Project Management Accounting: Budgeting, Tracking, and Reporting Costs and Profitability, Second Edition

Integrity and Honesty

In addition to assuring yourself that you possess the minimum skill sets to manage a particular project, you need to protect your reputation by knowing whom you are going to be associated with. Your parents warned you as children that you will be defined by the type of friends that you associated with. The old adage comes to mind, “if you lie down with dogs, then you will wake up with fleas”. Accordingly, we believe it is important to understand the character of the organization before committing your time and energy to a project. If you are an employee, chances are you did this type of research before being hired by the company.

We recommend that you try to get a feel for your potential client's business ethics. Father Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C., of the University of Notre Dame defined business ethics as “A study of moral standards and how these apply to the system and organization through which modern societies produce and distribute goods and services and to the people who work within these organizations.” In order to get a feel for whether or not a potential client has sound business ethics, we recommend that you verify their record. Specifically, we recommend contact with the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Dun and Bradstreet, and a search for legal complaints. The search for legal complaints and judgments can be accomplished at a relatively low cost by your attorney's office or by subscribing to one of the legal search service providers. ...