PHYSICAL PRIVACY Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

PHYSICAL PRIVACY - Coursework Example For our current assignment though, I am going to take one ethical issue that was embedded into that business decision and discuss it in great detail. I will do my best to discover all of the facts that I will need in order to create an informed analysis of this particular ethical issue and make some suggestions pertaining to how the ethical issue may be dealt with by the insurance company prior to it actually becoming an ethical situation that the company has to handle. For this particular assignment, I have chosen to deal with the problem of Agent Honesty when it comes to their treatment of client policies and collection agreements. In order to deal with this problem, the insurance company must first acknowledge the fact that the agents have a strong tendency to commit fraud once they have a non-exclusive partnership with the insurance company. Since they are basically freelancers, they do not answer directly to the company for any of their actions. If an insurance company uses too many independent agents, the possibility of being able to monitor all of their client based actions diminishes. Independent agents prefer having the more limited relationship that their status provides with the company as opposed to an exclusive agent who is bound by more company rules and regulations in terms of ethics. That is why in the case of independent agents, the tendency of the insurance company is to have a narrow and specific view of the agent's business actions. The company will tend to not care too much about the actions of their independent agents without realizing that the unethical actions of the independent agents will have clear ramifications for their company as well in terms of protecting their clients against fraud. It is most likely that not all independent agents are aware of the fact that they are committing fraud in certain instances due to their lack of proper manpower training in terms of insurance sales services. Therefore, it is important that the compan y reiterate the importance of honesty in all their business dealings in order to preserve the image of the company with future clients, and enhance their company image with their existing client base. Agents need to always be ethical and compliant of all government insurance standards. There is no gray area in this matter. Rogue insurance agents can cause the insurance company a sizable amount of fines and potential financial losses through fraud related lawsuits that the company will find itself facing. Considering the lack of company based supervision of independent agents, it would seem more logical for insurance companies to deal with exclusive agents instead since they can have a more personal relationship with these agents whose actions and portfolios are open and easily accessible to the company. Thus making it easier to detect ethical violations at any given time. It is of the utmost importance that insurance companies be highly observant of their independent agent's pattern s of behavior or financial transactions over a period of time. This will help the company sniff out the potential abnormalities in the actions of the agent that could signify that the agent is involved in fraudulent actions against the company clients and the company itself. This can usually be determined by observing the agent's pattern of payment submission to the insurance com

Transparency in Corporate Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Transparency in Corporate Governance - Essay Example Transparency in a company is vital because it increases the confidence in the management of the company by its shareholders and other stakeholders. This consequently leads to the shareholders willing to invest more in the company which in turn, eventually, reduces the cost of capital. Being transparent also helps a company’s management to fight off corruption and fraudulent activities that would otherwise be rife and detrimental (Hermalin &Weisch, 2007). With all these factors put together, the company’s productivity, and eventually, its productive capacity increases. For a long time now, corporate governance has undergone different overhauls so as to increase the level of transparency. This is through various means such as an increased control on how financial reporting gets done and who exactly does it. These control mechanisms ensure that what gets measured, accepted and reported to the public is true and fair. There are also various trends currently in the market th at give the procedure on how a company should be audited. Auditing is when an external entity, separate from the company, goes through the company’s reports and records. It gives its assessment and opinion of fairness and truthfulness of the company reports to the public (Shleifer, 1996). There are also other measures that ensure transparency gets achieved. These measures include laws, policies, Companies Act, Parliamentary Acts (Hermalin &Weisch, 2007). Reporting and adhering to these policies, laws and acts, however, comes at a price. Governments around the world exempt the small companies from fully complying with these stringent measures. It is mandatory, however, for these small companies to prepare their own reports as a performance measuring tool (Hermalin &Weisch, 2007). In the McBride scenario, the CEO of the McBride Financial Services receives an email from a recently added investor. The Beltway Investment is the investor that has invested in McBrides Company. It is in the email sent by their principal in who reiterates the need for transparency and use of best practices. He tells the CEO to run his company as would see fit but in turn, the investment firm would need to be shown the reports of the company’s progress. This is a way of ensuring transparency in corporate governance gets achieved by equitable treatment and rights of the shareholders getting observed. The management should do this by openly and effectively communicating the information to the stakeholders. They should also encourage them to participate in the company’s general meetings, so as to give their thoughts and opinions (Solomon, 2010). In the scenario, one also sees the management chain of command. The CEO, Hugh McBride makes the crucial decisions such as who will sit in the company’s board of directors and his subordinates implement these decisions. They deal with a wide range of matters from public relations to issues to do with governance of the com pany (Solomon, 2010). We also see that when the stakeholders, in this case Beltway Investments, know of their rights and practice these rights keeping the management on toes. This gets clearly seen when Doug, the Beltway Investment’s principal sends the CEO the email. The CEO, in the following days, communicates to his subordinate to get an accounting firm to audit their reports. The urgency becomes also portrayed when he says