Importance of Ethics in Accounting
There has been increase call for the consideration of ethical and professional conduct in accounting profession and management in recent years, because all accounting organizations are expected to behave an ethical manner in the current economy. The objective of this essay is to discuss the importance of ethical and professional conduct in accounting professions and the reason why behaving ethically is critical for an individual to work in accounting industry. While looking at ethical standards, one has to consider four difference areas such as confidentiality, competence, integrity, and objectivity.
Ethical and professional behavior is what all career people should aim to poses because in order to build a career, one must be governed by the rules of ethics to safeguard others and oneself, on addition, they are important not only in line of accounting profession but also to the society as they form the foundation in which a civilized society is built (Cameron& O’leary 2015). Ethical and professional conduct in accounting ensures that people have confidence in accountants and the services they provide, if the quality of services offered by the professionals is questionable, the stakeholders and clients may develop low confidence leading to failure of the organization.
Behaving ethically is critical for individual to work in accounting industry because most Professionals accounting organizations such as American Accounting Association and Institute of Industrial accounts have codes of ethical and profession conduct to which their employers must adhere to in order to work with them (Massey 2017). High level of confidentiality and integrity is expected in these industries as most companies rely on financial statements prepared by accounting professional to be accurate and true to make sound financial decisions.
Ethical behavior maintains the public faith about the accounting industry. Accounting organizations that provide clear information and explanation of their financial statements to its clients appears to be more ethical and trustworthy than companies without clear information’s, therefore, may leads to increase in price per shares (Luminita 2016). In addition, it helps to generate a significant structure in involving the company to become functional and reliable, as it form a clear financial image of a business once a person has been employed, it’s also ensures that the accountant maintain the professional knowledge and skills at the level required to ensure that a client receives a satisfactory and professional services required.
To conclude, ethical and professional conduct such as confidentiality, competence, integrity, and objectivity is what all accounting professionals and those who want to work in accounting industry should aim to have because all accounting industries are expected to behave in ethical manner in the current economy.
References
Cameron, R. A., & O’Leary, C. (2015). Improving ethical attitudes or simply teaching ethical codes? The reality of accounting ethics education. Accounting Education, 24(4), 275-290.
Ho, D. B. A. (2016). Ethical Issues & Accounting Education. Ethical Issues & Accounting Education (August 23, 2016).
Massey, D. W. (2017). Discussion of “Recognizing Ethical Issues: An Examination of Practicing Industry Accountants and Accounting Students”. Journal of Business Ethics, 142(2), 277-283.
Ionescu, Luminiţa. “Mechanisms for Enhancing Ethical Behavior in the Accounting Profession.” Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 8.2 (2016): 263-269.