Accountability as answerability aims at creating transparency. It relies on information dissemination and the establishment of adequate monitoring and oversight mechanisms.
3. Enforcement or the capacity to subject power to the threat of sanctions, or disciplinary actions. Legal and regulatory sanctions are at the core of enforcing accountability.

Accountability Types and Health Service Delivery

• Financial: 1) cost accounting /budgeting (personnel, operation, pharmaceuticals); definition of basic benefits packages; contract oversight.
• Performance: 1) allocation of resources needed for effective system performance; 2) quality of care; 3) service product behavior; 4) regulation by professional bodies; 5) contacting unit.
• Political/democratic: 1) service delivery; 2) transparency; 3) responsiveness to citizens; 4) service user trust; 5) dispute resolution.

Purpose of Accountability

Dominant purposes of accountability are:

• Control and assurance are dominant.
• Focus is on compliance with prescribed input and procedural standards; cost controls; resource efficiency measures; elimination of wastes; fraud and corruption.
• Assurance and improvement/learning are dominant.
• Assurance purpose emphasizes adherence to the legal, regulatory, and policy framework; professional service delivery procedures, norms and values; and quality of care standards and audits.
• Improvement/learning purpose focuses on benchmarking, standard setting quality management, operations research, monitoring and evaluation(M&E).
• Control and assurance purpose are emphasized.
• Control relates to citizen/voter satisfaction, use of taxpayer funds, addressing market failure and distribution of services (disadvantaged populations).
• Assurance focuses on principal agent dynamic for oversight; availability and dissemination of relevant information; adherence to quality standards, professional norms, and societal values.

Conclusion

To bring about accessible and better quality health care, it is important to recognize both the value and complexity of accountability interventions and operate accordingly. Accountability for the project and to the people is both desirable and essential. Ensuring this accountability is arguably one of the greatest challenges that face up to the health care sector. To reach every nook and the corner of the system, the accountability needs to take root and procedures need to be built into the system. However, the question arises that how accountability can be achieved in the days to come and who will be held responsible if desired and essential results are not achieved. To achieve the results greater transparency and resultant public scrutiny in every aspect of the project and its management are needed.

In this current era, nurses are encountering an ample amount of ethical and legal issues in their professional lives. These profuse legal and ethical concerns in nursing practice need to be highlighted as prominent issues that require special attention by healthcare professionals. Nurses are responsible for providing the best quality care, ensuring safe ethical, and legal approaches towards decision making and dealing with the best interest of patients. As a result, a few portions of healthcare professionals pose a serious risk to the public due to several unethical practices which would end up in the loss of their right to practice (National Code of Conduct for health care workers, 2015). This analytical essay deals with the ethical and legal issues that occurred between Ms. Mavis, a post-operative patient after Laparotomy for acute bowel obstruction, and the nurse. The scenario describes that the nurse noticed altered vital signs along with a state of anuria for the last 9 hours and some behavioral changes. So, the nurse left the patient to review the medications she had and report to the shift coordinator. On return she found the patient was not in her room but in the visitors’ room with an open gown, an open surgical wound contaminated with feces. The nurse immediately provides the privacy and guides her to the bathroom for her hygienic needs, but Ms. Mavis completely refuses to do it. Based on this given scenario of Ms. Mavis, this essay narrates certain ethical issues such as Negligence, Accountability, and ethical dilemmas within ethical principles like Beneficence vs. autonomy, with the evidence of scientific practice.

Negligence is one’s omission to take rational care to prevent injury or loss to a second person” (Legal Service Commission of South Australia). As a post-operative patient, monitoring of urine output is very important and needs to be checked on an hourly basis. But in the given scenario, a breach of duty to care is observed in terms of “Negligence”. The nurse failed to report to the surgeon that the patient did not pass urine for the last nine hours. Reporting or notifying an abnormal parameter to the concerned person can avoid many serious negative effects on a patient’s health. Here the nurse also failed to possess the first RN standards of practice: To think critically and analyze the nursing practice. The nurse didn’t think critically about anuria in the patient and analyzed the complications that could happen. Rather she could foresee an infection and could have gone for investigations such as urinalysis, blood test, or bladder scan.

