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Engineering Ethics

The major approaches to bothintuitive and rational ethics in

Western Culture and their application to engineeringpractice.



Philosophical choices

• While there are other ethical philosophiesfrom other cultures, the major ones in our Western Culture that have supported the

rise of engineering as a profession are:

• Intuitionist ethics – Culture & Conscience

• Outcome-based ethics - John Stuart Mill

• Duty-based ethics – Immanuel Kant

• Character-based ethics – Aristotle



The Sears Morality

• Most people living in Western Culture areprotected from making choices between goodand evil by education, lifestyle, circumstances,ethical intuition, and the rule of law.

• Rather than being confronted with daily choicesbetween good and evil, we usually need onlychoose between the good, the better, and thebest.

• Let‟s call this the Sears-Roebuck Ethic.• It is often invoked in engineering practice since

engineers have to make trade-offs in design.



Just always do the right thing.

• Ethics is simple in theory: Just always do the right thing!

• But practice is usually much more difficult.

• The Apostle Paul said: “That which I would do, that I do

not and that which I would not do, that I do.” (Rom. 7:15) • Today‟s leading New Testament scholar, Bishop N. T.

Wright says: “I have high moral standards. I have

thought about them. I have preached about them. I haveeven written books about them. And I still break them.”

(Simply Christian, p. 5)

• If people of such highly developed moral character haveethical problems, to whom shall we turn for help?



A grim ethical choice

• In WWII Churchill did not tell the people of Coventry that an unexpected Nazi bombing raidwas on the way because had he done so, theNazis would have known their Enigma code hadbeen broken.

• Three thousand five hundred persons died in theunexpected raid, yet many thousands morewould have died if Nazis had known the need tochange their code.

• He said it was the most terrible decision he ever had to make in his life. Did he do the right thing?



Another difficult choice

• The United States OSS fed reports to RadioLuxembourg during World War II to set up abelievable context in which they could deceivethe Nazis about the impending D-Day invasion.

• They sent true reports of actual Allied troopmovements, sacrificing those troops to the Nazisin return for later misinformation credibility.

• Did they do the right thing?

• What would a US soldier in a „sacrificed‟ unit sayabout the ethics of this choice?

• What would Kant say? Is there a difference inpremeditation here?



Henry and Frank

• In 1935, before WWII began Henry Ford at aWhitehouse reception made a very private offer to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

• He said: “Frank, I think this Hitler fellow is goingto be a lot of trouble, do you want me to have myboys take care of him for you?”

• The president rejected his offer based on USpolicy against assassinating foreign heads of state. Did he do the right thing?

• Would an assassination have saved 20M lives?



Ten years later.

• Our WWII Japanese code breakers learned that Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the sneakattack on Pearl Harbor was going to visit histroops at Bougainville, well out of our fighter

range.• A group of hotshot P-38 pilots found a way to

mount fuel tanks on their two bomb racks, bysubstituting 70 gals. of fuel for 500 lbs. of

explosives.• Admiral Nimitz sent a coded message to

President Roosevelt: “Shall we shoot down Admiral Yamamoto?”



What was his decision?

• We have no record, but apparently the Presidentagreed for the first time in U.S. history, to allowthe assassination of a foreign leader. (But this

was a military leader, not an head of state.)• 16 P-38s took off at 4 AM and shot down

Yamamoto‟s “Betty” bomber over Bougainville in

revenge for his commanding the sneak attack on

Pearl Harbor, which cost 3500 American lives.

• Did Roosevelt do the right thing this time?

• What would Aristotle have said?



Consider a Ternary Ethic

Scenario Motive

Kant?

Means

Aristotle?

Consequence

Mills?

1 Good Good Good

2 Good Good Bad

3 Good Bad Good

4 Good Bad Bad

5 Bad Bad Good

6 Bad Bad Bad

7 Bad Good Good

8 Bad Good Bad



Application to the examples

• Churchill‟s decision was Good Bad Good

• The OSS deception was Bad Bad Good

• FDR‟s Hitler decision was Good Good Bad • Yamamoto decision was Bad Bad Good

• A ternary ethic begins to show nuances

that are not obvious in a binary ethic.• In Scripture we see this kind of ethic

operating as the conditional will of God.



