Posted by & filed under Ethics, Internal control.

Description: Michael Koonin is in sales. His employer, Salbro Bottle of Woodbridge, Ontario normally paid his bill for data usage on his iPad and his cellphone each month. But in February Salbro balked when Telus billed $25,000 for roaming charges. The data misadventures began when Koonin sold the iPad on eBay to someone in California. Koonin didn’t tell his employer or Telus. And he failed to remove the SIM card. Meanwhile, some Californian was riding free on Salbro’s data dime. The CRTC cap code does not apply to business accounts, but Salbro feels there should still be some type of early warning system for accounts with unusual activity.

Date: March 21, 2016

Source: thestar.com

Link: http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/2016/03/21/a-25000-phone-bill-and-one-big-lesson-roseman.html

Discussion Points:

1) Have you ever been hit with an unexpected bill for data roaming? How did you respond?

2) What are the ethical issues at play in this story?

3) What controls might the accounting staff establish to help ensure their company does not get hit with an expensive data usage bill like this?

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