Ethics In Accounting

Question 2: Justify why is there a special need for ethical conduct in professions including those in the accounting and auditing related field? Ethics reflect beliefs of what is right or wrong, just or unjust, good or bad in terms of human behavior and it consists of moral principles that govern the behavior of a person (Boundless.com, 2015). Whereas profession refers to the type of jobs that required special training, skills and high level of education (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, 2016). Usually, every organized profession such as accounting, auditing and law is governed by its professional body though its professional conduct and ethics. Ethical conduct in professions can be defined as the rules or code of conduct that are established …show more content…
Self-regulation is crucial to ensure high moral behavior and upholding the public respect and confidence in the profession. According to the By-Laws, accountants must aware of the threats that affect compliance with fundamental principle and try to reduce the related threats to an acceptable level. Accountants with high self-regulation will decline and discontinue the specific professional services if the threats cannot be eliminated or reduced to the acceptable level. Ethical conduct in professions are applied by accountants or auditors in performing every process or activity of accounting to ensure the accuracy and reliable financial information to be presented to public. In brief, professional accountants should always observe his ethical behavior when conducting professional …show more content…
Ethical dilemmas exists when accountants or auditors must make choices among the alternative course of actions but the right choice is not absolutely clear. For instance, accountants often face the conflicts of interest, pressure for management to manipulate the client’s financial data or involve in illegal activities. Thus, it is important to have professional ethics and conduct for the profession in accounting and auditing field when confronted with the ethical dilemmas issues. The code of conduct in professions define what is the ethical behavior for its members. The ethical decision process help accountants to overcome ethical dilemmas and make the right choice which will benefit to the public or other users that depend on the accounting report (Wikipedia, 2016). There are five steps that professional accountants can take in making ethical decision process, which are to define all facts and circumstances, identify stakeholders, identify stakeholders’ rights and obligations in general and to each other, identify alternatives and consequences as well as choose superior alternative with respect to consequences and rules (Louwers,