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Code of ethics accounting
Ethical challenges facing accountants
Justification of the ethical issues faced by accountants
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Many studies demonstrated how traditional ethical settings led to the unethical behavior and financial scandals of Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen. Satava, Caldwell, and Richards (2006) studied profiles of firms that included the accounting fraud. The researchers demonstrated the gap between constituted rules and its implementation in practice using the Enron and Arthur Andersen example (p. 271). The accounting profession has to possess the truthfulness and completeness of financial statements. The investors make their decisions relying upon the auditor’s conclusion. Therefore, auditors are considered with the highest integrity and public trust. Unfortunately, the example of Enron and Arthur Andersen demonstrates the fundamental problem …show more content…
Moreover, women have a high level of understanding and acceptance of ethics than men. Women also demonstrate the high percentage of ethical development. However, researchers Stanga and Turpen (1991) did not find any correlations or differences of male and female relation on ethics code provisions (p. 920). The results of Barnett and Karson (1989) study did not show any dissimilarities in gender’s opinions on AICPA Code of Ethics. The study of the influence of accountant role on possibly immoral behavior did not find any preliminary indications. However, David et al. (1994) stated that there are relationships between the ethical beliefs and behavior (p. 920). Theoretically, the level of organization can be a ground for ethical …show more content…
Carmichael examined the ethical auditing to help companies-clients become more effective. Ionescu used the Carmichael’s research to analyze ethical processes of external auditing. The ethical auditing refers to companies that possess high organizational values and demonstrate their support of stakeholder interests and fair bookkeeping system (p. 122). The author agreed with McAuliff (2002) on ethical functions of external auditing. Ionescu indicated that an external audit should assess the ethical environment of the company-client and develop comprehensive methodologies that improve the ethics
Which of the six principles in the AICPA Code of Conduct is most related to Article 1.5 of the California Accountancy Act? Explain your conclusion.
The accounting system misallocated motors from the asset manufacturing equipment to inventory. There are issues of honesty, responsibility, and professional ethics.
Molly McDale is the controller for Robert’s Manufacturing. It is a small company that manufactures plastic lumber. The head of the company, owner and CEO, Frank Roberts reviews the projected operating income for the year. If the operating income is bellow $200,000 then the company will not give out holiday bonuses to their employees, which includes Molly.
Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).
Ethics or rather morals entail mechanisms that defend, systematize as well as recommend conceptions of right or wrong. Many organizations develop ethical codes to ensure employees and employers understand the difference in doing good or bad. In that respect, ethics are an essential aspect of successfully running of any organization or government. Ethics ensure employee’s productivity levels are up to the required standards. It also assists them to know their rights and responsibilities. Additionally, employers, as well as any persons in management, are guided by them to ensure they provide transparent leadership. Ethics also defines how customers should be handled. Ethical codes govern the relationship between customers and an
The prospects offered by globalization and the accrued benefits from technological innovation have greatly influenced the growth of the business realm in the 21st century world. Despite the increment in success rate of businesses and expansion to global markets, financial misconduct within organizations has threatened to derail the financial success and better public investment decisions (Onyebuchi, 2011). Sprouting from this likelihood of financial misconduct and its detrimental effect, Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in 2002. The genesis of this law can be traced back to a period between years 2000 and 2002 when United States was marred with a perverted upsurge in corporate accounting scandals that tainted the United States securities market and led to loss of public funds invested in listed companies. Scandals of organizations like Adelphia, Peregrine Systems, Tyco International, and Enron among others were great primers to the need for a law regulating the financial accounting profession (Orin, 2008). This paper uses Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to delineate the main aspects of the regulatory environment for corporations aimed at protecting the public from fraud. Moreover, it will evaluate the effectiveness of SOX in taming future frauds.
