Jin, Drozdenko, and DeLoughy (2013) examined the organizational value clusters to determine that the corporate ideology affects the professional decisions and ethical choices (pp. 13-14). The authors used the data of national survey to analyze the organizational settings and mechanism of the corporate value system. The findings demonstrated that the accounting professionals possess the value judgment and ethical responsibility, but exercise the unethical behavior due to the demand and appreciation of the management (pp. 17-18). Jin et al. (2013) indicated that accounting professionals face limited options due to corporate interests, ideology of executives, and myopic mindset. The desire to achieve the high profit and performance results has negative consequences for the corporate ethics. Employees, accounting professionals, and executives sacrifice with commitments and ethical responsibilities. The researchers suggested finding the ways to support the ethical thinking, unbiased mindset, and …show more content…
It significantly affects the mentoring process, relationships with the client, and create a foundation for discrepancies between the firm’s leaders and accounting professionals (Bobek, Hageman, & Radtke, 2015). Bobek, Hageman, and Radtke (2015) used the descriptive statistics to measure the responses of accounting professionals and correlation analysis to evaluate the ethical environment. The research demonstrated that the participation of accountants in shaping the ethical norms increases the mentoring relationships, values, and outcomes (pp. 127-129). The sensitivity analysis demonstrated significant differences in perceptions of the ethical environment between the partners and non-leaders of the accounting firm. The differences do not allow maintaining a strong ethical atmosphere, decreasing the degree of organizational fit, and weakening the ethical perceptions of firms’ members (p.
Now more than ever it is important to know what IFRS is and what AICPA and IMA are, especially pertaining to their ethical standards. IFRS or the International Accounting Standards Board is a group of highly experienced professionals in the accounting field. They deal with the setting of standards, as well as preparing, auditing or using financial reports, and educating future accountants. The AICPA or the American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants is a non-profit organization of American Certified Public Accountants (CPA) who create
In today’s global society, a Code of Ethics policy is used to label established, acceptable behaviors among that industry’s business associates, potential investors, and the corporation’s executive officers and employees, and most important, the consumer (Ethics Resource Center, 2003). In an attempt to promote an increased efficiency and productivity potential level, among employees and prospective clients, a corporation’s standard Code of Ethics should guide its members toward a more in-depth examination of their personal moral activity, and how these actions affect the people or acquaintances they encounter. A company should utilize this strategy as a model for the professional behaviors and responsibilities of its constituents, and proves the occupational advancement of that business. Ethics are important in every level of a corporation, but specifically in the day-to-day actions of its members, and the image the company broadcasts to its associates is fundamental in building a stable business foundation. These pledges are a vital communication tool used to covey the firm’s standards for business operations, and predominantly, its relationships with the surrounding communities (Ethics Resource Center, 2003).
...urvey of ethical behavior in the accounting profession. Journal of Accounting Research, 9 (2), pp. 287-306.
According to Ferrell (2004), “Organizations create ethical or unethical corporate cultures based on leadership and the commitment to values that stress the importance of stakeholder relationships. Establishing and implementing a strategic approach to improving organizational ethics is based on establishing, communicating, and monitoring ethical values and legal requirements that characterize the firm's history, culture, and operating environment” (p. 129). Ethics programs ensure satisfactory relationships with all stakeholders by aligning with all of their demands and needs, and determine conduct with customers and relationships with regulators, shareholders, suppliers, and employees (Ferrell, 2004).
When examining the effect of open marketing on the profession of accounting it is important to view it from three perspectives: the client's, the profession's, and society's. Additionally, two key areas that are affected by marketing must be addressed,
For a company to be successful ethically, it must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture. A corporate code of ethics can be a very valuable and integral part of a company’s culture but I believe that it is not strong enough to stand alone. Thought and care must go into constructing the code of ethics and the implementation of it. Companies need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success. To be successfully ethical, companies must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture.