For instance, a Retrospective cohort study conducted by Ong M in 2018 states the relation between the length patient’s hospital stay towards the delay in checking the results. This study can be correlated to the case of Ms. Mavis in terms of ‘delay to act’, which can result in a negative impact on a patient’s health. WHO, 2019 declared that the occurrence of adverse events due to unsafe care results in the leading cause of death and disability across the world. According to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (2010) reports the incidents associated with the knowledge or skill of the practitioners, including missed or delayed diagnosis, wrong treatment, and errors in task execution accounts for 30. 5% of the total incident reports received in that particular time frame.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs states that physiological needs are considered primary needs and the next comes safety needs. Correlating to Maslow’s theory, Ms. Mavis’s physiological needs were compromised due to failure to provide proper management for the absence of urine output. Secondly, the nurse left the patient alone or unattended in the room while she noticed changes in his vital parameters as well as his behavior, thereby threatening the safety needs of Ms. Mavis. Reporting to the surgeon managing the physiological changes and seeking help or keeping someone with the patient could fulfill the physiological and safety needs of the patient. Patient safety is embedded in ethical principles which are meant to be care quality indicators (King CA, 2017). And it requires provision as well as implementation of a professional code of ethics.

Accountability is an essential element of professional nursing practice. The American Nurses Association defined Accountability as “to be answerable to oneself and others for one’s action”. Also, responsibility, answerability, trustworthiness, and liability are considered the major pillars of accountability. However, in nursing practice, the nurse is accountable for the medicines he or she administers, and it is the responsibility of the nurse to be knowledgeable regarding the pharmacological actions, interactions, and side effects that can occur in a patient before she administers them.

A cross-sectional descriptive study on the knowledge and attitude of nursing students towards rational drug use concludes that education programs for nursing schools and in-service training for working nurses should include the rationale behind the administration of each medicine. Relating to Ms. Mavis’s case, the nurse went to check for the medicine of the patient which caused an alteration in behavior. This indicates that the nurse was unsure about the actions and side effects of the medicines she administered. Similar situations can be rectified in the health care setting by conducting educational services related to pharmacological agents they encounter commonly in their departments which makes the nurse act upon the situation right away and can eradicate the delay in treatment.

In the scenario, the nurse identified bleeding from the pulled-out IV cannula site and the fecal contamination on the surgical wound. So, the nurse took action over that by deciding to meet hygienic needs. This reflects the RN standards of Practice: Provide safe, appropriate, and responsive quality nursing practice.

Nurses face ethical dilemmas in their everyday professional lives. It can be explained as a decision-making problem between two moral imperialism neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. According to Rainer J (2018), an integrated review of the ethical dilemmas in nursing shows an analysis of available evidence in identifying the main areas of moral conflicts, limitations, and gaps. In this scenario, the nurse guides Ms. Mavis to the bathroom to meet her hygienic needs, but Ms. Mavis refuses the assistance offered and expresses reluctance to cooperate with the nurse. This scene depicts the ethical conflict between the ethical principles of beneficence and autonomy. In Medical ethics, beneficence means a moral requirement to contribute to others’ welfare, and justice, in access to health care and health status whereas autonomy refers to self-rule; the ability and tendency to think for oneself, to make decisions for that thinking, and then to enact those decisions is what makes morality any sort of morality possible (Gillon 2003, p. 310) In the current scenario, even though the nurse works on the principle of beneficence intending to provide hygiene and to prevent further wound contamination were trumped by the principle of autonomy from the patient side. However, the reason behind the patient’s sudden behavioral change remains uncertain as it has not been ruled out yet.

For example, a qualitative study on ethical challenges experienced by clinical research nurses in 2017 by Larkin M E, reveals that nurses are exposed to dual obligations at the same time and those ethical issues are central to the nurse-patient relationship, patient advocacy, nurses’ responsibility in implementing the hospital and organizational policy, which is reflecting in the case of Ms. Mavis and her nurse.

