Preview

Management Accountant and Ethical Behaviour

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1372 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Management Accountant and Ethical Behaviour
[pic]
University College of the Caribbean
College of Graduate Studies
Individual Assignment #1

“Describe the management accountant’s responsibility for
Ethical behaviour in the conduct of his/her duties”

Presented in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the course:
(ACT611) Managerial Accounting: Information for Decision Making

To Mr. Donald Smalling
By

Dalton Richardson
20031288

January 13th 2013

Overview of Code of Ethics for Accounting Professionals

Accountants come face-to-face with several ethical issues on a daily basis. Deciding whether a company’s business practices and the actions of the principals or directors are ethical can be very difficult, but holding ethical standards is a fundamental part of the accounting profession. Business, accounting and banking personnel often find it hard to recognize serious ethical issues in accounting. It is not that they are unethical people, but frequently they are simply aware that an ethical problem is presenting itself. Accounting professionals hold a very important role in organizations and in customer’s lives. Accountants play a key part in keeping the integrity and credibility of their clients. Accountants must be not only competent at their job like every other worker, but they must also hold the knowledge and experience to keep their professionalism, even at the most difficult times.

Keeping clients’ integrity means that accounting professionals have to communicate deeply to avoid all problems, and make sure that everyone knows what is going on with their own finances. Sometimes people forget that confidentiality is the strength of any professional accountant, and it can be hard. Clients’ information must be kept completely confidential unless the other party has a legal right to view it.

It is important to note that accounting and finance provides fair and accurate reporting of the financial position of an organization.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Acc/325 Phase 2

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ethics plays such an important role in the business world. There are organizations and boards that set guidelines specifically to improve the work environment and help control the amount of ethical dilemmas. The SEC works as the head quarters for these boards and has developed many new guidelines since the crisis of the early 2000’s. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has established ethical standards and guidelines for accountants similar to those of the AICPA’s Rules of Conduct. There are many organizations that are working in unison to create the best atmosphere for the business world and those involved.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Communication Case

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Handbook of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. (2013). New York: International Federation of Accountants.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Mintz, S. M. (2011). Ethical obligations and decision making in accounting (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What does it mean to be ethical? Regardless of where you are in the world, the word ethical has a similar meaning for all. We are holding true to our moral principles, or the company’s principles, and always striving to do the right thing by recognizing and avoiding the wrong, unethical thing. Depending on our culture, the way we were raised, not everyone carries the same standard of ethics within them. This is why each company develops a code of ethics by which they expect their employees to abide by and be in accordance with the rules and the code. Being that accounting and financial reporting deals with money, it is crucial for employees to be ethical and moral. Anyone within the accounting profession might face ethical issue such as pressure from the management. Management might ask the accountant to falsify certain financial reporting, or hide certain numbers, for the sake of the company. This further takes us into another concern where the accounting might be put in a position to become a whistleblower, or break the laws and become unethical. It is the accountant’s duty to report any violations within the company. Not reporting illegal actions and false reporting could create a lot of problems for the executives and the accounting that would be held just…

    • 1087 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bibliography: Small Business - Chron.com (2009). Ethics in the Accounting Profession. [online] Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethics-accounting-profession-3738.html [Accessed: 20 Aug 2013].…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For the accounting field, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) maintains and enforces a code of professional conduct for public accountants. By adhering to the code, accounting professionals assume an obligation of "self-discipline above and beyond the requirements of laws and regulations" (AICPA, 2006, para. 8). The duties placed on accounting professionals by the code of ethics require "professional competence, confidentiality, integrity, and objectivity" (Bookrags, 2006, para. 4). Accounting professionals should only accept responsibilities that they can accomplish proficiently. They must complete their tasks carefully, confidentially, with ample precision and without bias.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is important for a professional accountant to understand the ethic trends because we need to know the expectations of the public. After Enron and other banking issues caused some major changes in the new expectation in the business world. The ethics trends have slowly been changing but after what happened with set everything in place to set higher standards for the ethics. The accountant must understand the consequences of cutting corners and acting unethically. Times are changing and with the increased risk of errors causing problems for the company and its employees there is a large concern for accountants to understand the ethical…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This week marks the final week for this course. Team 5 has discussed the ethical implications involved with accounting principles and the importance of having regulations in place in order to maintain accuracy. The following addresses some situations that may lead to unethical accounting practices as well as the effects of such behavior. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is also addressed because of its important role of regulating accounting practices.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kermis G.F. and Kermis M.D. stresses that “Accountants’ failure to reflect ethically on the dilemmas they encounter in their work may lead them to make wrong decisions” (Senaratne, 2013). For this reason, ethics guides accountants and other makers of the corporation’s financial reports to include findings and data based on relevant sources. Top managers directed by ethical values develop effective leadership skills as well (Duggar, 2011). In this case, employees respect, trust and believe in them. Thus, it will lead to accountable financial statements that the corporation can use to make better decisions for the sake of the business in the distant future. These financial statements can be beneficial to other professional and to some practicing accountants as well.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A number of financial crises worldwide have shown that accounting ethics is not enough to stop accountants from behaving unethically. Some accountants and accounting organizations have clearly overstepped ethical lines for money, prestige, and…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics

    • 95067 Words
    • 381 Pages

    Accounting Ethics, Second Edition. Ronald Duska, Brenda Shay Duska, and Julie Ragatz © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-405-19613-0…

    • 95067 Words
    • 381 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Providing Tax Advise Case

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Professional accountants can maintain the support of the public while giving tax advice by understanding the difference between the expectations of the general public and the clients. The general public expects the professional accountants to adhere to the highest ethical standards while the client expects loyalty and reasonable level of service for their fees. It is, however, the job of the professional accountant to define these expectations and help close the expectation gap that exists in the accounting profession. In other words, explain to the client the extent and level of service that he or she should expect and define the inherent responsibility to the general public.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enron

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Accountants owe a duty to use reasonable care, knowledge, skill, and judgment when providing auditing and other accounting services to a client. In other words, an accountant’s actions are measured against those of a “reasonable accountant” in similar circumstances. The development of GAAPs, GAASs, and other uniform accounting standards has generally made this a national standard.…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this article, the ethical considerations that are involved for financial decision-making are that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) follows a professional ethics code of conduct. This code requires that all accountants use these codes in their business operations to guide them in the use of professional and ethical behavior. Also required by the AICPA is that all accountants are willing to make a pledge or commitment to use honorable behavior in their practices, even if this is at the expense of any personal benefits (Think+Up, 2011).…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In accounting, there is the professional ethics that guides the accounting profession. Accountants are expected to adhere to the set ethical standards which are designed to ensure that they behave in a way which is ethical and consistent. For most professional accounting organizations, accountants are certified in order to comply with ethics and they are stripped off their certificates if they fail to abide with ethical codes.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays