Ethics Systems Of Accounting : Comparing Deontology And Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism considers the pleasure and pain of every individual affected by an action. It also considers everyone to be equal and does not permit an individual to put their interests or relationships first. After this it attempts to provide an objective, quantitative method for making moral decisions. Utilitarianism is not able to assign quantitative measures to all pleasures and pains, and does not address the issue of some pleasures and pains that cannot or should not be measured-such as human life or human suffering.

The word deontology comes from the Greek word “deontos” which means duty (Adams, 2011). Deontology can be defined as doing what is morally correct regardless of the final results as long as they abide by the moral principles. Certain actions, like lying, are never allowed regardless if its outcomes benefit the purpose and no harm is caused. The theory states that whether an action is ethical and follows the moral rules, depends on the intentions behind the decisions (Pieper, 2008). So for an action to be “good” and morally right, it must have been performed at goodwill and abide to moral values.

Utilitarianism is one of the moral theories that literally only acts on gaining or developing the use for having utility, or what is also known as happiness. Pleasure is a helpful key word to define utility because it is the opposite of feeling pain. As long as there stands a high level of utility, there will be actions to obtain it and no matter how much morality is provided or taken away. Such pleasure can be from the act of the utilitarian in which... Add more examples to this paragraph.

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics supporting the idea that the morally correct course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing totally benefit and minimizing suffering. By ‘utility’ in this sense we mean ‘happiness’ or ‘pleasure, or similar. Although there are many varieties,

Utilitarianism is a theory aimed at defining one simple basis that can be applied when making any ethical decision. It is based on a human’s natural instinct to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory. It concerns how to evaluate a large range of things that involve choices communities or groups face. These choices include policies, laws, human’s rights, moral codes,

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

Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, as it determines right and wrong by focusing on outcomes. Utilitarian’s believe that the most ethical decision is a choice that will produce the greater good for the greatest number of people. Furthermore, this means that the actions are deemed as right as long as they promote happiness and deemed wrong if they produce unhappiness. Utilitarianism also relies on a theory of intrinsic value, Utilitarians essentially believe that pleasure or happiness is the only thing that has intrinsic value, meaning that something is simple good in itself. A third fundamental claim held by utilitarian’s is that everyone’s happiness is matters equally.

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that judges an action on its outcomes and aims to maximize happiness. This means finding the action that generates the “greatest good for the greatest number”.

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

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory of someone's best action that maximizes utility. There are two branches of utilitarianism, the first is act which states we should choose our actions based on what will cause the greatest amount of help. The second branch is rule, we should decide what causes the greatest happiness and then set rules. There are two utilitarians with different theories on happiness.

Utilitarianism is a form of Consequentialism based on the Greatest Happiness Principle. This principle states that actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness and wrong in proportion as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Utilitarians apply this principle in their belief that one should consider every possible action they may take and choose the one that produces the greatest overall happiness in the world. Utilitarianism is different than Consequentialism because it focuses on human happiness as the consequence of actions. Consequentialism is broader and only takes into consideration better consequences, not what specifically makes one consequence better than another.

An overview of what Utilitarianism is, can be some-what explained as a combination of both the theory in Normative Ethics and a form of Consequentialism. In detail, on Utilitarianism, it is a theory in which it is a concern action that will result the utmost amount of pleasure, or happiness, to the vast numbers of persons. (pg.138) Consequentialism “an action is morally required just because it produces the best overall results. (pg.121) This is simply defined as good actions results in happiness. (pg.119) However, a better understanding follows the interpretation of Utilitarianism by J.J.C Smart.

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.