With fallout from the Enron scandal still popping up in the news, it's become all the more important to understand the right, the wrong, and the gray area found in common business decisions.

Take this quiz to learn if you're a potential jailbird or part of the ethical elite! Though more than one answer might seem possible, try to pick the best answer to the questions provided.

1. You are the office manager and one upper-level manager has repeatedly used the company credit card for personal expenses. How do you handle the situation?

a. I do nothing. The person is higher than I am in the company, so it must be okay.
b. I confront the person and hope that this won't threaten my job.
c. I confront the person and reveal what I know to a higher-level manager or someone in human resources.

Correct Answer: C.
Talking to the person is not enough to ensure that the behavior won't continue. "Intervening directly is necessary but not sufficient," says Bruce Weinstein, Ph.D., who writes the column "Ask the Ethics Guy" for Knight-Ridder Tribune. Weinstein, whose book Life Principles: Feeling Good by Doing Good just came out in May, says management or human resources should be the one to monitor the person thereafter.

2. You are the human resources manager and an employee comes to you and says, "I want to tell you something about someone, but you can't tell anybody." They then reveal that someone pushed another employee in the company kitchen. Do you tell your boss?

a. I promised not to tell, so I don't.
b. I find out if the employee was injured and decide based on that whether to tell.
c. Even though it breaks my promise, I tell my boss so the incident goes on record.

Correct Answer: C.
Before she even gets to this position, human resource manager Jenn Crenshaw, a professor at the University of Phoenix campus in Richmond, VA, warns the employee that her position and the law might require her to tell someone else the information. "Then they get to decide whether or not they're going to tell me," Crenshaw says. If she doesn't get a chance to do that, she makes sure anything important, like physical assault, goes on the record by telling a higher up.

3. Although you're not an accountant, company policy now requires you to sign off on the tax filings for the department you oversee. You've never been a "numbers person" and don't fully understand the documents. What do you do?

a. I sign it, figuring if any problems are found, I can just argue that it's not my fault because I didn't understand the document.
b. I ask someone with more knowledge to walk me through the report before I sign.
c. I sign it, vowing to take an accounting course whenever I find the time.

Correct Answer: B.
A signature can be legally binding whether or not the person had any understanding of the document signed. "If I was asked to sign something where I wasn't privy to all the details, I'd have two or three people reviewing it and have them sign off," says Charles Kerns, Ph.D., who recently authored the book Value-Centered Ethics. It also helps to have alignment, which means employees who subscribe to the manager's belief in ethical responsibility and quality work, says Kerns, a full-time faculty member at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management.

4. As a human resources manager, you know it's illegal to ask whether a candidate for a position at your company is planning on starting a family, but during the course of the interview a woman reveals that she intends to do that. Can you decide whether to hire her based on the knowledge she might leave the company sooner or take maternity leave?

a. Yes, since she revealed it, it's fair game in deciding hires.
b. No, it would be discriminatory to avoid picking her for that reason.
c. If another candidate seems just as good and that's the only difference, it can become a factor to break the tie.

Correct Answer: B.
Planning to have a family cannot be used to decide whether to hire someone because it is discrimination. "It's impossible to know if the other candidate might be planning to leave in six months as well," suggests Crenshaw. The professor uses ethical questions like this as part of the MBA program she teaches, one which forces students to make a series of decisions in realistic situations through a unique "choose your own adventure"-style learning module. As students make choices, the program poses new dilemmas created by their selections.

5. You're a candidate for hire at a great company, but you plan to move across the country in a year. Do you reveal that during the interview?

a. No, they have no right to know I have relocation plans.
b. Yes, I would feel obligated to tell.
c. If the interviewer asks my long-term intentions, I'll admit to my plan.

Correct Answer: A.
Although this question depends largely on personal morals, a potential employee has no obligation to reveal future plans, which could potentially change. If asked directly, someone can instead focus on hopes for growth and promotion within the company to avoid lying.

