Assignment: Memo Writing
Student Name:_______________________________________________________ Date:___________
Jennifer Ja needs your help. Because her clothing company Natty Attire is growing so quickly, she is
facing an increasing number of ethical dilemmas. She is hoping to learn from other businesses that have
confronted similar ethical situations. It is your job to present her with a specific ethical dilemma, provide
her with an appropriate response to the dilemma, and offer an explanation of how her business can
prevent this dilemma from happening. Carefully read through the entire resource before beginning your
memo.
A memo contains these five elements:

Date:

To:

From:

Subject:

The content
Before handing in your memo, check to make sure it meets or exceeds the following
assessment criteria:

The memo presents a brief summary of the situation and the circumstances.

The memo explains why the behavior involved is a breach of ethics.

The memo provides an explanation of how the business should respond to the unethical behavior.

The memo gives a detailed explanation of how the business could prevent the problem in the
future.

The memo is neat and legible, and uses proper spelling and grammar.
Copyright © 20092011 National Academy Foundation. All rights reserved.
AOF Principles of Finance
Lesson 12 Ethics in Finance
Example
Memo
Date: June 3
To: Jennifer Ja
From: Edward Fuentes-Torres
Re: Ethical dilemmas in the workplace
I have been studying ethical and moral challenges that can arise in the workplace. I have studied one
situation in particular and thought that I would share some of the circumstances with you. The occurrence
revolved around a young employee of a reputable brokerage house. He recently found out that one of his
clients was operating a Ponzi scheme (an investment scam that uses the assets from new investors to
make payments to older investors). Instead of reporting this illegal behavior to the proper authorities, his
desire to make more money prevented him from doing the right thing. Because he received compensation
based on the amount of trading commissions he produced, he became a part of the fraud.
A business’s response to an ethical problem is extremely important. Unethical behavior affects the
confidence of the public, which can eventually put a company out of business. In the particular situation
that I studied, the business responded to the situation by adhering to their no-tolerance policy. The
company immediately fired anyone that was even minutely involved in the scheme. So, the young man
was fired from his job and actually ended up serving jail time for his behavior. Even though the business
responded to the fraudulent behavior quickly and efficiently, the employee’s actions and the scheme
made the headlines and the company’s reputation was damaged.
In the course of managing ethical issues in the workplace, I have learned that prevention is extremely
important. In this particular case the young employee unfortunately felt that he was acting within the
boundaries of the company’s ethical code. If employees believe that the company’s culture secretly
honors greed and profit maximization over ethical and moral behavior, most companies will find
themselves in similar situations. In this case, it is evident that the company’s ethical and moral culture
needed to be re-created.
Ethical behavior needs to start at the top and companies need to work hard to create a culture of trust,
honesty, and integrity. A company’s code of ethics should be referred to frequently, and professional
development in this area should be stressed.
I hope that you find this memo helpful and that your company can learn from the mistakes of others.
Sincerely,
Edward Fuentes-Torres
Edward Fuentes-Torres
Copyright © 20092011 National Academy Foundation. All rights reserved.