MEMORANDUM

To: Professor Whittet Date: 02.07.17

From: Seung Ha Lee
Subject: Proposal for research paper: Can ethics be truly applied in the finance field?

Subject and Purpose of Proposal:

This question is the main focus of my paper because I learned that finance advisors struggle to
keep their ethics in the finance industry. The pressure that regular accountants and auditors go
through to book a certain number in the financial statement is arguably common. Upper-level
management need to demand these expectations because other companies and investors also
overlook those numbers. However, the argument here is that the laws and rules that are already in
place give loopholes to these unethical decisions and that financial advisors are not truly at fault.
If an accountant makes an unethical decision but does not break any rules, does that decision
ultimately make it unethical? The purpose of this proposal is to look at both sides of the same
picture story and determine what is right and wrong.

Rationale for the Topic and Approach Its Importance as an Issue

My approach to this proposal is to ask finance professionals about this issue because they have
experience working in the finance field. Also, they have also witnessed unethical financial
decisions in their times, such as the Enron controversy. I will also find studies of ethics and how
that could or could not be applied in finance. I will also look at cases from different points of
views to further expand the arguments of my essay. The approach of this essay is to not to
definitely answer yes or no to my thesis, but to come to a reasonable conclusion to ambiguous
situations of ethics.

Methods for Research

For my methods for research, I would ask the research lab that the library offers and look into
cases that are available at the library. I will also ask questions to my finance professors about
their own personal experience that pertains to ethics in the workforce. I will also be looking at
different companies because the context of these different situations is what will make the
arguments for my paper stronger.