ACCTN101 Lecture 11 Accounting profession and ethical issues in accounting

Accounting profession and ethical issues in accounting Lecture 12 Chapter 5 textbook Recap: Objective of Accounting  The primary objective of accounting is to:  provide information u

Accounting profession and ethical issues in accounting

Lecture 12 Chapter 5 textbook

Recap: Objective of Accounting

 The primary objective of accounting is to:

 provide information useful for making economic decisions

 The environment of accounting contains decision makers:

 who make demands for accounting information

 who are from a diverse group and

 who require information that are comparable with other sources

Fields of Accounting:

 Financial Accounting

 involves preparing and auditing financial statements that are distributed to people who are not involved in day-to-day management

 Managerial Accounting

 involves providing information to those who are involved in day-to-day management

 Tax accounting

 involves determining the proper amount of income taxes to be paid, preparing tax returns, and tax planning

 Financial management

 involves providing information for the management of cash for investing and financing decisions

 Auditing

 involves providing assurance regarding the reliability of financial statements to

management, shareholders and other stakeholders

Defining ethics

 Most common definition of ethics:

 Ethics is the attempt to build a systematic set of normative prescriptions about human behaviour or codes to govern everyday morals and morality

(Parker, 1998)

 In their moral contexts, ethics undertakes to analyse such concepts as:

 ‘right’

 ‘wrong’

 ‘permissible’

 ‘ought’

 ‘good’ and

 Ethics is concerned with:

 action and practice

 values – not what is, but what ought to be

 For instance:

 How should I live my life?

 What is the right thing to do in this situation?

 Should one always tell the truth?

(Pojman 1988)

The importance of ethics in accounting

 Accountants must perform their jobs ethically

 The information they supply has to be a true and accurate reflection of the facts

 if it is to be an effective tool in the service of society

 in terms of its usefulness for decision making

Accounting choices tend also to be moral choices

Francis (1990) noted:

 Accounting, to the extent that it is a choice about how to affect our lived experience is

a practice grounded in moral discernment Accounting is important precisely to the extent that the accountant can transform the world, can influence the lived experience

of others in ways which cause that experience to differ from what it would be in the absence of accounting, or in the presence of an alternative kind of accounting

Ethical issues in accounting

 Therefore there are two broad levels of ethical issues that impact upon the accountant in the provision of accounting services

 The accountant is a member of professional body that has a professional code of ethics that must be followed but the accountant is also an individual with his/her own personal values

Professional ethics - Linked

Individual ethics

Importance of the Accountancy Profession

 The ultimate test of a profession is the society’s recognition of that profession

 The accountancy profession was first given recognition in late nineteenth century

 In 1854, the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh, Scotland received official recognition

by the grant of a royal charter (hence the term Chartered Accountants)

What is a profession?

Professionals:

 Command an intricate body of knowledge in a specialist area

 Require many years of higher education

 Have a relationship of trust with their clients

 Combine in professional societies to codify professional standards and for continuing education

 Adapted from Clarke & Robb 1997

Rights and obligations of a professional

 Rights:

 Status, image

 Semi-monopoly

 Generally higher levels of income

 Obligations

 Duty of care to society

 Self-discipline

 Adherence to a code of ethics

Professional status

 Why should accountants have a professional status?

 Regulation in the provision of accounting information

 Regulation of independent audit of accounts

 Imposition of professional obligations on members in dealing with the public

The accounting profession in New Zealand

 New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants of (NZICA)

 The Institute of Chartered Accountants Act 1996 established the statutory functions of the accountancy profession in New Zealand:

 The Promotion of quality, expertise, and integrity in the profession of accountancy by its members

 The promotion, control and regulation in the profession of accountancy by its members

 The promotion of training, education and examination of persons practising, or intending to practise, the profession of accountancy in New Zealand or

elsewhere

NZICA Code of Ethics

 Integrity

 Honesty as well as fair dealing and truthfulness

 Objectivity and Independence

 Fair, impartial, intellectually honest and free of conflicts of interest

 Competence

 Can do the technical and professional work expected of them

 Quality performance

 Due care and diligence and abide with regulations

 Professional behaviour

 Good reputation & conduct important

Does a Code of Ethics influence ethical behaviour?

 It was found in a doctoral study by Schwartz that it was rare for a Code of Ethics to directly influence the behaviour of an employee

 Instead there were a number of ways that a code might indirectly influence employee behaviour

Schwartz’s Eight Metaphors

1 As a rule book

 The Code acts to clarify what behaviour is expected of employees

2 As a sign post

 The Code can lead employees to consult other sources to test whether certain

behaviour is appropriate

3 As a mirror

 The Code provides a way for employees to confirm whether certain behaviour is acceptable

4 As a magnifying glass

 The Code encourages the employees to look more carefully at what is said and done

5 As a shield

 The Code can give support to employees in challenging unethical requests

6 As a smoke detector

 The Code can help to warn of danger while there is time to prevent harm

7 As a fire alarm

 The Code may motivate employees to report violations

8 As a club

 The Code spells out the consequences of inappropriate conduct

Factors influencing an individual’s ethical decision making

 Education

 Life experiences

 Knowledge of the law

 Common sense and intuition

 Conscience

 Peer influence

 Cultural background

 Religious background

 Societal values

Ethical decision-making models

 Gross-Schaefer’s ethical decision-making model (pp 159 – 160 of chapter)

 Looks at values, ethics and ethical standards

 Includes three basic ethical theories and tools in the model:

 Absolute values

 Utilitarianism

 Stakeholder analysis

 Stuart and Stuart’s ethical decision-making model (p 161 of chapter)

 Model helps the individual to recognise an ethical dilemma that arises when GAAPs are unable to help resolve an accounting issue

 Focuses on relevance and reliability issues