Ethical Standards for Management Accountants Essay

When auditing a publicly held company, auditors need to observe principles. The ethical principles of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of

Financial reporting practices and ethics have manifested an ocean of literature. This has mainly come from organization theorists that address accounting practices. These theorists and professionals have given fresh accountability measures. Their ideals give this industry the tools needed to survive, grow and prosper. The way an organization prepares and reports its financial information and handles its daily operations is in essence financial practices, and in the way it accomplishes this reveals their ethical standards to which they adhere to. This paper will discuss the financial practices, ethical standards, and

“ In order to prevent fraudulent financial reports and statements, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants(AICPA) has created ethical standards” (Ethical standards in a financial statement, 2011). These standards aim to make financial professionals accountable for their accounting practices. This includes the integrity of financial reporting and ensuring financial reporting is done fairly and factually. Financial accountants and professionals should maintain professional integrity, objectivity, and independence to reduce the risk of resulting legal action, loss of profits, and a poor reputation if improper financial reporting is done (Ethical standards in a financial statement, 2011).

Ethics are crucial to the accounting profession and the business world, so choosing an ethics system to base your moral decisions on is extremely important. Accountants and all business professionals will be confronted with moral dilemmas on a daily basis. Being strong in your faith and knowing what you believe in will help you to always make the right decision. Based on this reasoning, this essay will explain why deontology is the best ethics system for the accounting profession.

While I was looking for an appropriate topic for research, I found an interesting publication, which fitted best to the subject (ethics in managerial accounting issues) and also included 5 good examples examples of possible problems associated with the field. The method of the study seemed unclear, especially considering the connection between the serial number of a dollar bill and the question to which the respondent had to answer in the end (in my work I will constantly refer back to the text, and in the end there will be a link to the document for review), though the examples given in the text seem to be really appropriate.

     The accounting system is constantly changing. During these changes, it is important for accountants to adhere to the high ethical standards that they have always lived by. Adhering to the high ethical standards is an accountant's obligation to the public, the profession, and themselves. An accountant's ethical conduct usually lies within four different areas. This includes competence, confidentiality, integrity, and objectivity. NYSSCPA.ORG states, "Members also have a continuing responsibility to cooperate with each other to improve the art of accounting, maintain the public's confidence, and carry out the professions special responsibilities for self-governance," (Article 1).

In the world of business, it is so obvious that Certified Public Accountants are playing an extremely important role to the public. Working as Certified Public Accountants, it is so special that they provide accounting professional services not to a specific person but to the whole public. Therefore, the ethics and conducts of the Certified Public Accountants becomes much more important because it affects the reasonable operation and successful development of the whole industry. So, as a professional accountant, we need take the duties that required by the AICPA code of ethics --- “professional competence, confidentiality, integrity, and objectivity".

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is the code of conduct that required each member of the organization to follow rigorously and act with integrity, objectivity, due care, competence, fully disclose any conflicts of interest (and obtain client consent if a conflict exists), maintain client confidentiality, disclose to the client any commission or referral fees, and serve the public interest when providing financial services. Accountants are relied upon to be trustworthy and maintain high ethical standards. It is because of the nature of the profession that puts them in a position of trust with people who rely on their professional judgment and guidance in making decisions. These decisions are extremely important in accounting

Imagine trusting your hard-earned money like your retirement savings to a financial adviser or Certified Public Accountants (CPA) only to lose it all in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. In today’s world of business many organizations, financial planners and accountants are in the news due to the financial ethical breaches that have affected their customers, employees, and the general public. A CPA has to be responsible for their audits and take any punishments as a result of their mistakes, incompetence or illegal actions. CPAs are expected to have integrity in their work,

Accountants are held to a higher ethical standards and they must performed their duties in compliance with standards or ethical values of honesty, integrity, objectivity, due care, confidentiality, which must be fully committed to. They must put clients or public interest first before their own. They must have and ethical values and maintain those values way beyond what the society or the company’s code of ethic. It is important that accountants’ behavior or ethical values is in conformity with the

Ethical issues have greatly transformed in our lives since the great Enron, Xerox and other huge corporations proposed big profits showing earnings of billions of dollars and yet in reality facing bankruptcy. These corporations faced great trouble with the federals and state for manipulating financial statements. But not only corporations can be blamed on this, accounting firms were involved in this as much as the corporations were. With the business stand point, ethics comprises of principles and standards that guide behavior. Investors, traders, customers, and legal system determine whether a specific action is ethical or unethical. Ethical issue is a vast subject, but we will look at the niche

Many studies demonstrate the differences in financial reporting between the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and U.S. Standards. Nagle, Wasieleski, and Rau (2012) in their research focused on the code of ethics and moral duties of the company top management. The researchers studied the financial scandals and the recent financial crisis to demonstrate the gap between the market processes and accounting standards. The IFRS and U.S. GAAP differ in a contrary nature of accounting standards. GAAP is considered as rule-based standards, while IFRS viewed as a principle-based. Therefore, the professional judgment on financial improprieties is highly important (p. 479). Moreover, the code of ethics and systematic ethics trainings can diminish the inconsistencies from accounting policies (pp. 484-485).

When determining and defending the use of a particular ethical system within the confines of a profession, it is important to evaluate the system in terms of the professional culture as well as the expected professional conduct laid out within the vocation itself. The accounting profession has been evolving for thousands of years. Early accounting records date business transactions back as far as third century B.C. (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2009). Early record keeping was for internal purposes and as societies and economies expanded, it became important to maintain records for external purposes as well. According to Schroeder, Clark & Cathey (2009), by the ninetheeth centruy, bookkeeing expanded into accounting (p. 3). From this time, it has been the duty of the accountant to serve the public interest and the profession has been culitvated into an organizational culture with professional norms and standards constantly taking shape in an effort to complete an all-inclusive conceptual framework.

* Ethical standards: the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants Act 1996 requires that NZICA have a code of ethics that governs the professional conduct of its

Ethics are the backbone of the accounting profession and are a subject of utmost importance within the field of business. Ethics within the accounting profession ensure that financial information is presented truthfully. Accounting ethics deals with specific questions on whether a given business practices is acceptable or not. To this end, many standards, principles and agencies such as FASB, GAAP, IASB, IFRS, and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been formed to codify and enforce these ethics. There has also been an increasing desire within the general public for transparency within publically held firms largely due to recent corporate scandals and the general power large corporations wield over society (Melé,