According to the AICPA Code of Professional Ethics, the integrity principle is defined as “To maintain and broaden public confidence, members should perform all professional
Enron was on the of the most successful and innovative companies throughout the 1990s. In October of 2001, Enron admitted that its income had been vastly overstated; and its equity value was actually a couple of billion dollars less than was stated on its income statement (The Fall of Enron, 2016). Enron was forced to declare bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. The primary reasons behind the scandal at Enron was the negligence of Enron’s auditing group Arthur Andersen who helped the company to continually perpetrate the fraud (The Fall of Enron, 2016). The Enron collapse had a huge effect on present accounting regulations and rules.
At BP, we have a strict non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy towards any employee, customer, or member of society. An employee or applicant cannot be discriminated or harassed because of race, religion, nationality/origin, age, sexual identity, gender identity, or any other feature that is protected under the law. BP fosters a safe environment and strictly prohibits sexual assault, intimidation, violence, stalking, and all forms of discrimination relating to gender identity, sex, or sexual preferences as dictated by the law.
Ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a persons or a group’s behavior, ethical principles apply to both personal and professional relationships (Webster, 2015). The field of nursing is a profession that has been highly regarded and respected in society. Most nurses enter the profession in order to utilize their clinical skills to help others in their time of need. Those in failing health rely on nurses to care for them in their most vulnerable states, and expect a level of compassion and humanity while receiving care. Nurses have an ethical responsibility to their patients, clients, and their community. Compassion, empathy, and integrity are staple characteristics that nurses possess that allow them to successfully perform their
Specifically, auditors and accounting firms hired by Enron “enable[ed] Enron’s fraud as well as being partners to it” (Cemgage.com, n.d.). For example, one executive was responsible for an arrangement with an accounting firm that would buy “an asset off Enron’s hands—usually a poor performing asset, usually at the end of a quarter—and then sell it back to the company at a profit once the quarter was over and the ‘earnings’ had been booked” (Cengage.com, n.d.) effectively creating revenue when there was none. External partners had monetary motivation to participate and aid unethical practices because Enron “hire[d] and pay[ed] its own auditors, [so]...the auditor has an incentive not to issue an unfavourable report on the company that is paying him or her” (Scu.edu, 2015). These illicit partnerships further illustrate the lack of appropriate controls within the company and how they allowed individuals within the company to commit financial
The human mind is a strange place -- it can be filled with dark, twisted thoughts, ones shamed by society, or good, kind thoughts, ones praised by society. All of these different thoughts affect a person’s actions, their life, and, ultimately, how they are seen by the others around them. What a person believes in is what makes them human. They could be a criminal, or a businessman, but they have emotions and standards that they hold themselves to every day -- their code of ethics. My code of ethics, to some, is quite complex, with the main emphasis being on honesty, deceit, individuality, curiosity, and benevolence.
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.
Almost all professions are demanded by a society to be ethical, especially the accounting profession. The accounting profession was founded on the notion that proper ethical behaviour is the cornerstone of providing professional services to clients. The collapse of Enron, the largest energy-trading company in the US had jolted the profession out of its complacency and serves a warning that all is not well with the profession. Ethics had aroused significant interest amongst practitioners and academics alike. The message is clear that it is under scrutiny, if accountants want to be relevant, they have to be more diligent and ethical. In recent years, there are many financial scandals in some very big corporations in Malaysia. According to the former Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) President, Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid, the responsibility of any wrongdoing in any company is on the shoulders of the directors, senior management team as well as the auditors, among others (MIA, 2007). As a result, litigations taken against auditors are increasing in number. For example, there are many financial scandals which include Perwaja Steel, Oilcorp Berhad, Transmile Group Berhad, Megan Media Holdings, Southern Bank and Technology Resources Industries Berhad.
The area of “ethical structures” is intended to support organizations’ ethical concerns across organizations. There is a need for ethical structures that surround the modes in which organizations strive to inculcate corporate and business ethics. Without them there are no supports in place to create ethical processes and evaluate ethical performance. This area serves as a support that the organization and its staff should be able to relate to at the strategic, tactical and operational levels of business practices. It is a point of reference to other stakeholders in the marketplace and society.