Intuitionist Ethics

• Based on our common cultural background or perhaps inborn conscience.

• Plato said the to know the Good (as an Ideal)

was to do it (in practice).• His student Aristotle said that was not enough, it

also took an act of will and life long practice toalways do the good.

• The difference here is between connaissance (toknow about the good) and savior faire ( to knowhow to do the good ).



Application

• Intuition is based on an insight which seems tobe true or correct.

• While not rational, most choices in life are

informed by unconscious aspects of cognition.• Beware intuition when emotionally involved.

• Intuition is best trusted in simple rather than

complex situations,• When intuitive (right-brained) judgments conflict

it is best to defer to reason (the left brain).



An Intuitive Ethical Universal

• Is there one intuitive principle that could wellgovern all ethical human behavior?

• Love the lord your God and your neighbor asyourself. – Hebrew Bible

• Do into others as you would have others do intoyou. – Jesus

• Do not do anything to anyone you would not

want them to do to you. – Mohammed• If this principle were always observed we would

not need other laws. - Gov. Mike Huckabee



Outcome-Based Ethics

• From Jeremy Bentham„s and John Stuart

Mill‟s Ethical Principles.

• In Eighteenth Century England a number of philosophers developed approaches toepistemology, empiricism, and ethics.

• Their thinking has guided the consequentdevelopment of western Science, westernEngineering, and western Ethics.



J. S. Mill: Utilitarianism

• Pleasure and the greatest happinessprinciple hold that actions are right inproportion as they promote happiness,

wrong when they promote the reverse.• Mill notes that Epicureanism assigned

much higher values to the pleasures of themind and soul compared to those of thebody. So did he.

• The pleasure principle was defended byMill as the goal of Utilitarianism.



Species of Utilitarianism

• Hedonistic Utilitaranism – pleasure is the onlyintrinsic good and pain is the only intrinsic bad.But pleasure here is not just physical pleasure.

• Rule Utilitarianism – Mill noted that we cannotsum the good for all and subtract the bad for alleverytime we make a decision, thus we mustwork within a set of experiential rules.

• Act Utilitarianism – Need not consider each actas universal, hence it can apply to only onedecision depending on its own unique context.



Kant: Respect for Persons Ethics

• Based on Immanuel Kant‟s ethical principles. • Kant was a Pietistic Lutheran who taught

mathematics and physics in Prussia.

• He became concerned with the relationshipbetween the observed world of forces andmatter and the ideal world of mathematics andlogic.

• He wrote The Critique of Pure Reason.• He also made a major contribution to ethical

thought.



Kant‟s Categorical Imperative

• The chief good is a good will.• Character alone is not good, nor are the gifts of

fortune, like talent & temperament.

• Even Aristotle‟s moderation can become bad if not tempered with a good will.

• A good will is good in spite of the outcome.

• Utility in the outcome or lack thereof cannot add

or take away from the value of an ethicaldecision.

• The opposite of Mill‟s outcome-based ethics.



Kant‟s Propositions

• To have any moral worth an action must bedone from duty alone, not from any emotional or rational predisposition.

• A action can have moral worth only because it isbased on principle (i.e., is rational).

• Duty is the necessity of acting from respect of the moral law.

• The preeminent good which we call moral consists in the rational conception of the law andnot the quality of the outcome.



Examples and Imperatives

• An act is moral only if done from duty notemotions or personal inclination.

• One should be truthful from duty not from any

fear of the consequences of lying.• Any act should be done as if it were the

consequence of a universal moral law.

• An action good as a means is hypothetical,

hence the hypothetical imperative.

• An action good in itself is categorical, hence thecategorical imperative.



Kant‟s Practical Rules

• Act as if the maxim of your action were tobecome by your will a universal law of nature.

• So act as to treat humanity , whether in your ownperson or in that of any other, in every case as

an end withal, never as a means only.

• “Humanity” because humans are rational and

autonomous, i.e., not plants or animals.

• Is there a dark side of Kant‟s Ethic? • Can we be led astray by duty alone?



The dark side of duty

• Consider Adolf Eichmann‟s pseudo-Kantian defense “I was only doing my

duty, I was just following orders.”

• He really must have really thought he wasdoing the right thing.

