Jason is at a neighbourhood Christmas party with several of his flatmates. Over a few beers, Jason gets into a conversation with a neighbour, Tony, about mutual acquaintances. Jason is a junior auditor with a large accounting firm (although he tells Tony that he is a partner at the firm), and Tony works for a large bank. During the conversation Jason and Tony discover that they have both had professional dealings with a particular family-owned manufacturing company. Tony reveals that the company’s line of credit is about to be cancelled because of some irregularities with the security documents. Jason is concerned to hear this news because he has just participated in the company’s financial report audit and there was no indication of any problems with its borrowings. Jason tells Tony that he believes that the founder of the familyowned company (and the current CEO) is having an affair with his personal assistant, and has quietly increased his shareholdings in a listed company that supplies components to the family manufacturing company. The components manufacturing company is about to announce to the share market that it has just won a very large, and very profitable, contract with a Chinese company.

Required

Discuss the ethical principles that are potentially breached by Jason’s behaviour at the party.