Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper
Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper
Crystal C. Chaney
Axia University of Phoenix
Instructor: Sandra DiPetro HCS 405 Health Care Financial Accounting
Abstract
There are many reasons as to why reporting practices and ethical standards are of the upmost importance in healthcare and in any business. The types of generally accepted accounting principles; to the corporate compliance, ethics, fraud, and abuse are all important factors to be considered in order to maintain a successful business. The four elements of financial management are often used to prevent fraud and embezzlement. I believe every business should adopt good business ethics and standards to maintain a
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It would mean that their judgment has not been comprised. Objectivity is also a good ethical principle for an accountant to have. Being objective means that the accountant will not let personal issues get in the way of them making the decisions that need to be made for the good of the organization; using the facts not going on what anyone else says to make a decision. Integrity is another ethical principle that is good for an accountant to have; meaning that they are not going to allow misrepresentation of facts to be made known or recognized on the financial statement. They must maintain their integrity even if it means saying no the boss; when it comes to printing the facts on the financial statement.
The structure of an organization will affect its financial management. Generally financial accounting is for outside use so they emphasize external reporting; which means they report to third parties such as; Medicare, Medicaid and other government entities and health plan payers. Managerial accounting is considered to be prospective as well as retrospective. It is of the upmost importance that the accountant must follow the guidelines principles and ethical standards of planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making if they want to be successful at their job.
References
Financial Dictionary 2012 Financial Dictionary.net http://www.financialdictionary.net/define/Generally+Accepted+Accounting... LevySarfin, R. 1999-2012
A philosophy of an organization helps differentiate themselves from their competitors and set a foundation for future success. It also helps shape an organization by presenting the goals they want to accomplish with specific activities. To improve this, many organizations understand the important of sharing values and goals and realize employee recognition. This helps staff from moving forward toward success of the organizations. Chapter 4 introduces “Codes of Ethics in Health Services.” Code of ethics is a guideline for healthcare professionals to accomplish and serve as a member of a society. Similar to other professions, managers have their own code of ethics in maintaining their duties and responsibilities. They also use the codes for ethical decision-making in dealing with ethical issues. Chapter 5 deals with “Organizational Responses to Ethical Issues.” It provides assistance for managers and organizations in their decision making. It is manager’s duty to figure out the problem and resolve it (Darr, 2011,
managerial accounting deals with internal reporting and financial deals with internal reporting (Yes. Managerial accounting deals with internal reporting and financial accounting deals with external entities)
The push for ethical practices is hitting financial managers from all angles from patient advocate groups, IRS, regulation bodies, and more. The scrutiny of financial reports has never been more important. One area under the microscope in financial reporting by hospitals seems to be its tax exempt status. The potential for tax misconduct is high and calls into question if hospital should be tax exempt (Valletta, 2005). This area is calling strongly for strict ethical guidelines. Health care organizations operate in a different market segment. Publicly traded organizations need to watch their earnings reports, while the health care sector is concerned with payments, hospital length stays, and admissions. To become more transparent and reduce the chances of unethical behavior some hospitals, including the Mayo Foundation, New York Presbyterian, and Ascension Health post audited financial statements online (Valletta, 2005). In another attempt to curb financial mishaps and abuses the financial statements for the medical industry must be signed off on by CEOs and
As briefly mentioned above a code of ethics sets professional morals and ethical principles and offers ethical courses of action to which professionals seek. It also a way that can determine how their actions can be judged. Health information management (HIM) professionals are required to exhibit professional morals when it comes to their engagements with patients, employers, and members of the healthcare team, the public, and stakeholders they assist. A code of ethics is essential in aiding to monitor the decision-making process and can be referenced by people, agencies, organizations, and licensing and regulatory boards, insurance providers, courts of law, and other professional groups (AHIMA House of Delegates) .
