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Mark Allocation will be based on the application of the chosen model as follows:

Understanding facts (10 marks)

Stakeholders and key ethical issue(s) (25 marks)

Ethical norms, values, and principles (25 marks)

Courses of action and their ethical basis (30 marks)

Chosen and justified course of action (10 marks)

CASE STUDY

YOU have recently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University and have landed a job at one of the biggest financial advice firms in the city where you work in the finance department.The firm is known for its famous clients, many of whom are celebrities and their respective family and friends. As a young employee, you went through a difficult selection criterion to successfully fill a very sought-after and competitive position as a graduate analyst. Your supervisoris Conan Leno, who has become a mentor to you.

ConanLeno is an interesting person, and prior to becoming one of the top financial analysts and advisers in the industry, he had a background in accounting and had previously been a partner at a big audit firm. Using his wealth of knowledge and expertise, he has been able to generate successful stock portfolios for his clients which bring enormous returns. In addition to working for the firm, Conan also regularly goes on speaking tours where he shares his story behind his success.

He was recently invited to speak at a Ted Talk event as well, and the clip of his talk has attracted millions of views since

As you work your way and hit your stride in the firm, you find yourself being included in Conan's inner circle of trusted colleagues. One day you and some colleagues are

called byConan to a private meeting which is held at a conference room in a hotel The purpose of this meeting is for Conan to share and teach his methods to you and a select few colleagues.As someone who was included into this inner circle, you and everyone were not only asked to switch off all your devices prior to the meeting but also asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

From this meeting you learn that Conan's trading technique involves engaging in a multi-million-dollar market manipulation scheme that is achieved through coordinated trading between multiple accounts.These accounts are held at multiple brokerage firms throughout the country, and these accounts are maintained under the names of his family and relatives, sometimes even under the name of his children who are minors.

Using multiple accounts, Conan was able to use large sums of his personal wealth to drive the share price. The process was simple but involved a great deal of coordination, as he would trade stocks in his portfolio to create the false appearance of trading interest activity in particular stocks. This process allowed him to purchase these stocks at artificially low prices and then quickly sell them at artificially high prices.Furthermore, these stocks were simultaneously traded in two or more accounts at separate brokerage firms in a coordinated manner. In total Conan had been using 20 different accounts to manipulate the market, and in the previous financial year he had generated more than $10 million in profits.

Although your colleagues are impressed by Conan's skill and are excited to be included, you feel quite uneasy. Conan had been careful to make sure all accounts were created in accordance with basic legal requirements and all the paperwork used were legitimate as well. However, Conan had to be extra careful about ensuring none of the brokerage firms were closely related to each other. With client confidentiality there would be no way to pick up on the multiple accounts held under the same names.

Thanks to Conan, the firm was able to increase its client list quite quickly. Still, there had always been some ongoing issues at the firm that have only gotten worse since the time you joined. The firm was subject to a joint investigation by two top media outlets.They uncovered a story that the firm had several clients who had since faced financial difficulty due to being recommended riskier investment products by the firm. To make matters more complicated, most of these risky products were part of Conan's aggressive trading portfolio.

Recently, some brokerage firms have also started catching on Conan's suspicious behaviour, even threatening to close his accounts after giving multiple warnings to Conan.Although some firms went ahead to close Conan's account, Conan would immediately open new accounts at different brokerage firms and carry on the same trading activities as usual. Conan has also started to become more defensive and secretive in terms of the information he conceals from these brokerage firms especially information in relation to his trading activities across his many accounts. The situation is starting to get tense and people have started gossiping at the firm You find yourself in the middle of it all with knowledge of what is going on.

You are faced with a difficult dilemma with a range of issues. You feel you need to make use of all your training and education in ethics to reach and justify a responsible and ethical decision. What do you do?

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