Question

"Ethical Responsibilities" Please respond to the following: Create an argument both for and against the assertion that accountants should have higher moral and ethical standards than other professions. Justify your response.

Answer 1

Finance and Accounts is perhaps the only business function which accepts responsibility to act in public interest. Hence, a finance and accounting professional's responsibility is not restricted to satisfy the needs of any particular individual or organisation. While acting in public interest, it becomes imperative that the finance and accounting professional adheres to certain basic ethics in order to achieve his objectives.

Until recently, various surveys conducted globally had ranked finance and accounting professionals very high in terms of professional ethics. However, various accounting scandals witnessed during the past few years have put a serious question mark on the role of the finance and accounting professional in providing the right information for decision making both within and outside their respective organisations. As these finance and accounting professionals are in public practice, they should take reasonable steps to identify circumstances that could pose the conflict of interest and thus leading to follow unethical behavior.