To preside over these ethical dilemmas and issues, certain strategies of action can be applied such as (a) approaching the patient in a polite acceptable manner. (b) Family involvement: Participating the family members in the planning and implementation of care. (c) educating the patients regarding the benefits. (d) Discovering the patient’s reason for refusal of care helps to tackle the situation ethically. (e) Imposing sanctions will deter the health care professionals from acting unethically. (f) Adhering to a Decision- Support- Framework can support people who must make difficult decisions which in turn reduces the chance of professionals making inappropriate or inconsistent decisions. For instance, if such a situation arises approach a decision support framework. Following such a framework or guideline can avoid favoritism and unfairness in dealing with ethical conflicts.

Informed consent is a person’s elective contract to health care, which is carried out after knowledge acquiring and understanding of the possible advantages and risks involved. In the case of Ms. Mavis, when the nurse found the patient in the visitors’ room in such a manner that her wound dressing was contaminated with feces, she told the patient that she needed help with her hygiene needs, but Ms. Mavis refused it. Here, the nurse did not ask a consent from the patient to aid in her hygienic activities and also did not explain the need for it. Rather she directly gets involved in it. Even though the nurse’s intention was good, this is a typical case that violates the code of conduct of Informed consent.

Nurses and Midwifery Board of Australia in the code of conduct describes Professional boundaries for nurses through A continuum of Professional Behaviour. It provides a picture of Therapeutic Vs Non- therapeutic behavior in the relationship between the nurse and the persons in their care which involves three zones of practices: Involved (disinterested- neglectful), Zone of helpfulness (therapeutic relationship), and over-involvement (boundary violations). In the given scenario, the nurse went into the zone of over-involvement by invading the patient’s privacy and independence to meet her hygienic needs on her own. Besides she failed to take an informed consent.

Apart from the ethical issues in Ms. Mavis’s case, the nurse followed certain ethical principles such as reporting the variations in vital parameters as well as behaviour to the shift IN Charge which reflects her accountability. Besides, when the nurse found Ms. Mavis with the exposed body in the visitors’ room, she immediately closed the door to provide privacy to the patient, this shows her Respect for Privacy. Moreover, the intention of the nurse to provide hygienic needs to prevent infection of the surgical wound, which is contaminated conveys the Principle of Non-Maleficence. Still, a single violation of the ethical principle can ruin the trusty relationship between the caregiver and the caretaker.

Conclusion

This analytical essay has discussed various ethical and legal issues that a nurse possesses in the daily nursing practice, thus emphasizing the need for in-depth exploration into the code of ethics, code of conduct, and RN standards of nursing practice. The discussion mainly focused on the breeching of ethical principles like Beneficence, Autonomy, and Accountability, as well as ethical issues such as Negligence, invasion of privacy, independence, and contravention of certain nursing standards of practice. Also, it projects some ethical dilemmas like Beneficence vs. autonomy. All these point out the need for distinctive implications regarding the knowledge and practice of ethical principles and nursing standards in the day-to-day professional life. Hence, this has implications for the areas where the care is served, specifically in clinics, hospitals, community health settings, homes, etc. Due to the hike in the number of ethical issues in everyday nursing practice, the need for more research studies based on this topic is in high demand. Therefore, special attention should be given from the very beginning to the nursing students regarding how to approach these legal and ethical principles as well as to motivate and insist the high-level nursing authorities to promote the research recommended.

References

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Ethics has been an integral part of the accounting profession since its inception and often has been viewed as the cornerstone of the profession. The accounting profession is continuously evolving and giving rise to complex ethical dilemmas for accountants. This essay will identify two ethical dilemmas based on research performed and analyze the impact on stakeholders as well as provide suggestions to address the dilemmas.

Dilemma 1:

The modern accounting profession has undergone a rapid shift, especially in public practice where accountants are largely being involved not only in traditional services such as audits but increasingly are spreading their services to consulting. Essentially, the accountant’s role has transitioned from ‘bean counter to strategic counsel’ (Blackline, 2020). However, this has led to questions about whether this presents a threat to the fundamental principles of ethics developed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA).

