INTRODUCTION
At times we may wonder what is meant by ethics, why accountants need ethics in their business life or even how they are related. As we may know, definitions of ethics vary with time but in most cases it is defined” With these definitions we can understand that basically ethics is knowing what is right (Mitchell 2009). Ethics in accounting and finance a global concern today (Onyebuchi, 2011). However, the accounting and finance sector has over the past years developed a culture of ethical misconduct (Gianneti & Yue Wang, 2014). According to Anup & Chadha (2005), Ethical misconducts often lead to corporate scandals that come with serious consequences e.g. fraud
Ethical conduct/ behavior is stated by the Business Dictionary as
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Transparency: This clearly means the state in which all relevant information is fully and freely available to the public. With this the moral principle of honesty is consistent with the ability to act on one’s problems. Transparency embodies honesty and open communication because to be transparent someone must be willing to share information when it is uncomfortable to do so. This is why it is known as the key to performance.
2. Reliability: With moral principles clients are able to rely more on the Accountants. The nature of the work carried out by accountants and auditors requires a high level of ethics. Shareholders, potential shareholders, and other users of the financial statements rely heavily on the yearly financial statements of a company as they can use this information to make an informed decision about investment. They rely on the opinion of the accountants who prepared the statements, as well as the auditors that verified it, to present a true and fair view of the company.
STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL
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Know Your Employees
Fraud perpetrators often display behavioral traits that can indicate the intention to commit fraud. Observing and listening to employees can help you identify potential fraud risk. It is important for management to be involved with their employees and take time to get to know them. Often, an attitude change can clue you in to a risk. This can also reveal internal issues that need to be addressed. For example, if an employee feels a lack of appreciation from the business owner or anger at their boss, this could lead him or her to commit fraud as a way of
Specifically identifying the area that is at risk for fraud is the checking account. Bill makes the deposits, writes the checks, including payroll checks, and the owner doesn 't look at the bank statement. In addition to that, Bill also keeps track of the money coming into the business. *********combine the 2 ideas of a in general to specific risk assess***end in a transistion from risk assessment to red flags Symptoms of fraud are also called red flags and they indicate there might be something wrong.
Omitting, hiding, or falsifying any information within an organization is going to cause for many
A great example of fraud was when Peter and the two employees hacked the corporate system in order to transfer money to their personal accounts. Moreover, theft is executed when they stole the copier machine with the only intention to destruct it. These types of frauds have been considered misappropriation of assets since both, the money and the copier machine, were counted as a part of the company assets and they as employees of the IT company abuse of their job positions to benefit their personal needs through the omission of fraudulent
Employee behavior can be due to internal and external causes and we need to know these so that we, as managers, utilize attributional biases to make unfair judgements and utilize unfair and inappropriate actions. I believe that this is a biblical concept as Scripture states, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:1-2 ESV). As managers, we must be quick to build those under us up and not tear them down due to our own biases. Good analysis of the
The fraud triangle is made up by three distinguished elements. These elements in the fraud triangle consist of pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. The overall representation of the fraud triangle can be seen as the specific model to spot any type of high-risk unethical and fraudulent performances being conducted by a company, in this case Cendant Corporation. Cedant Corporations actions can be analyzed by the fraud triangle by the way that their senior management/top management decisions fell into the three categories of pressure, rationalization, and opportunity. Cendant Corporation had the pressure to comply with their shareholders and to maintain a stable financial status to prove that they were a profitable organization with a bright company image.
Sometimes when fraud cases are prosecuted, the sentences they receive is very light compared to what they have done to the company. This discourages companies to report fraud. If the company doesn’t report a fraud on the other hand would have many problems. First of which, those who have acted illegally may think that they have not received any consequences to their actions and might repeat their actions in another workplace. Also not reporting the fraud might show other workers that the organization is weak and not willing to take actions.
He also rationalized his fraudulent activities by hiding the customer’s late payment in order to be benefitted himself, but said that he was helping people more than he was helping himself. 2. Given that Mr. Pavlo’s fraud was restricted to an accounts receivable embezzlement scheme, what symptoms might auditors observe?
1. Introduction – ethics – what are they? Ethics (or moral philosophy) is the kind of philosophy that define concept of right or wrong conduct. In practice, ethics try to resolve questions of human morality, by explaining concepts of good and evil. Ethics, culture, morals – are bind together, they are embedded.
The unrealistic expectations of external users of financial statements to assume that an auditor remains totally impartial to client influence is a conclusion drawn from psychological research. The legal system forms the opposite view and has determined that external users should be able to rely implicitly on an auditor’s determination. Accounting standards have set expectations of auditor independence and neutrality. (Max H. Bazerman, 1997) The entire concept of professional scepticism and its application is the true and fair representation of financial statements to the users of these
Recently Wells Fargo’s scandal of creating phony accounts has raised ethical concerns in the corporate world. Wells Fargo employees opened more than two million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts to meet sales projections. The company was charged with huge fines and earned a bad reputation that will take years to rebuild. According to the Deontological perspective on ethics least some acts are morally obligatory.
Abstract Whistleblowing has now became an important aspect to organizations and it reflects governance aspect of the organization. This paper explains problems faced by Whistleblowers over the world. This paper also deals with the legislations on whistleblower protection in India and why some countries are hesitating to introduce whistleblower protection law. It deals with reasons for such hesitations.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, honesty is the quality of being fair and trustful. I have always wondered why people succeed and are considered of great importance. Many tend to succeed through illegal paths, which will vanish faster than they think. Real businessmen build their heritage slowly, step by step through honest actions and decisions. A person who’s honest is not weak or fragile, instead, dares to practice honesty, to be considered trustworthy, and to be transparent in everything they do.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW The review of literature of this study broadly focused on whistleblowing. There have been several attempts to define whistleblowing, but certainly there is no generally accepted definition. According to Near and Miceli (1985), which are often referred by researchers, whistleblowing is a process whereby a current or former member of an organization discloses practices or activities believe to be illegal, immoral or illegitimate, to those who may be able to effect change. The practices or activities can be refer to personal misbehavior such as stealing, waste, mismanagement, safety problems, sexual harassment, unfair discrimination and legal violations (Dasgupta & Kesharwani, 2010).
Ethics and integrity is essential and played an important role in helping the growth of the business. Behave ethically could contribute to good performance and customers’ satisfaction. This lead maintains and expands the relationship between both parties and indirectly would increase company reputation (Bandsuch, M 2009). According to the Trevino & Nelson (2010), behave in ethics and integrity not only could stronger the relationship with the customers, but also the relationship with the stakeholders.
These scandals have made the morality of accountants and businesspeople. The main contributors of business ethical standards are the accountants. The accounting profession has a duty to play so as to reduce the corporate scandals. They should make sure that there is proper financial management, quality audit, ethical standards improvement and that the governance regimes are strengthened