• His boss Heinrich Himmler‟s defense was:

“I never actually killed anyone, I just gaveorders.”

• So who was guilty? Both, or neither?



Is this a cultural blind-spot?

• This situation occurs so often in Germanythat they have a saying for the personaldilemma it causes.

•Ich falle zwischen zwei Stuhle.

• Ich falle zwischen zwei Stuhle.

• I fall between two stools.

• That is: “I cannot find a morally correct

position to take between these two ethicalprinciples”.



Let‟s be fair to Kant

• Wouldn‟t he say that there must be a higher

abstract standard or ideal standard of good andevil like Aristotle would have claimed.

• On this standard, hurting or killing another human or rational autonomous creature wouldbe bad no matter who told you to do it.

• This is the primary ethic of Star Trek. Why?

• So how did the Nazi‟s motivate their holocaust

anyway?



Killing humans is bad

• So Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebelsset up a PR campaign to first deny humanity to the Jews, the Gypsies, the

insane, the mentally handicapped, thegender challenged, etc.

• Then they could kill them with a clear conscience because they were now notdeemed to be human.

• Is this redefinition and denial of humanity happening to any human group today?



What about abortion?

• If we deny that a foetus is human, then wecan kill it without taking a human life.

• However this requires redefining the Latin

word foetus to mean something in Englishthat it didn‟t mean in Latin.

• The first generation that manages toescapes abortion will vote in euthanasia

for their aged parents.• This may even be happening here right

now; it already has is The Netherlands.



Aristotle: Virtue-Based Ethics

• Aristotle taught that virtuous behavior proceededfrom a virtuous character and that a virtuouscharacter was a result of a disciplined practice of ethical behavior.

• He invented the word “sin” hamartia or “missing

the mark” and the term “sinner” hamartoulon or “mark-misser” in his Nichomachean Ethics.

• The same term in the Hebrew Bible is Chata.• He said the worst sin you can commit is to

betray a friend.



Aristotle: Morality and Virtue

• Happiness is both the highest good and thecause of all precious and divine good things.

• Happiness is an activity of the soul and virtue isthe means to its provision.

• The purpose of the state is to make its citizensvirtuous and obedient to law.

• Thomas Jefferson took him quite literally when

he said that the purpose of the state is toguarantee the (well-being) or life, liberty andpursuit of happiness of its citizens. See: The

Declaration of Independence.



Aspects of the soul

• The soul has two parts, the rational and theirrational.

• The irrational (autonomic) aspect is shared with

all other living things.• There is also an irrational aspect to the

incontinent (uncontrolled) person.

• The continent or (self-controlled) person

illustrates the rational aspect of the soul.

• Unlike Plato, he accepted emotion and reasonas normative aspects of human behavior.



Virtues are acquired

• Virtue is twofold: intellectual and moral.• The first is both natural and fostered by

teaching. The second is the result of habit.

• Moral virtue not implanted in us by nature, but

nature gives us the capacity, which can beperfected by training (discipline) and habit.

• Like any other habit (e.g., playing the lyre) it canbe improved by practice or lost by disuse.

• Use it or lose it, sayeth Aristotle.



The study of virtue

• Is not to learn about virtue i.e., knowledge.

• It is to learn virtue itself , i.e., savoir faire.

• Reasoning about practical matters cannotbe scientifically exact.

• Thus we should never employ more rigor than the subject matter can bear.

• In the case of personal disciplines, bothtoo much and too little are deleterious.



Virtues are character traits

• The soul is three things: emotions, (mentaland spiritual) faculties, and character traits.

• He then proved that virtues are neither emotions or faculties. Would Mill and Kantagree?

• Virtue or excellence in a person is a moralstate that makes them good and able toperform their functions as a human beingand a citizen of the state well, or to excel.



Compare Anthropologies

• Aristotle’s • God given Spirit

• Personality

– Faculties

– Emotions

– Character

• Physical Body

• The Apostle Paul’s • God given Spirit

• Soul

– Mind

– Heart

– Will

• Physical Body



The doctrine of the mean.

• Pythagoras said evil is by nature infinite butgood is by nature finite. So what is the meanbetween them?

• There can be none.• Aristotle replied to the Pythagoreans that virtue

is a state of deliberate moral purpose consistingof a mean that is relative to ourselves, (i.e., not

infinity ) the mean being determined by reason,or as any prudent person would determine it.



