Response 2:
A manager has responsibility to various stakeholders in the organization. These stakeholders are employees, shareholders, customers, and community. However, when it comes to financial reporting, the information is of main concern to the shareholder/investors of the organization. The shareholders and investors make critical decision based on financial reports and naturally if the information on the report is incorrect, there could financial loss and damage to the investors. This situation goes against the ethical principle of non-maleficence. As a result, a manager has the ethical responsibility to report financial information on time and accurately.
The main challenges that a manager may feel when reporting financial information is that the accuracy and timeliness of the information may be quite subjective to different parties. The challenges arise in dealing with the various teams, their interests and finally the interest of the supervisors.
A manager is likely under pressure from supervisors to report an attractive picture about the financial situation of the company. At the same time, there may be an attempt from the subordinates to image management where they attempt to present a better than actual numbers on their financial report. As a result, the manager may need to verify the numbers that he/she receives from subordinates and also provide a factual report to the supervisors. These are the challenges that a manager usually face while reporting financial matters.