In the last few years, the quality of corporate audits has come under scrutiny largely due to the perceived notion that audit firms were subsidizing their revenue by shifting their focus on consulting work with their audit clients. The consulting function is known to generate more revenue as compared to the audit function. This inherently presents a threat to the fundamental principles of ethics and has also led to a deterioration in overall audit quality due to the larger focus on consulting. Former Chairman of the corporate regulator ASIC, Greg Medcraft, stated “The quality of Australian corporate audits is appalling and getting worse, potentially leading to an Enron-style corporate collapse” Mr Medcraft added, “At the heart of the problem was a broken auditing business model: firms were not getting paid enough to carry out audits properly and so were cross-subsidising their audit operations with more lucrative consulting work.” (Tadros, 2017)

In 2018 a report by Micheal West reported that “The Big Four global accounting firms have banked $3.1 billion in taxpayer income in the past six years for government consulting. The $3.1 billion represents around 7,300 government contracts. Meanwhile, Big Four revenues shot up by double digits in Australia again last year. Collectively, they posted a total income of $7.8 billion thanks, in good measure to the government outsourcing bonanza.” (West, 2018) One of the major reasons professional services firms have increased their presence in consulting is largely due to the lucrative revenue offerings compared to the more traditional services. However, this inherently raises conflicts of interest as professional services firms also provide services to large corporations on issues such as corporate tax, transfer pricing arrangements, etc.

The impact of poor-quality audit and accounting advice can have wide wide-ranging impact on the various stakeholders as this has the potential to provide misleading financial information in the decision-making process.

Dilemma 2:

Financial statements present valuable information to various stakeholders’ creditors, investors, and regulators alike in the financial system. A survey of audit committee members attending the 4th Annual Audit Committee Issues Conference, published by KPMG in 2008, identified the increased risk of earnings management as a top concern. (KPMG,2008) Earnings management occurs when companies deliberately manipulate their revenues and expenses to inflate (or deflate) figures relating to profits and earnings per share. In other words, it is when companies use ‘creative accounting’ to construct reported figures that show the position and performance that management wants to show. (ACCA)

The professionals involved in preparing financial statements are qualified accounting professionals who use their accounting knowledge and prowess to interpret complex accounting standards. The accounting standards provide a certain degree of flexibility in complex areas of accounting such as accounting estimates. Accounting estimates can be manipulated by accountants using favorable accounting policies to present results desired by senior executives. For example, changing the estimated life of a non-current asset is allowed under financial reporting standards, but if it is done purely to manipulate the depreciation charge (and therefore earnings), then it becomes an example of earnings management. (ACCA)

Understandably accounting professionals face the dilemma as they feel the pressure to present favourable financial information from senior executives and occasionally have their remuneration tied to company performance which provides an incentive to present favourable figures.

The Solution to Ethical Dilemmas:

A distinguishing mark of the accountancy profession is the responsibility to act in the public interest and professional ethics places an expectation on accountants to self-regulate their behavior by the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (the Code) developed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) (IFAC). (Gould, 2013)

The following recommendations have been provided as safeguards specifically for the above dilemmas:

Professional accountants should be required to undergo mandatory training in how to deal with ethical dilemmas regularly. This will enhance the understanding of contemporary ethical dilemmas and how to best manage them without compromising the fundamental principles of ethics.

Government and regulatory bodies should focus on providing regular and up-to-date guidance on contemporary issues.

Governments and regulators should engage in regular monitoring of activities to identify any discrepancies or irregularities and take necessary steps to address any unethical conduct.

Organizations should focus on the design and implementation of strong control frameworks.

Leadership within the organization should provide specific emphasis on ethical dilemmas surrounding the organization and how to deal with them ethically.

Remuneration policies within the organization should be reviewed and designed in a manner that promotes ethical behavior.

Ethical dilemmas have always been part of the accounting profession, however, professional accountants along with respective stakeholders such as government and regulatory bodies, professional bodies, companies, and investors have a responsibility to safeguard against threats to the fundamental principles.

