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Chapter 2
Discussion Questions
1. Identify the stakeholders and how they were affected by Heene’s actions?
The stakeholders in the “Balloon Ball Hoax” are the boy, Falcon Heene; the parents, Richard and
Mayumi Heene; brothers, Bradford and Ryo Heene; Larimer County sheriff, Jim Alderman;
The public through the media watched and worried about the fate of the boy in the balloon.
Colorado taxpayers footed the bill for the $50,000 costs of personnel time, equipment and other
incidentals to track the balloon, search and rescue mission, and investigation of the hoax. Denver
Local police, the National Guard unit, and search and rescue teams spent hours and used
expensive equipment to track and hunt for the balloon and boy while Falcon was safe the whole
Falcon Heene was used by his parents to pull off the hoax that he was on a hot air balloon that
had escaped it tether. Falcon was expected to lie and help his parents with the hoax. His brothers,
Bradford and Ryo, were also expected to lie and help the parents. Media attention was focused
The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, used the hoax to create and garner attention so that
they could get their own reality television show. Their actions were a result of egoism. The need
The media and news services followed the story in detail. Journalism ethics and skepticism were
As a result of the hoax, Sheriff Jim Alderman considered charges against the Heenes for
conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and
Richard Heene pled guilty to the felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant and
received four years’ probation. He was prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from the
case during the period of the probation and received 90 days of jail time with 60 days being work
Sheriff Alderman sought and was awarded full restitution of approximately $50,000 for the cost
Update on what happened to the family: in 2012, Mr. Heene helped support his family by
becoming the Aluminum Man, the aluminum foil-covered superhero. He also had an invention
2. What stage of moral reasoning is exhibited by Richard Heene’s actions? Do you
believe the punishment fit the crime? Why or why not?
Richard Heene was reasoning at stage 2 (satisfying one’s own need) in the staging of the balloon
As you discuss the case, be sure to consider that students may have many different opinions
3. How do you assess at what stage of moral development in Kohlberg’s model you
reason at in making decisions? Are you satisfied with that stage? Do you believe
there are factors or forces preventing you from reasoning at a higher level? If so,
what are they?
Students are usually at stage 2 two (pursuit of self-interests) or stage three (influenced by peers)
in that they try to do what is expected of them by others. However, many students are at stage 4
Some students will erroneously believe they are at higher levels of reasoning and explain it by
saying that they choose their own ethical principles to follow rather than following the law. For
Also, ask students if they are consistently reasoning at the same level for all ethical dilemmas.
4. Using the child abuse scandal at Penn State discussed in Chapter 1, explain the
actions that would have been taken by Joe Paterno if he had been reasoning at each
stage in Kohlberg’s model and why.
Stage 1: Paterno would not tell anyone about Sandusky, if he could be sure that no one would
ever find out, as it would keep others from being mad at him. However, once McQueary
informed him about Sandusky, Paterno would tell his superiors to show his obedience to rules
and avoidance of punishment. Stage 2: Paterno would want to satisfy his own needs and protect
jeopardizes the football program. Stage 4: Paterno would want to comply with the morality of
law and duty to social order. He would tell his superiors but would also report in accordance with
the Clery Act. He might also inform child protective services. Stage 5: Paterno would weigh
alternative courses of action by evaluating the benefits and harms to society. He might conclude
that the harms to the young boy were greater than other harms, including the loss of reputation to
5. Aristotle believed that there was a definite relationship between having practical
wisdom (i.e., knowledge or understanding that enables one to do the right thing)
and having moral virtue, but these were not the same thing. Explain why. How do
these virtues interact in Rest’s Four Component Model of Ethical Decision Making?
A person who has all the right moral virtues (i.e., courage, temperance, self-discipline,
moderation, modesty, humility, generosity, friendliness, truthfulness, honesty, justice) knows
what ends to pursue, but without practical wisdom, that person will not know how to set about
pursuing the right ends. Aristotle believed that having one’s heart in the right place is not good
enough: being a good person requires a kind of practical wisdom as well as a good disposition.
For this reason, Aristotle believed that practical wisdom was the virtue that made all the other
virtues possible. Without the correct application of practical wisdom, the other virtues would be
too much or too little and turn into vices. Aristotle recognizes that what we truly and firmly
believe influences our behavior. If we have really internalized the practical wisdom and thought
Aristotle’s moral virtues correlate with Rest’s moral character while practical wisdom correlates
6. In the text, we point out that Rest’s model is not linear in nature. An individual who
demonstrates adequacy in one component may not necessarily be adequate in
another, and moral failure can occur when there is a deficiency in any one
component. Give an example in accounting when ethical intent may not be sufficient
to produce ethical behavior and explain why that is the case.
An example from accounting might be the public accounting firms’ conflict of responsibilities to
the public and to the client organizations. The audit fees are paid by the client organization rather
than the general public. (There is an old German proverb which says “Whose bread I eat, his
The ethical domain for accountants and auditors involves (1) the client organization that hires
and pays for accounting services; (2) the accounting firm; (3) accounting profession; and (4) the
general public. In the Enron case, Enron was paying more consulting fees to Andersen than audit
fees. As one of the largest clients of Andersen’s Houston office, if not entire firm, Enron
expected Andersen to do the audit quickly and with minimal disruptions so that the consulting
could continue to expand the business model, revenues and net income. Andersen wanted to
Another example from chapter 1 is the Betty Vinson situation at WorldCom. She knew it was
wrong to “cook the books” but she did not act on those beliefs. She identified the moral issue but
lacked the conviction to carry out her decision with moral courage. Instead, she followed the
These are examples of ethical conflict in accounting. In some cases moral blindness may cause
the accountant not to see the moral issue (ethical sensitivity) even though the decision maker has
7. In teaching about moral development, instructors often point out the threefold
nature of morality: It depends on emotional development (in the form of ability to
feel guilt or shame), social development (manifested by the recognition of the group
and the importance of moral behavior for the group’s existence), and cognitive
development (especially the ability to adopt another’s perspective). How does this
perspective of morality relate to ethical reasoning by accountants and auditors?
Accountants and auditors must have the proper emotional development in order to put others first
and before self; the social development to recognize the importance of the public need for fair
8. Some empirical research suggests that accountants and auditors may not achieve
their higher levels of ethical reasoning. Why do you think this statement may be
correct?
Kohlberg was working on stage 6 at the time of his death and believed that this stage rarely
occurred. Published studies during the 1990s indicate that CPAs reason primarily at stages 3 and
4. CPAs are influenced by relationships with peers, superiors, and clients (stage 3) and by the
9. Do you agree with Carol Gilligan’s criticism of Kohlberg’s model that women
reason differently than men and rely more on a care-and-response orientation?
Why or why not? Do you believe Kohlberg’s model is culturally biased? Why or
why not?
Gilligan interviewed twenty-nine women from referrals of abortion and pregnancy-counseling
centers and found different takes on the three level of moral development than Kohlberg. She
found that in using Kohlberg's model that men typically think in formulas of peoples' rights, like
a math problem. And in turn, women are more uncomfortable responding to ethical dilemmas.
Ask you class how they felt about the ethical dilemmas presented in chapter 1 discussion
questions 1 and 2. You might find some students are uncomfortable being asked to decide
