Ethical Values In Human Conduct

1.0 Introduction
Ethics can be defined as ‘the study of morals in human conduct’ or ‘the rules of conduct recognized as appropriate to a particular profession or area of life’ (Jones, 2009). According to Concise Oxford Dictionary (1978), ethics is the relating to morals and the treating of moral questions. Abdul Rahman (2003) further explained that ethics also denotes a philosophical reflection on moral beliefs and practices. From all these circumscription on ethics, it can be seen that ethics is relatively important for society. Thus, the ethical values shall be developed in the society. Since ancient times, formal education always treated as the channel in transferring ideas and values to the society especially for young generations. The

The code can serve as control mechanisms and sanctions for professional accountants where it could decrease the ethical problems among practitioners and thus enhance the ethical behaviors (Yunanda & Abd. Majid, 2011). Ethical manners or ethical behaviors are important for an accountant in exercising his professional judgment, and to act in the best interest of public and profession; lack of ethics will cause low moral standards of accountants and fraudulent activities in corporate. The accounting scandals such as the collapse of Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat would be the best examples of consequences in lacking of ethical accounting practices in corporate level. Numerous academics have indicated that this profession’s ethical crisis is said to be resulted from the insufficient ethical components in accounting education system (Abdul Rahman,

It also brings the meaning of ‘having to do difficult and burdened things’ named obligation. Muslims are obligated to follow Allah’s instructions on what to do (commands) and what to avoid (forbidden). Therefore, accountability can be generally explained as duty and obligation; while the term ‘accountable’ is meant as ‘being obligated to give an account’ or ‘being subject to doing so’ (Wagner, 1989). In addition, there are consequences behind commands and things forbidden named rewards and punishments. From all the explanations above, accountability can be concluded as the concept of ethics with moral behaviors included in it. From western viewpoint, accountability is limited to law without emphasizing on the ethical principles. Individuals could easily break the established rules for his interest and benefits. Whereas from Islamic perspective, the God-inspired accountability emphasizes that every individual is responsible for his own deeds (Yunanda & Abd. Majid,