How to Answer: Give me an example of an ethical dilemma you experienced regarding your work and how you handled it.
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Accounting Clerk job interview.
7. Give me an example of an ethical dilemma you experienced regarding your work and how you handled it.
How to Answer
This is important because you'll have ethical dilemmas not just at work but in life. Having strong ethics is important in the accounting industry. Being able to differentiate right from wrong is very important.
Taking the ethical high ground is important in accounting. Unethical people only cause the company problems in the future. If you don't get hired because you're unwilling to bend your ethics, then you don't want to work there. It will ruin your career.
Written by Samantha Hamilton on February 4th, 2019
Entry Level
"In college, I found out that this guy behind me was cheating by copying from my exams. I knew this was unethical so instead of turning him in and getting him kicked out of school, I offered to tutor him. We spent two nights a week studying together and he agreed to move seats to the front of the class where he couldn't see anyone else's paper. He ended up passing the class with a B and avoided unethical situations moving forward."
Written by Samantha Hamilton on February 4th, 2019
Answer Example
"There was a month end when I found an error my manager had made. He asked me to adjust the balances to hide it. I told him I didn't feel comfortable with that and after some convincing, he let me adjust the balances to show the error, which we explained. No one got in trouble due to the low amount."
Written by Samantha Hamilton on February 4th, 2019
Experienced
"I was auditing a company and was approached by one of the lead accountants. They offered me thirty thousand dollars to ensure a good report from me. I sat very quietly as they discussed this with me and I told them I'd think about it. I went to my superiors and met them to discuss the situation. If I bent my ethics, it would have cost me my career and my reputation. The company got a bad report from us and the offer was brought to their board with the option of handling it internally or by us taking it to the authorities. They opted to handle it internally."
Written by Samantha Hamilton on February 4th, 2019