Deontology and Accounting Ethics Amanda Dunn Liberty University Introduction Body 1 Ethical Systems Description 1 Deontological 2 Utilitarian 2 Ethical Systems Evaluation 1 Organizational Culture of Accounting 2 AICPA Professional Code of Conduct 3 Utilization of a Deontological System Conclusion Introduction No man can be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt how he will react in any given situation. One can know how he would hope to react; however, until the circumstances are in place behavior can not be entirely predicted. A person’s reaction in the direst of moments is in fact the heart of who they are. While reactions are spontaneous, actions are not and the decisions to act or not to act …show more content…
As long as the largest quantity of people is receiving the greatest benefit as a result of a particular action, that action can be rationalized. With a greater understanding of the two major ethical systems proposed for the accounting profession, the evaluation of those systems becomes simpler. System Evaluations When determining and defending the use of a particular ethical system within the confines of a profession, it is important to evaluate the system in terms of the professional culture as well as the expected professional conduct laid out within the vocation itself. The accounting profession has been evolving for thousands of years. Early accounting records date business transactions back as far as third century B.C. (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2009). Early record keeping was for internal purposes and as societies and economies expanded, it became important to maintain records for external purposes as well. According to Schroeder, Clark & Cathey (2009), by the ninetheeth centruy, bookkeeing expanded into accounting (p. 3). From this time, it has been the duty of the accountant to serve the public interest and the profession has been culitvated into an organizational culture with professional norms and standards constantly taking shape in an effort to complete an all-inclusive conceptual framework. Oragnizational Culture As with any culture, whether social, economic, religious or professional,
If some research is undertaken that provides evidence that capital markets do not always behave in accordance with the Efficient Market Hypothesis, does this invalidate research that adopts an assumption that capital markets are efficient?
Financial reporting practices and ethics have manifested an ocean of literature. This has mainly come from organization theorists that address accounting practices. These theorists and professionals have given fresh accountability measures. Their ideals give this industry the tools needed to survive, grow and prosper. The way an organization prepares and reports its financial information and handles its daily operations is in essence financial practices, and in the way it accomplishes this reveals their ethical standards to which they adhere to. This paper will discuss the financial practices, ethical standards, and
“ In order to prevent fraudulent financial reports and statements, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants(AICPA) has created ethical standards” (Ethical standards in a financial statement, 2011). These standards aim to make financial professionals accountable for their accounting practices. This includes the integrity of financial reporting and ensuring financial reporting is done fairly and factually. Financial accountants and professionals should maintain professional integrity, objectivity, and independence to reduce the risk of resulting legal action, loss of profits, and a poor reputation if improper financial reporting is done (Ethical standards in a financial statement, 2011).
a. Regarding accounting, the acclaimed economist Ben Stein stated, “It's really amazing that in the age of unbelief, as a smart man called it, there isn't even more fraud. After all, with no God, there's no one to ever call you to account, and no accounting at all if you can get away with it.” Ben Stein
Accountants are held to a higher ethical standards and they must performed their duties in compliance with standards or ethical values of honesty, integrity, objectivity, due care, confidentiality, which must be fully committed to. They must put clients or public interest first before their own. They must have and ethical values and maintain those values way beyond what the society or the company’s code of ethic. It is important that accountants’ behavior or ethical values is in conformity with the
Ethics are crucial to the accounting profession and the business world, so choosing an ethics system to base your moral decisions on is extremely important. Accountants and all business professionals will be confronted with moral dilemmas on a daily basis. Being strong in your faith and knowing what you believe in will help you to always make the right decision. Based on this reasoning, this essay will explain why deontology is the best ethics system for the accounting profession.
