Not sure if anyone else has to deal with this. But I am very black and white when it comes to things and especially since I do Accounts Receivable and Cash application. One thing my boss does is he takes credits that belong to one account and that are never used and moves them to another account for another customer to make that account look better. It just makes you want to SCREAM.

But my boss does things that are not ethical. Of course I work for one of the largest comapanies in the world. My supervisor is aware of the problem, but for me to go to my managers's boss would almost stir up a mess, and then I wonder if he actually knows.

Dealing with ethics like this is tough and actually makes me angry and frustrated.


I was wondering if anyone else has to deal with this sort of problem and how they handle it.

There is a federal law that protects the rights of "whistle blowers" like you. This is completely INSANE for him to be moving around finances arbitrarily. This is cooking the books just like ENRON and every other corporation that has been in the news in the past 2 years or so.

I would amass as much evidence as you can find and contact the justice department. If your bosses boss isn't repsonding then you will likely find that it goes a lot higher than that person!

If they are doing unethical practices in ONE place you can be sure they are doing it everywhere they think they can get away with it.
This is the kind of crap that makes other countries hate this one so much. We have all of the wealth in the world and still we want more. At least the ones who have it all just can't get enough. And this type of self centered greed (is there any other kind?)seems to be commonplace here.
If I were you I would take great pride in bringing a ton of evidence to the feds and getting their hineys locked up for a long time!

Does your company have an ombudsman - if they do you can generally remain anonoymous when raising integrity issues? If they don't have one & you don't like the practices then think long & hard about blowing the whistle. It might be better for you to find a different job (maybe even in the same company)?

I agree with FightingBoredom

if I was to let it continue then I would feel that I was as guilty as the parties participating in the deception

Weighing in with Prumont - especially w/respect to the anonymity issue, and especially if you're the only one that notices the problems and/or the only one whom it affects. And ESPECIALLY if it doesn't affect you directly.

Reason: I know we ADDers have a tendency to see ethics issues in very clear terms in the abstract -- but we also have a tendency to sidestep the practical issues involved when addressing ethical ones -- like losing our jobs when it took a long time to find them or risking a miserable working environment if we're perceived by co-workers as a company rat.

Part of this is personal experience - I was ASKED to list departmental problems by an Executive Vice President and then was fired, having been branded as a "troublemaker". And I learned too late that no one in my department was willing to back me up.

If you can do it anonymously, do your thing. If not, at minimum, watch your back.

Yes, I agree with MRB.
Cover your ***, at least.

Yeah, and MRB, you have to go with what you feel most comfortable doing. If you can sleep at night letting it slide then let it slide. I would either report it or find a new job and then report it.
It is definitely easier to find a new job when you have one!

And it absolutely easy to sit here in my shoes and tell you to fight the big fight.... when it's not affecting me.... unless of course the company you work for is one I'm using or investing in... then you need to kick some A$%! :D

Well the feds are out of the question...........it is not an ENRON. He is just messing with accounts and making the AR look better for his department and to help him get a better review and higher bonus. He should be retiring in 3 years or less.

The thing is my supervisor knows and has even argued with him on issues. And like my supervisor says, document it the best you can. So one thing I do, is when I am asked to do something I do not agree with, once I have done the transaction I sign it with my name and "as instructed" on the end.........it has my managers approval on it.

It is just so hard not wanting to blow the whistle. This is a very big company I work for and if I talked, I have no idea who to talk to and then I wonder if his manager knows...........which is the hard part. I don't want to be made a fool of and loose my job, especially with the economy. Plus I am back in college and my job pays 100% of my tution and books.

I think I just had to get this off my chest and had wondered how others dealt with it.