Please post at least a three paragraph reply to the following ethical dilemma. Also reply to the posts of at least two fellow students. Each of your replies should be at least a paragraph long.

James Wright is the chief financial officer $($CFO$)$ for The Butcher Block, a major steakhouse restaurant chain. As CFO, James has the final responsibility for all aspects of financial reporting. James tells investors that The Butcher Block should post earnings of at least $$1$ million.

In examining the preliminary year$-$end numbers, James notices that earnings are coming in at $$950,000.$ He also is aware that The Butcher Block has been depreciating most of its restaurant equipment over a five$-$year useful life. He proposes to change the estimated useful life for a subset of the equipment to a useful life of seven, rather than five, years. By depreciating over a longer useful life, depreciation expense will be lower in the current year, increasing earnings to just over $$1$ million. It looks like The Butcher Block is going to exceed earnings of $$1$ million after all.

Do you think James Wright$$s change in the depreciable life of assets is ethical? What concerns might you have?