Ethics in any industry is important, but for Accounting professionals and those in need of their services, it is a particularly stressed element. Information provided by accountants is used to make major decisions, including investing, downsizing, expanding, etc, so accountants are expected to be competent, reliable, and have a high degree of professional integrity. Because of these high expectations, the professional accountancy industry, like many other professions, has adopted professional codes of ethics (Woelfel, 1986). These ethical codes go above and beyond the requirements for state or federal laws and regulations. There are several professional organizations within the
The study is important because it examines the role of ethics in accounting. The research on identified problems is necessary due to vagueness of ethics concepts and its difficulty to
Imagine trusting your hard-earned money like your retirement savings to a financial adviser or Certified Public Accountants (CPA) only to lose it all in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. In today’s world of business many organizations, financial planners and accountants are in the news due to the financial ethical breaches that have affected their customers, employees, and the general public. A CPA has to be responsible for their audits and take any punishments as a result of their mistakes, incompetence or illegal actions. CPAs are expected to have integrity in their work,
Even in 15th-century Italy, where were famous for its prosperous business and active merchants, according to Pacioli, rarely people could achieve that goal. The mysterious verve of accounting not only attracted public and rulers attention, but also induced them to combine the success with good bookkeeping method. In some degree, it is the truth, but in today’s view, merely being a good accountant is not enough to be a successful businessman. After more and more successful accounting related stories came out, public firmed their high value of accounting, which connected it to every things in their lives as well as God. This actually created a pressure for accountants to do the best in financial accountability, or at least, they purposely presented a beautiful surface, because public concerned and admired this industry. This sounds like an idol in today’s society, who needed to be careful about their behaviors. This culture, as well as other cultures, could not survive without authority permission, so it is easy to infer that rulers also tried to use accounting to govern society better and managed their own properties. In history, however, from Emperor Augustus to the first American superintendent of finance, rarely people consistently follow accounting ethics, but one thing was certain, accounting always helped these
Ethical issues have greatly transformed in our lives since the great Enron, Xerox and other huge corporations proposed big profits showing earnings of billions of dollars and yet in reality facing bankruptcy. These corporations faced great trouble with the federals and state for manipulating financial statements. But not only corporations can be blamed on this, accounting firms were involved in this as much as the corporations were. With the business stand point, ethics comprises of principles and standards that guide behavior. Investors, traders, customers, and legal system determine whether a specific action is ethical or unethical. Ethical issue is a vast subject, but we will look at the niche
Ethical and legal obligations apply to all members of society. As one in society, the obligation to act in an ethical, law abiding manner on a daily basis is vital to the integrity of daily life. Many professions have their own code of ethics. Financial reporting is not exempt from such ethical and legal standards. One’s lively hood depends on decisions made in the business world. Business transactions are done daily and can impact one’s economic stability. Trust is placed in the hands of corporate America and an obligation of financial reporting to reveal a complete honest and legal picture of an entity’s accounting practices is important in attaining trust. This paper will discuss the obligations of
Throughout history the accounting profession has seen continuous growth. It has even been discovered that an elaborate accounting system was utilized as early as 8000 to 3000 B.C. (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2014). Humans have deemed it necessary for centuries to account for money and inventory items. In the nineteenth century, the accounting profession took another major step forward when the joint ventures evolved into corporations in England- resulting in stockholders needing financial records reflecting the companies’ performance (Schroeder et. al, 2014). This emergence of corporations brought about the need for reporting on a periodic basis in order to allow owners and prospective stockholders to evaluate the company to determine if their investments, or potential investments, yielded a return (Schroeder et. al, 2014). The evolution of these corporations brought about the need for accounting standards and laws that would that protect the investment of shareholders, require that dividends be paid from net gains, and require that audits be conducted by people other than the directors of the organization(s) (Schroeder et. al, 2014). These changes in the nineteenth century led the charge in the development for accounting standards and laws that we still follow today, and they are constantly evolving and improving in order to protect investors from scandal and fraud.
Accounting is the language of business. It is a profession that is being guided by principles, concepts, conventions, laws, etc. All these fundamental building blocks serve as common and general compasses to all practitioners of the profession. In some cases, they are nation-wide tailored, while in other cases, they are universally tailored. Accounting as a living, practical, dynamic and realistic profession covers so many areas of social, economic (business), and governmental activities. Surely, any endeavour that involves monetary and material activities create a room for the services of Accounting. Many of the human endeavours for which the accounting profession plays significant (some times inevitable) roles include; Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Farming Contracting, Oil and Gas, Mining, Transportation (Air, Land and Sea), Educational Institutions, Churches, Ministries, ICT, Hire Purchase, Local Government Authorities, Estate Businesses, Export and Import Businesses, Bill of Exchange Transactions, Royalties Transactions, Consignment Transactions, Stock Market Transactions, Sports, Entertainment, Hospitals and Hospitality Industry, etc.
The key to the article “Cooking the Books” is to cover the business ethics of an accounting manager ordering one of his accountants to falsifying a company’s accounting ledger. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principle of expense recognition was not followed. The accounting manager was attempting to commit fraud for personal gain, he does this by manipulating the books to show higher revenue in order to meet the volume for management bonus. The accounting manager also created a hostile working environment by threating his accountant’s job security if he didn’t comply with his orders. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act will also be explored to see if there was a violation due to the unethical behavior of the