Finance Assignment Case Study Based Motivation

Case A - Motivation

Identifying the strategies that would be used to keep morale high

In the situation of the financial downturn that the company is facing the following strategies will help the management to keep the employee morale high in the workplace:

1. Keeping open communication: Keeping open communication within the workforce is a major strategy that the management should take in order to make sure there is effective communication with the employees. In this way, the management will be able to connect with the employees and know their problems and offer them solutions creating good coordination between the two (Bolívar et al. 2014).
2. Indicating the value of current employees; The management should also follow the strategy of keeping the employees' morale high by stating their values within the firm's operation and making them feel good through this. This can be achieved by providing recognition through rewards
3. Creation of positive workforce energy in the workplace: The management should look to create a positive workforce environment by letting the employees feel safe and secure. Helping employees in difficult situations will generate a good vibe within the workforce of the company. This will further help the company to keep the morale of the employees high.

Identifying the theory of motivation  that would be used to achieve this

Maslow’s Theory of hierarchy of needs can be used by the management to achieve the goals of motivating the employees.  This theory is also known as the Needs theory in that Maslow has proposed that fulfilling the different levels of employees' needs will keep them motivated.

Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

(Source: Cherry, 2014)

The image above shows the different types of needs that the employees want to achieve helping them in this will keep them motivated. The basic needs of physiological and safety needs that are to be achieved in order to make them feel good about their basic desires.  The psychological needs such as the need for Belongingness and esteem are the second-level needs that are to be fulfilled and at last, the need for self-actualization helps the employee to achieve full potential. Now fulfilling all these needs will help the organization in motivating its employees.  Through the help of this theory, the management will be able to identify the needs of the employees that can be fulfilled to keep their morale high in the workplace deriving high efficiency in the operations of the firm (Cherry, 2014).

Evaluating the way in which the employees will be dealt with for a newspaper article's content if questioned by employees

It is important to understand that the employees can be misinformed about their knowledge and there are different types of rumors that will be going around in the current workforce. It is important to understand that through the use of establishing proper communication with employees the misinformation and rumor in the workforce can be ended. Although it can be stated there will be some employees that will question the management and in this situation the employees to be dealt with. The matters of concern that the employees have will be discussed to effectively make sure that the employees. Through proper discussion and through providing authentic data the questions and problems of the employees will be resolved. If the employee has a conflict with management the conflict will be resolved and it will ensure that the employee has current information about the management operations. Keeping the employees well informed in such discussions will be the primary objective of the manager. Further the current financial crisis of the company will be explained to further elaboration on why the firm has to make certain decisions for the best of the firm (Badolato et al. 2014).

Identifying the individual that will be consulted and information or data that will be used

Now it can be seen that there are adverse situations within the firm and there is a need for knowledge and information to properly know about the steps that the firm will conduct. Ow to get information about the firm the IT management if the company will be consulted that is in charge of storing and processing data and information that is needed by the firm to operate significantly. The Human resources manager will also be consulted in such situations to know about future HR strategies of the company.  In this way, there will be an evident amount of knowledge that can be gained and good consultants that will be provided by the HR manager using which future operational activities can be conducted by the manager and confusion and lack of within the workforce can be ended.

Case B - Ethics

Explaining the effect that an aggressive approach to financial reporting has on key stakeholders

The effects that an aggressive approach to financial reporting has on key stakeholders are as follows;

1. One of the major effects of this aggressive approach of accounting and financial reports will be that it will not give a fair financial report to the investors of the firm as it will be reported in such a manner that it will be biased to show the positive financial performance of the firm.
2. Management of the company which is an internal stakeholder of the firm will also be affected by this approach of financial reporting this is because as the numbers will be made to work for the company the management will not be able to identify the true financial performance of the firm affecting their decision-making process (Hopkins et al. 2015).

Hence this aggressive approach will have a good amount of impact on stakeholders of the firm as well.

Evaluating the benefits and consequences of this new, aggressive approach

The benefit of using this aggressive approach is that the company will be able to create financial reports that show a positive performance of the company and help the company to look good financially in the market. In this way, the firm will be able to attract more investors to invest in the operational activities of the firm and increase the financial capital of the firm.

The consequence that the company might face due to this new aggressive approach is that the company will not be able to analyze the actual performance of the firm because the numbers will be represented in a different form to attract the market. This will also not be good for the shareholder of the company to make investment designs in the company and values are biased and have been simulated to show a positive performance of the firm.  

Explaining what will be done for adopting this aggressive treatment of reporting

To adopt this method of aggressive reporting the financial accountant will have to report higher sales and revenue and have overstated the profitability of the firm in the financial report of the company. Inflating the asset value in the financial position statement of the firm is another way through which the financial performance of the firm can be enhanced. In the process of agreeing on the treatment of reporting the financial report will report a lower liability and expenses to show the operational and financial efficiency of the firm. The accounting reports with the overall value of the current asset and the cash reserve while the credit sales that have not yet been received as cash will be added to the cash sales showing a higher gross revenue and profitability for the firm.

Understand whether this new approach to be ethical and Stating the reasoning

Aggressive reporting is unethical and this is because financial reporting is a responsible process that has to be conducted in an unbiased manner. It is important to understand that financial reports are viewed by many external stakeholders and they take their decisions by analyzing these financial reports.  In aggressive reporting, the values are manipulated and simulated to show a financially enhanced performance of the company (Brink et al. 2018). This means that the fiscal and accounting disclosure will be biased in nature not showing a fair financial position and profitability of the firm. This Is the major reason why aggressive reporting is not an ethical way of financial reporting because the basic value of financial reporting that is being fair and unbiased is hampered.  The stakeholder of the firm will not get a fair value of the company's fiscal performance and stability which is not ethical.

Explaining how employees with their concerns about this new reporting approach will be dealt

Now the firm will have to handle the employees that have concerns regarding the compliance of the firm to a new agreed fiscal reporting system. To address this as a manager there will be an explanation of the idea that lies behind the adoption of a new final reporting system whereas the information in regards if this new system will be given. After this, the employees will be communicated on how the new system of financial reporting will be adopted.  In this way, the employees concerned will be addressed and the chances of possible conflicts will be deceased.

References

Badolato, P.G., Donelson, D.C., and Ege, M., 2014. Audit committee financial expertise and earnings management: The role of status. Journal of accounting and economics, 58(2-3), pp.208-230.

Bolívar, M.P.R., Galera, A.N. and Muñoz, L.A., 2014. New development: The role of accounting in assessing local government sustainability. Public Money & Management, 34(3), pp.233-236.

Brink, A.G., Gouldman, A., and Victoravich, L.M., 2018. The effects of organizational risk appetite and social pressure on aggressive financial reporting behavior. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 30(2), pp.23-36.

Cherry, K., 2014. Hierarchy of needs. Retrieved Aug, 16, p.2014.

Hopkins, J.J., Maydew, E.L. and Venkatachalam, M., 2015. Corporate general counsel and financial reporting quality. Management Science, 61(1), pp.129-145.