A Billing Bind

When she received an offer for a summer internship from a small, local public accounting firm, Gabby felt both excited and relieved. She hoped this would be a backup plan in the event her other more preferred option did not work out. When this in fact became the case, she knew the summer would not be exactly as she had hoped; however, she was prepared to use it as a learning experience to become better acquainted with the accounting profession. The firm was small and no other interns were hired for that specific branch that summer. Because the branch also had few young employees, Gabby did not really feel as though she had peers at the office. The summer passed slowly and uneventfully, with one exception.

Occasionally, a few of the more senior accountants who had extra work would allow Gabby to help them with some of the less significant tasks. Generally, these jobs were not for specific clients and were more administrative in nature. However, once in a while, the assignments required Gabby to bill the clients for the tasks she performed based on the time she spent doing the work. At the time she started the internship, she was assigned a buddy Todd who explained basic firm policies to her and showed her how to use the company's client account and billing system. Todd also showed Gabby how to record the time she spent working and how to bill it to certain clients.

About halfway through the summer, Todd sent out an email to the entire group detailing a project which he was managing. The accounting firm was moving from paper-based files to an electronic database and the recent paper files needed to be scanned into the computers. The firm's employees recognized this as secondary and uninteresting work, which they readily delegated to Gabby. The work was simple and quick and each clients paperwork usually took less than 15 minutes. However, in Todd's original email to the group, he required each client to be billed for a half hour's worth of work.

Gabby quickly realized that the clients were being billed for more work than was actually being performed. Further, she knew that her billable rate was much lower than that of the senior accountants initially expected to do the work as understood by the clients. Without any true peers, there really was no one for her to consult on this matter to determine if this blanket policy was acceptable as common practice. Gabbys initial reaction was that overcharging clients, especially those smaller ones, could not be ethically correct. She was not sure who to turn to, if anyone. Since this summer job was not something she wanted to transition into a future career, Gabby questioned if raising this concern was worth the while.

Gabby knew what she should do and wanted to act on her instincts. But how could Gabby question authority effectively and safely? With whom should she speak, and what should she say?

Question C3 - 6 marks 250 words

What are the most powerful & persuasive responses (i.e. levers) the main character could use to respond to these reasons/ rationalisations? To whom should the argument be made? When? In what context? How can they be applied to enable the main character to act on his/her values, in a way that maximises the positive impact and minimises negative outcomes for all stakeholders?

Question C4 (17 marks) 750 words

Develop a script that applies the GVV framework to this scenario. This script should begin at the point where the scenario ended. This must include dialogue of conversations with one or more key stakeholders in which the main character is able to give voice to her/his values, by using the most appropriate levers to respond to the most likely reasons and rationalisations, to achieve a more ethical outcome for all stakeholders.