But not for every emotion or action

• There are emotions that have no mean state,these include malice, shamelessness, envy, etc.

• There are actions that have no mean state,these include adultery, theft, murder, etc.

• All of these imply wickedness.

• Aristotle actually said: “Adultery committed at the

right time, in the right place, with the right

person, in the ideal manner is still totally wrong.” • One can see why the Christian church fell in love

with this philosopher.



Examples of virtues and vices

• Between fear and confidence, courage isthe mean state.

• Between insensibility and licentiousnessthe mean state is temperance.

• Between prodigality and illiberality themean is liberality.

• Between vanity and little-mindedness themean is high-mindedness.



Aristotle‟s catalogue of virtues

• Between passionate and impassive isgentleness.

• Between unfriendly and obsequious is friendly.

• Between envy and malice lies the mean of righteousness indignation.

• Aristotle always seeks the mean betweenbehavioral extremes, thereby limiting the

extremes of reckless Greek passion.• In fact, before Aristotle invented the word

hamartia for sin the Greek phrase for this ideawas “reckless behavior.” See: The Iliad .



Now, can we draw a picture of Engineering Ethics?

• There is an old engineering saying: “You don‟t

understand it unless you can draw a picture of it.”

• Can we draw a picture or at least a tableau of Articles 2, 3, and 4 in the textbook?

• We leave aside Ethical Intuition as a sort of backdrop for reason in ethical thinking.

• It is not in the pictures, perhaps it‟s the canvas

on which they are painted.



The Basic TableauPhilosopher Question 1

What issupreme

principle?

Question 2

How do wesolve moral

problems?

Question 3

Kind of persons are

we ?

Conclusion

J. S. MillUtilitarianism

Principle of Utility: greatestgood for thegreatestnumber

Act in accordwith rules togain bestoutcome

Cultivatethose virtuesthat promoteThe good

Consequencesof an actiondetermine itsgoodness

I. KantRespect for

Persons

Principle of Humanity

(or RationalBeings)

Principle of Universality

We shouldalways act

out of duty

Always do theright thing no

matter who ithurts

AristotleVirtueEthics

Maximizehappiness or well-being

Choose themeanbetweenextremes

Develop andpracticepersonalvirtue

The virtuousperson willalways do theright thing



Q1 What is the supreme principleof morality?

Mill Principle of Utility.

An action is right if it promotes the most overall good and

wrong if it fails to do so. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist

moral theory, an action is good or bad depending on whether

the outcome is good or bad.

Kant Principle of Universality. Act as if the maxim of your action were to become by your will auniversal law of nature.The goodness of an action is not measured by the outcome of anact, but rather whether it is done out of duty

Aristotle Good can arise only out of the practice of personal virtue which isdeveloped by lifelong discipline and practice.Virtuous deeds are done by virtuous persons.



Q2 How should we solve moralproblems?

Mill Summation fo the greatest good tor the greatest number less

any bad consequences. In practice, this mathematical principle

is resolved as the application of experiential rules.

The goodness of an act is determined by measuring the

outcome.

Kant So act as to treat humanity , whether in your own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as a means only.

Aristotle Always seek the mean between extremes of behavior as the firstapproximation to virtuous behavior.



Q3 What kind of persons should webe?

Mill We should seek the greatest good for the greatest number

without giving ourselves preference in ethical decisions.

Kant We should be rational and dutiful, always seeking to fulfill ethicallaws as if they were universals of both hypothetical and categoricalbehavior. If we seek duty within reason and always respect personswe will always do the right thing.

Aristotle We should develop and practice virtue, and having achieved avirtuous character we will always do the right thing.



Conclusions

Mill Very useful in the practice of engineering since engineering

activities are goal directed and result in products and

processes which are intended to improve the lives for as many

people as possible.

Kant Always do the right thing no matter how many people it hurtsincluding yourself. (Subject to the Principle of Humanity.)Make every moral act as if you would want it to be universal law of behavior. Good for engineering since we are concerned with thesafety and well-being of our end-users as persons.

Aristotle Engineers must cultivate discipline specific virtues as technicalcompetence, discernment, professional autonomy, innovation.The three most important virtues for engineering innovation arecreativity, tenacity, and serendipity.