6. A coworker friend approaches you to reveal he has major concerns about a large project and plans to tell the vice president. You just learned the vice president has been known to fire people who have been too vocal against this project. Do you encourage your friend to be honest anyway?

a. Yes, honesty is always the best policy.
b. No, I reveal the dangers of the decision and encourage the friend to protect his job.
c. I explain what I know but try to avoid encouraging my friend one way or another.

Correct Answer: C.

Personal ethics is important, but it's also important not to force those decisions on others, says Don Schierling, a professor at Regis University, a school that, because of its Jesuit history, has incorporated ethics in its teaching since it opened more than a century ago. Giving others information so they can make the best choice for themselves is generally the best option, he explains.

7. A friend has just been fired from your company. You are an up-and-coming executive and your boss warns that if you're seen with this person, you could lose the respect of those who might promote you. Before leaving, the friend is upset and asks you to meet him in the conference room, something coworkers will likely see. Do you agree to go comfort your friend?

a. Yes, human friendships matter more than any promotion.
b. Yes, but you ask if you can meet at a different location.
c. No, and you cut off all ties with the shunned employee.

Correct Answer: B.
Sacrificing your career for a friend is probably more than he or she would ask of you. And yet, shutting someone out completely is probably more extreme than necessary unless their reason for being fired makes them unacceptable as a friend. Trying to find a middle ground can save the friendship and the job. "When an employee is labeled as a loser, if you want to move up, you do not associate with that person," Schierling admits.

8. You're in public relations writing a press release about a new product your company has produced, a product that didn't turn out quite as well as initially promised in earlier reports. How much do you reveal that in the press release to the public?

a. I don't hint at it. It's important the company's image is not damaged by the flawed product.
b. I write a more mildly enthusiastic, but honest, release than I would if the product were perfect.
c. I'm completely honest, believing it will earn the respect of customers to be forthcoming.

Correct Answer: B.
People in public relations must tow the line between talking positively about a company and not lying outright. Since it's understood that a press release is going to put a positive spin on any topic, it's not expected to be fully frank about the flaws. On the other hand, a major disaster can sometimes be mitigated by an honest and upfront handling of the issue with the press. "Ultimately, you have to answer to yourself," says Schierling.

9. You're in charge of creating the budget report that goes to the board of directors. Just before the next meeting, the president asks you to leave something negative out and just add it next time. Do you agree to as a favor to him?

a. Yes, one time will not hurt.
b. Yes, but only after the president agrees to give you a bonus.
c. No, one small thing can turn into many small things, which is a big deal.

Correct Answer: C.
According to Schierling, starting down this slippery slope can be a dangerous thing because it's hard to know when to stop. "Crime seldom starts on a big issue. If you're willing to lie once, the odds are the second time's easier than the first. If you're able to do it twice, then you're able to do it a third time," he says. Kerns agrees: "When we talk to white collar criminals in jail, they say they made these incremental decisions."

10. An employee casually reveals to you that he cheats on his wife. You're a manager in a different department. Another manager is writing up a positive performance evaluation for this employee. Do you tell your co-manager what you learned?

a. No, what's personal is personal.
b. Yes, this behavior could eventually affect the company.
c. I hint at it but avoid making any definite claim.

Correct Answer: A.
If an employee's out-of-work behavior could affect his or her performance either currently or in the future, it's important the company knows about that, says Weinstein. "It's quite possible to be an adulterer and an excellent CEO or middle-level manager, sad as that is," he says. But he adds that the best thing to do based on personal ethics may be to speak with the employee about the emotional and health dangers to his wife

Answer Key:

1-3 Correct:
Perhaps it's time to reread those disastrous news reports about Enron. Or, better yet, consider taking a class in business ethics. Many schools with business majors have now incorporated ethics lessons into the curriculum.

4-7 Correct:
You're the right track! To get to CEO, think about business classes available on campuses and online, which address ethical issues now more than ever.

8-10 Correct:
You're an ethical CEO! Show off your skills by getting a business degree. It's become even more important graduates display conscientious, moral leadership.