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Essay on The Ethical Values Held in Accounting, A Literature Rewiew

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Every profession faces a multiple of ethical challenges on a daily bases, this can be clearly witnessed in the accounting profession. The main focus of this literature review is to discuss the ethical values held in this profession and to also explore the ethical challenges that they face. Professional ethics for accountants is all about making sure that accountants carry out their duties to the highest standard possible and in a very professional manner. A code of ethics is designed to make sure that ideal behaviour is being carried out and it must be enforceable and realistic. From reading a variety of literature the core principles of the code of ethics are as follows: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, …show more content…

It is the quality from which public trust derives and the benchmark against which a member must ultimately test all decisions.’ Smith (2003, p47) From reading this Smith feels that anyone working in the accounting profession must be trained and equipped to a high standard at implementing moral judgement so that they can consider the well being of those that will face the consequences of their actions.
Citron (2003) examined how and when these ethical values came about. It
..was developed at a time of mounting levels of criticism of the auditing profession.
Therefore it was a move that the UK Chartered Accountants Joint Ethics Committee felt that was needed in order to make sure that ideal behaviour was being carried out and to also make sure that all accountants were doing all their work to a high standard.
However like everything when the ethical values that are integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour are complied with, it can still leave accountants to be faced with many potential ethical dilemmas. Jackling, Cooper, Leung and Dellaportas (2007) carried out an online survey in relation to ethical issues and put it forward to sixty six different professional accounting bodies. They found out from their research that the largest ethical

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