Reducing the Theory to Code

• As engineers we reduce theory to codes,best practices, and even standards.

• As we go through selected items in theSoftware Engineering Code of Ethics let‟s

try to identify from where each code itemor guideline came from.

• Write on your notes the result of classdiscussion whether the source for each isEthical Intuition, Mill, Kant, or Aristotle.



Software Engineering Ethics Code

• The IEEE Computer Society and the ACM JointSoftware Engineering Code of Ethics

• Principle 1: Public

• Software engineers shall act consistently withthe public interest. In particular, softwareengineers shall, as appropriate:

1.01 Accept full responsibility for their own work.

1.02 Moderate the interests of the softwareengineer, the employer, the client, and the userswith the public good.



Principle 1 (selections)

1.03 Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meetsspecifications, passes appropriate tests and

does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy,or harm the environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be the public good.

1.04 Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities

any actual or potential danger to the user, thepublic, or the environment, that they reasonablybelieve to be associated with software.



Principle 2

• Principle 2: Client and employer

• Software engineers shall act in a manner that isin the best interests of their client and employer,

consistent with the public interest. In particular,software engineers shall, as appropriate:

2.01 Provide service in their areas of competence,being honest and forthright about any limits in

their experience and education.

2.02 Not knowingly use software that is obtainedillegally or unethically.




2.05 Keep private any confidential informationgained in their professional work, where suchconfidentiality is consistent with the public

interest and consistent with the law.2.08 Accept no outside work detrimental to the

work they perform for their primary employer.

(Be careful about “moonlighting.”)



Principle 3: Product

• Principle 3: Product

• Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the

highest professional standards possible. Inparticular, software engineers shall, asappropriate:

3.01 Strive for high quality, acceptable cost, and a

reasonable schedule, ensuring significanttradeoffs are clear to and accepted by theemployer and the client and are available for




consideration by the user and the public.

3.02 Ensure proper and achievable goals andobjectives for any project on which they work or

propose.3.03 Identify, define, and address ethical,

economic, cultural, legal, and environmentalissues related to work projects.

3.07 Strive to fully understand the specificationsfor software on which they work.




3.10 Ensure adequate testing, debugging, andreview of software and related documents onwhich they work.

3.14 Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitiveto outdated or flawed occurrences.

3.15 Treat all forms of software maintenance withthe same professionalism as new development.



Principle 4: Judgment

• Principle 4: Judgment

• Software engineers shall maintain integrity andindependence in their professional judgment. In

particular, software engineers shall, asappropriate:

4.01 Temper all technical judgments by the needto support and maintain human values.

4.04 Not engage in deceptive financial practicessuch as bribery, double billing, or other improper financial practices.



Principle 5: Management

• Principle 5: Management

• Software engineering managers and leadersshall subscribe to and promote an ethical

approach to the management of softwaredevelopment and maintenance. In particular,those managing or leading software engineersshall, as appropriate:

5.01 Ensure good management for any project onwhich they work, including effective proceduresfor promotion of quality and reduction of risk.




5.02 Ensure that software engineers are informedof standards before they are being held to them.

5.06 Attract potential software engineers only by

full an accurate descriptions of the conditions of employment. (No “death marches.”)

5.07 Offer fair and just remuneration.

5.12 Not punish anyone for expressing ethicalconcerns about a project.



Principle 6: Profession

• Principle 6: Profession

• Software engineers shall advance the integrityand reputation of the profession consistent with

the public interest. In particular softwareengineers shall, as appropriate:

6.01 Help develop an organizational environmentfavorable to acting ethically.

6.05 Not promote their own interests at theexpense of the profession, client, or employer.



Principle 7: Colleagues

• Principle 7: Colleagues

• Software engineers shall be fair to andsupportive of their colleagues. In particular,

software engineers shall, as appropriate:7.01 Encourage colleagues to adhere to this code.

7.02 Assist colleagues in professionaldevelopment.

7.02 Credit fully the work of others and retain fromtaking undue credit.



Principle 8: Self

• Principle 8: Self

• Software engineers shall participate in lifelonglearning regarding the practice of their

profession and shall promote an ethicalapproach to the practice of the profession. Inparticular, software engineers shall continuallyendeavor to:

8.02 Improve their ability to create safe, reliable,and useful quality software at reasonable costand with a reasonable time.