When working within any professional body, an individual will be subjected to circumstances in which personal ethics will come into play. The Accounting profession is no different as ethical questions arise as part of any working day and can effect how an individual or the company conducts business. These questions can vary greatly in practice from selection of new customers to the rates at which those clients are going to be charged. These ethical questions are raised regularly within the workplace and each employee will react to them differently. The varying reactions will depend on the morality of each individual, or each employees own ‘ethics’. As each employee has their own set of values companies must be alert to the fact that some of their employees may have more ‘flexible’ morals than others. This ‘flexible’ morality can lead to corruption and manipulation within the workplace and can give companies serious problems. As a result of this, all of the main professional accounting bodies have begun to re-introduce mandatory courses teaching ethics to their employees. As well as this, ‘A Guide to professional ethics’ was published which contains a number of different principles in order to govern the behaviour of accountants and also to identify and reduce the greatest areas of risk with respect to unethical behaviour.
What does ethics have to do with accounting? Everything, since there have been some recent financial accounting scandals; a few examples being Xerox, WorldCom, Enron, which have generated much unwanted and unfavorable publicity for CPA's, including those working as controllers or chief financial officers for organizations.
Worldcom was a telecommunications company that merged with MCI in 1997 and was renamed MCI Worldcom. Worldcom was the United States second largest long distance phone carrier, until the accounting scandal in 2002. In 2002, a lady named Cynthia Cooper found discrepancies in their accounting. Someone was cooking the books by moving money around and recording it in places it should not be.
I enjoyed the conversation on GAAP and earnings management relating to the case “Be Careful What You Wish For: From the Middle”. The conversation was brief, but got me thinking on the ethics of earnings management. GAAP accounting is to reflect in good faith the company’s actual financial status and present reality as is. It is not to present a manipulated set of numbers that paint a pretty picture. GAAP requires recording of revenue when there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, assurance of collectability, a fixed or determinable price, and delivery. If Sarah recognizes revenue before delivery, she would violate GAAP and partake in channel stuffing. It would not be earnings management.
Deontological and utilitarianism are the two type of ethics system which characterizes ethical decision-making with respect to organizational culture and the accounting profession (Pointe Cast Presentation, n.d.). The paper presents in the following section the diverse approaches provided on the two ethical systems.
It is highly essential for accountants and business professionals to maintain a standard of ethical conduct in the workplace as the nature of their work places them in position of trust. (Senarante, 2011). Accountants have the responsibility to ensure that their duties are performed in accordance with the five fundamental principles set out in the Code of Professional Ethics such as integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentially and professional behaviour (Cunningham et al. 2014). Accountants are expected to be reliable and trustworthy. Thus they are required to act ethically in relation to their clients, employers and the general public in order to provide quality services in the best interest of the society (Eginiwin & Dike, 2014). The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) have established a code of ethics for accountants, allowing each specific country to add their own national ethical standards to the code to reflect cultural differences. The code provides emphasis on the five fundamental principles as well as resolution of ethical conflicts. In Australia, professional accounting bodies such as CPA Australia, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICCA) and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) adopt the Australian Professional and Ethical
Ethics play differing level roles in all aspects of our lives and the various decisions we make on a daily basis. Ethics in the accounting professional’s life is particularly important because he or she is keeping records and producing reports that many other people in the business world rely on to make business decisions (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2015). Accountants have an obligation and responsibility to report accurately and to make ethical decisions (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2015). Ethics and ethical decision making are among the topics taught to some degree in many higher education institutions. But is it enough and does it work? In the next pages I will discuss the level and quality, methods used, and effectiveness of covering accounting
For many years, the ethics of finance has been a concern in the corporate world. With the flexible accounting standards under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Accounting Standards (IAS), there are many grey areas of what is, and is not, ethical. Earnings management falls in this grey area.
Ethics is the study of right or wrong and the morality of the choices that individuals make. That basicly means the set of morals or responsibility that a person, group, or field have. Ethics can also be classified as code of morals. In business there are ethics that portray to business. These are called business ethics, business ethics just happen to be the application of ethics, morals, into the business field. Some examples of business ethics are obeying all rules and regulations even when nobody 's looking, which is pretty self explanatory, you shouldn’t be breaking rules. Even if it is as simple as washing your hands after you use the restroom or straight up lying to your customers, they are the ones making you money so if they find out