Select a publicly traded firm of your choice that enjoys a large shareholder base. What challenges may this firm have encountered (or is likely to encounter) in terms of (a) incorporating ethics into financial management practices, and (b) maintaining/sustaining ethical practices in the face of internal or external (market) pressures? Frame your response relative to the financial manager's fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder's wealth.

The shareholders of Verizon Communications, Inc. urge our Board of Directors to adopt a policy that prohibits the practice of paying above-market earnings on the non-tax-qualified retirement saving or deferred income account balances of senior executive officers. This policy should be implemented prospectively and apply only to senior executive officers in a manner that does not interfere with any contractual rights, (Verizon, 2019).

Challenges Verizon is likely to encounter in terms of incorporating ethics into financial management practices is the financial crisis that has certainly highlighted the need for capital market decision making to reflect long?term considerations. It has shown the extent to which corporate reporting fails to highlight systemic risks. A shift to a reporting model that supports the information needs of long?term investors and reflects the connected nature of environmental, governance, and societal factors is an essential step towards building a sustainable economy. In a largely saturated U.S. wireless market, the major carriers are locked in a battle for market share. Customers must be wrestled away from the competition to spur growth, and the ensuing struggle has ushered in a vicious price war, (Greenspan, 2019). Based on latest financial disclosure Verizon Communications has Probability of Bankruptcy of 46.0%. This is 10.89% lower than that of the Communication Services sector, and 6.49% lower than that of Telecom Services industry, The Probability of Bankruptcy for all stocks is 15.49% lower than the firm.

Maintaining ethical practices in the face of internal pressures for Verizon is to continually assess further steps they can take to advance this critical effort. Middle managers need to be given explicit and implicit authority to speak up where they believe that the welfare of the organization and its employees is being threatened. They must be converts and evangelists for the corporate mission – including the ethical dimension. The leader who understands the value of ethical principles and practices will effect real change only if their zeal can be converted into a strong culture that infects the whole organization. The company lacks attention to responsible business and open communication can have a disastrous impact on sales, share value, and competitiveness. The internal pressure would be from the top administration that may compel center or base level administration to walk the deceptive way or weight from worker's organization or simply outside weight may make consolidating morals a test. The test would include making the organization sufficient and guaranteeing the autonomy of its staff that they are not pressurized into taking estimates that are not moral. There is a test to make the exercises straightforward and approaches clear. The test to convey well that augmenting investor's riches to the detriment of trading off with morals isn't prudent and won't be acknowledged in the organization as it might have genuine long haul suggestions, (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 2010).

Verizon’s fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder's wealth to align executives’ and shareholders’ interests and encourage the creation of long-term shareholder value, all of Verizon’s senior leaders receive long-term equity awards in the form of restricted stock units and performance stock units as part of their annual compensation package. Currently, the grant date value of the named executive officers’ equity award represents more than half of their total compensation opportunity each year, (Greenspan, 2019).

Greenspan, R. (2019). Verizon’s Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholders, and Performance. Retrieved from: http://panmore.com/verizon-corporate-social-responsibility-stakeholders-performance

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. (2010). Incorporating ethics into strategy: developing sustainable business models. https://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Professional%20ethics%20docs/Incorporatingethicsintostrategyweb1.pdf

Verizon. (2019). 2019 Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement. https://www.verizon.com/about/sites/default/files/2019-Proxy-Statement.pdf