8.03 Improve their ability to produce accurate,informative, and well-written documentation.

8.05 Improve their knowledge of relevant

standards and the law governing the softwareand related documents on which they work.



Real-World Examples

• The legal but not quite ethical dilemma.

• Deliver an untested program dilemma.

• What is the safety factor?

• Designing for failure.

• What is the cost of corruption?

• Can national laws permit unethicalbehavior? Lockheed and Stanford cases.



It‟s legal but is it ethical?

• Thirty years ago I got a call from Bill Lawsonasking what he should do as his client asked himto design a computer-based accounting system

he considered unethical.• He was just starting Lawson Software with his

brother Richard and feared that denying thiscritical first client would spell doom for the start-

up. The worst sin for a software developer is towalk away from a project.

• What should I tell him to do and why?



Deliver an untested program?

• Is it ethical to deliver an untested program?• As general manager of AiC I assigned my best

programmer to write a new revenue accountingprogram for Dart Transports in Minneapolis.

• Then there were 296 the Federal Tariff rules for accounting revenue for motor truck freight. Hecould only check out 16 of them in practice.

• But, Dart Transports was very happy with theprogram and asked for their final invoice.

• What should I tell the programmer to do?



What is the safety factor?

• For years I taught a senior elective course inaircraft structural engineering at UMinn.

• The class was familiar with safety factors of say,10 for an elevator or 5 for a bridge and wantedto know what they were for an aircraft structure.

• I said that for a high-performance military planethe SF was 1.01 and for an airliner it was 1.02.

• They were horrified and accused me of teachingthem to engage in criminal behavior.

• What was my defense as a structural engineer?



Designing for failure.

• Is it ethical to design a structure for failure?• An aircraft structure is designed to separate

upon impact just behind the wing spar. Why?

• A 1400-foot guyed TV tower is designed tocollapse in its own shadow at high noon. Why?

• We cannot design perfect structures but we aredoing better with earthquake resistant designs.

• For example: Where is the center of gravity of the Seattle Space Needle, which is sitting rightatop a Pacific Rim fault?



What is the cost of corruption?

• I used to teach a technology-based course ininternational business development in the MBAprogram at St. Mary‟s Univ. in Minneapolis and

also at Global Christian University.• I had a 50-something MBA student who chose to

write his term paper of the cost of corruptionincluding bribery, theft, and wastage in the high-

tech international business domain.• What percentage of invoiced value was the

result of this very experienced sales engineer?



Laws can permit unethical behavior

• Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands took a $2Mbribe from two Lockheed vice-presidents inorder to buy their NATO tactical fighter.

• The Lockheed vice-presidents were indictedunder U.S. law and served time in prison.

• Prince Bernhard was publically absolved of wrongdoing by his wife Queen Beatrice since

bribery is not illegal in The Netherlands.• In fact, a business in Holland can even claim

business tax deductions for bribes to others.



Dutch law on Internet crime.

• When I was CIO at UPenn I got a desperate callfrom the Stanford CIO about my open back door.

• A Dutch computer science professor had placed

five software “bombs” in Stanford administrativesoftware and wanted $5000 to remove them.

• I called in the FBI Internet crime team who calledin Interpol, the International Police agency.

• Interpol reported back that the Dutch policewould not intervene because extortion was not acrime under Dutch law. So, what did we do?



What did we do?

• Dutch law considers taking something that is notprotected against theft or illegal entry no crime.

• We immediately closed the heretofore open

back door on the UPenn URL so criminals couldnot use it to compromise other .edu URLs.

• I then sent a team out to Stanford to work withtheir very capable computer experts to find and

remove the five “bombs.” • As a software engineer you need to know about

variations in international computer law & GAAP.



A GAAP example.

• GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Practice• In Italy/France/Spain the most commonly used

accounting transaction is un-post a journal entry.

• In German (hence Polish/Czech/Hungarian/etc.)accounting practice it is a felony violation of Federal law to un-post a journal entry? Why?

• Solution: German accountants always wear

vests with their many pockets to carry aboutslips of paper with provisional journal entries.

• They only post them when they are certain.