In the health care environment financial practices and ethical care finance is very important to produce successfully organizations. In the health care industry and in any business ethical and financial practices are adopted to increase the organization value and consumer confident as well as protected the services or products provide by the organization and maintain the organizations brand name. In the health care industry no patient will want to attend a hospital in which the dead rate is above 50 percentages annually, it will
“The accounting system generates the information that satisfies two reporting needs that coexist within an organization: financial accounting and managerial accounting” (Schneider, 2012, ch 1.1, para 1). Managerial accounting is the process of preparing reports and accounts required by management to make business decisions for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly projects. Financial accounting is the branch of accounting that organizes accounting information for presentation to interested parties outside of the organization. Financial accountants produce annual reports for external
Accountants are held to a higher ethical standards and they must performed their duties in compliance with standards or ethical values of honesty, integrity, objectivity, due care, confidentiality, which must be fully committed to. They must put clients or public interest first before their own. They must have and ethical values and maintain those values way beyond what the society or the company’s code of ethic. It is important that accountants’ behavior or ethical values is in conformity with the
Having an effective ethics and compliance in health care training course for employees within a company is a positive effort to keep not only the company running strong and efficient, but also developing standards for other companies to follow who are trying to create a more applicable format for corporate regulations. According to federal guidelines, designated and regulated by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), a company in compliance to federal healthcare standards will have effective education of employees, investigation measures, discipline and enforcement measures, intervention of violation standards, strong internal audit standards, compliance officers and staff, and lastly, written company standards and policies that is freely available to all employees.
Ethical behavior is virtuous and beneficial for business in any type of organization. In healthcare, the outcomes are improved patient care, dedicated staff and healthcare providers, and amplified market share. It obliges leaders, managers, directors, and supervisors to have a comprehensive interpretation of the role of ethical decision making (Winkler, 2005). Ethical health care organizations have incorporated and combined ethical practices and values, continuing education on ethics for everyone involved, successful ethics substructure, and morally spirited and dauntless leaders (Winkler, 2005). These organizations have a vision and statements that directs behavior and decision making.
Ethical standards in business are important for every leader to know and understand. The book Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by: John C. Maxwell discusses ethics in the world today. When people make unethical choices, the reason they do because of three main pitfalls. People do what is most convenient to them, people tend to do what they must do to win, and people rationalize their choices with relativism. In this summary, Maxwell’s definition of business ethics will be framed, examples of ethical standards and guidelines, the meaning and contrast of ethical thinking and ethical behavior, and how to avoid these major pitfalls to live an ethical life. The
Financial management is important to the organization because it provides pertinent finance and accounting information to help managers accomplish the purpose of the organization. Financial accounting provides accounting information to external users. On the other hand, managerial accounting is more for managers (internal users) to use for things like planning, budgeting, etc. The definition of finance has changed over the years, but it’s used to ultimately evaluate previous decisions and make assessments for future decisions of the organization.
In closing, financial ethics are one of the most important, if not the most important aspect of healthcare as a whole. Without healthcare executives showing high morals and strong ethics, when important financial decisions are being made the public could risk being cheated and unfairly charged for different medical reasons. Also, it is extremely important for financial ethics to be upheld high when coming up with health insurance policies. The downfall of the economy, lack of employment plus major layoffs, need to be taken into strong consideration when coming up with not just a healthcare policy, but an efficient, attainable, affordable healthcare policy.
Managerial Accounting reports are primarily used by supervisors, line managers, process owners, as well as executives, to gain a better understanding of the current financial and operational health of the organization. (Internal)
Ethical Codes are in use today by many organizations to clearly establish their values and provide a procedure if a code violation occurs. Medical ethics began as a professional code for physicians and has now expanded and includes a variety of health care professions and health care organizations. The growth of medical knowledge and technology have grown so have the concerns that ethical standards and issues facing our society today may be compromised or not appropriately addressed (Littleton et al., 2010).
A major difference between financial accounting and managerial accounting is their differing uses in regards to present and future data for decision-making. Financial accountants prepare data from transactions that have already occurred and managerial accountants prepare statements in regards to future decision making for their company. According to countingtools.com, the economy is always changing and not everything can be predicted, therefore, managerial accounting could only be useful to a certain degree.