Goldman Sacks Case Study

The stakeholders for Goldman Sacks Corporation include the elderly couple, as investors and the CPA financial advisor as the employee of Goldman Sacks. As a CPA, the financial advisor must adhere to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct as well as act in the most ethical way. The Code of Professional Conduct requires one to perform due care, competence, professional skepticism and professional judgement. The preferred products sold through Goldman Sacks come with the best commissions and as the financial advisor, there is pressure to sell these products over others.
The imperative ethics principle is the act of doing what is right. In this situation, the financial advisor must do what is right for the elderly couple. They have stated that …show more content…
The responsibility of the financial advisor, when it comes to the imperative principle is to weigh the preferred products with products that have less risk and offer a solution that best fits the elderly’s couple request. The utilitarianism principle deals with the examination of consequences of actions rather than following specific rules. With this principle, the financial advisor’s consequences come from both the responsibility of allowing the customer to decide on products based on what will produce the greatest good for the client, but also to do what is needed to maintain employment with Goldman Sacks. The virtue ethics principle deals with one’s character and behavior. The obligation the financial advisor has is to overcome selfishness in the commissions that come from the preferred products and look past that for the sake of the customer. With the clients being more risk adverse and being close to retirement, the financial advisor’s responsibility is to offer a …show more content…
Utilitarianism is the notion that the right action is the one that will result in the greatest good. It is perhaps the most reason-based method to shaping what is right and wrong. This principle is focused on the outcome of our actions in determining their morality, which makes it a consequentialist theory. Utilitarianism has been used in governments to help make decisions such as suitable levels of taxation and spending. There are no other important aspects other than those that promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number with utilitarianism. As a result, no one persons happiness matters more than another’s, making utilitarianism impartial. In most cases, the patient or client is in the best position to judge what is in their best interest unless a doctor or anyone else is in a better position to decide what will promote the most happiness. Rule-utilitarianism focuses on the importance of rules for ethical behavior while maintaining the standard of the greatest good. The rules that promote the most general good must first be determined- the first question is not which action has the greatest effectiveness but which rule. Rule utilitarianism relates to the long term consequences of a situation. It can be reasoned that rule utilitarianism suggests that as an overall principle, competent people should have the right to make their own