Sustainability- Challenges and Solutions

Sustainability is a contemporary issue that has made its place in the agenda of most business operations. Limited resources, a growing population, and the wide-ranging impact of climate change have made the issue of sustainability ever more important in recent days. The world approach to environmental concerns was first expressed in the Brundtland Report which urged nations to adopt the approach of sustainable development, which it defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Martin et al. 2010)

The accounting profession has an important role to play in sustainability reporting. In IFAC’s Accounting for Sustainability guide, there is a call for “accountants…to consider how, through their work and positions of influence, they can contribute to business resilience and influence organizations to integrate sustainability matters into strategy, finance, operations, and communications”. The current landscape of sustainability reporting is changing, due to the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) which was announced at COP26 in Glasgow. (IPA)

The accounting profession will inevitably play a greater role in sustainability reporting in the coming days however, at this stage of adoption it does present some challenges. The two challenges identified for this essay are described below:

Hesitancy from senior executives and investors due to initial impact on profitability: Adoption of sustainability reporting will require organizations to adhere to certain standards and commitments in their day-to-day operations. For businesses seeking to be a part of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement, several aspects will be impacted. Investment decisions will need to be revaluated for example sourcing of raw materials from ethical sources or renewed emphasis on better working conditions for employees. Whilst this shift in the business model has the potential for better outcomes both in environmental and financial terms, could lead to lower returns on investments in the short term due to the initial investments and cost associated.

New PwC research, conducted in September 2021, sheds light on this dilemma. While their survey suggests that a majority of respondents (investors and executives) are willing to adopt better practices to address ESG issues, a large number are reluctant to accept lower returns due to the adoption. Most (75%) of the investors surveyed by PwC said they thought it was worth companies sacrificing short-term profitability to address ESG issues. On the other hand, a similar percentage (81%) said they would be willing to accept, in pursuing those goals, only 1 percentage point or less of a haircut on their investment returns. Nearly two-thirds of that group was unwilling to accept any reduction in return (Chalmers et.al, 2021)

This presents a real challenge for accountants in the profession; however, accountants also find themselves in a favorable position as they can communicate the benefits of non-financial information and the impact it can have on long-term profitability.

To overcome the above challenge accountants can prepare and communicate the long-term benefits both environmental and financial to stakeholders to help them in their decision-making. Encouraging the adoption of ESG objectives in the corporate strategy will help to shape the tone at the top. The C-suite executives chief are usually well-positioned to communicate the importance of ESG to all stakeholders—including customers, employees, and shareholders—while making difficult resource-allocation trade-offs associated with ESG initiatives. (Chalmers et al. 2021)

Lack of personnel with expertise in sustainability reporting: As noted earlier, sustainability reporting is a fairly new concept. While a lot of companies have adopted sustainability reporting voluntarily the reporting has been far from universal.

For the accounting and finance profession, the most significant development was the IFRS Foundation’s announcement of the creation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the IFRS Foundation’s planned consolidation of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), which houses the Integrated Reporting Framework and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards, by June 2022 (Tho, 2021).

Given the relative infancy of sustainable reporting, there is a lack of personnel with direct expertise in reporting ESG matters. Sustainability reporting is mostly based on reporting non-financial figures that were not part of the traditional financial reporting process. Until recently ESG reporting was also not part of the accounting education which has further contributed to the issue.

However, professional accountants possess the required skills and expertise required to enhance sustainability reporting within organizations. Inherently accountants are skilled in the art and science of reporting figures and metrics, managing risk, interpreting standards, and communicating results. Accountants, with their extensive skills and training, are well placed to bring sustainability issues into the established financial reporting structure, as they can show clear links between sustainability and financial and other performance. (ACCA)

To overcome the above challenge professional bodies such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), and CPA Australia have a leading role to play. The commitment of the professional associations to provide leadership in embedding accounting for sustainability within their organizational strategies and operations and to drive thought leadership – increasing understanding of good sustainability practices – is timely and significant. (Martin et al. 2010)

As part of their continuous development program, accountants should also focus their attention on upskilling themselves on ESG matters through accessing available resources and training programs.

References

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