The Importance Of Ethics In Accounting

Accounting as a job serves as the financial backbone of a business for it deals with money and its primary task is to record and analyze financial information. It includes the keeping of financial records and assurance that the records are accurate which makes it as a detail- oriented work. Gibson, Hutchinson, Homrigh and Leung (2011) claims that corporate scandals are widely known in the name of the business in which it cause extensive damages in the economy and society. These question the morality of businessmen in general and accountants in particular. With these duties and accountabilities, the concept of ethics is highly needed to be given emphasis in this field. Future accountants are to be trained as early as possible to avoid such

The nature of accountant’s work is subject to trust in relation to their client, employers and general public who rely on their professional judgment and guidance in making decisions. Decisions in turn highly affect the resource allocation process of an economy. The accountants are relied upon because of their professional statutes and ethical standards (Gibson, 2005). Accountants need to apply ethics in the profession for it highly affects the credibility ofthe company or organization. Ethical standards are created to assess the righteousness of accountants for it play a big role in preparing financial results of a company and helping managers to make sound

Ethical dilemmas are treated by accountants as “business decisions” and not practice professional code to assess potential courses of action. Such ethical dilemmas cover various ethical issues, such as overstating performance and valuation, participating in fraudulent activity, non-disclosure and withholding of information from auditors and other stakeholders, and making a decision without adequate information (Gould,2013). In some cases wherein ethical problems arise, there are some guide statements on how to resolve a moral issue. First, one must know what are the benefits and what harms will each course of action produce, and which alternative will lead to the best overall consequences. Another is to know what moral rights did the affected parties have, and which course of action best respects those rights. An accountant must also determine which course of action treats fairly except where there is a morally justifiable reason not to and does not show favoritism or discrimination. Lastly, to understand which course of action advances the common good and develops moral virtues (Velasquez,