An Instructional Case in the Ethics of Accounting Disclosures: Springfield Medical Center

This instructional case considers the ethical issues in an actual legal case involving a Big 8 firm and a management consulting engagement. The engagement included the oversight of a forecast and an attestation service for the registration statement in an initial public offering. The objectives of the case are: to present an agency framework for the examination of ethical issues; to illuminate the obligations of full disclosure, the exercise of due care and the state of independence; to consider an ethical basis for the “deep‐pockets” theory; and to provide a vehicle for ethical reasoning by students. The case is directed to a financial accounting course at the M.B.A. level, a professional development course or an upper‐division undergraduate course.