Case Study (Yvonne Pillar)

Yvonne Pillar is a young accountant who came from a poor family. She was

recently hired by a big company called Chameleon Co.

When it was a time to audit the accounting books of the company, Yvonne was

instructed by her boss to manipulate the numbers in order to reduce the taxes the

company will have to pay the government. The company official said that if she would

not heed the command, she would be terminated.

The employment condition that time was really tight and the chance of finding

another job is very minimal.

Questions:

1. If you were Yvonne will you obey your boss? Why or why not? Defend your
stand.
Like Yvonne, I come from a family that made ends meet and I’ve been
doing my best since I was a little girl to make my parents proud and be an
example to my little sister.
If I were Yvonne, I will stand by the fact that I was raised well and that I
got the position in that company because I was true to myself and my abilities.
Manipulating the numbers for tax reduction, as instructed by my boss, is
certainly not part of my job description and will not be something that I would do
just so I can keep my position. Doing that illegal thing will make me lose all my
credibility, my visions for my own self and may scar me for life.
In order for me to live my life the way I am living it, I would rather find
another job than staying in a corrupt company. I will decline this instruction by my
 boss and if I will be terminated from the job, I will gladly hand in my resignation
letter with a message that I will sincerely address to my boss.
I believe that someone like me, who perseveres in life and has been
through a lot, will find an honorable job…even if it means working in places
offering small salaries as long as I am living an honest life.
2. Are you morally obligated to follow an order that is illegal?
Humans are morally obligated to do what’s right and good and illegal is,
definitely, the exact opposite of the two things mentioned.
Moral obligation, from what I’ve found in a Law dictionary, is “a duty which
one owes, and which he ought to perform, but which he is not legally bound to
fulfill”. And with that being mentioned, it is clear to me; hopefully, to you too; that
we are obliged to follow only the right and good orders…nothing more, nothing
less.
In the provided case study, Yvonne was ordered to manipulate company
numbers for the company to have reduced tax payments. Yvonne is morally
obligated to decline since she owes it to herself, the company and its employees,
the government as well as the society itself. As a Certified Public Accountant,
Yvonne must abide to the laws especially the ones involving taxes. Thus, she is
morally obliged to decline.
As for myself, I know I am not morally obligated to follow an illegal order…
only the legal ones which portray honesty and integrity. With this, I can be proud
of myself and my family will be proud too. The two virtues may not be followed by
a lot today but I am determined to follow them.
Also as an aspiring accountant, I want to keep in mind that I must be
honest and have integrity to pursue my goals and become a better version of
myself as well as to live a life with nothing but good memories.
3. Explain the moral implications of the military slogan: "Obey first before you
complain."
Honestly, I am quite puzzled by this slogan ever since I heard about it and
got really confused when I learned about some cruelty and injustice in the military
but I came to realize that this slogan solely was created for discipline; as
complaining was, obviously, associated with laziness.
With discipline, all else will follow such as respect and love…for oneself
and country. For some people in the military and those who trained, this slogan
may have been the worst for them but maybe, in my opinion, that’s on the part of
the seniors or trainers. As far as I know and what I have experienced when we
had our Citizenship Advancement Training (CAT) – Community Service Program
back when I was in 10th grade, we had to practice and master the formations, the
walks as well as other things done during ROTC…with this also applying the
slogan mentioned above. I understood the slogan during this part of my 10 th
grade journey and I’m thankful to our teacher back then because he wasn’t
obliged to teach the formations and walks as well as what the ROTC does during
their sessions but he did so we can learn and practice discipline.
From what I’ve read, the phrase moral implication is more useful in
referring to results or significance of an action with respect to morality. And I
believe this slogan caries serious moral implications. More often than not, military
men are ordered to obey every command before complaining and that’s a great
sign of discipline and respect; however, the implications vary in each situation. I
actually read an article on The Four Stages of Moral Development in Military
Leaders and it mentioned how moral development is the hardest to develop in
leaders and that there are four stages to help it develop with compliance as the
first stage, moral understanding as the second, moral maturity and then moral
ambition. With this, I recall the given slogan. This slogan is an example of a
military principle which, for me, clearly supports the stages of moral development
not only in military leaders but also for all people.
This slogan is much, much, much deeper than we ever imagined and it’s
really up to us to provide a positive moral implication to this, not the opposite.
The world does not need more negativity from us thus, "Obey first before you
complain."