Preview

Ethics in Accounting

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
952 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ethics in Accounting
Ethics and Legal Responsibility in Accounting

The profession of accounting has become spotlighted by the events in recent years including namely Enron. The ethical behavior of businesses is becoming increasingly scrutinized at every turn. Thus it is important to specify the nature of conducting accurate and ethically in accounting and how this can be of subsequent benefit to the company as well as the business world in the long run. The definition of accounting according to Webster 's dictionary is "the system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and reporting the results." The purpose of accounting is to provide financial and business information to possible investors, current investors, and management so they can make accurate decisions concerning the company. There are four basic statements that accounting provides: the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement, the Owner 's Equity Statement, and the Income Statement. These four reports provide the perspective of how the organization is maintaining financially. The basis of many decisions will stem from how profitable an organization is and thus it can be tempting to increase the bottom line so the company looks better on paper than what the situation is in actuality. The importance of accounting is that it gives investors the confidence in making a well informed decision and though the accounting reports don 't equate to a sure thing these reports aid in the flow of business. Thus without accurate accounting there would be no way an investor could feel safe or educated in providing monies to an organization. Thus accounting promotes the flow of business. Accounting also is hinged on various people 's monies and so it must be performed with accuracy and integrity. There are many people 's lives and financial well-being at stake and thus there should be a considerable amount of integrity and ethical behavior utilized in accounting. The purpose

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The paper will analyze the corporate ethical breaches in recent times, assess whether or not you believe that the current business and regulatory environment is more conducive to ethical behavior. Ethics behavioral aspect of accounting is a special area of accounting that is developed to address such aspect of human information processing behavior, judgment quality, accounting problems created by users and providers of accounting information as well as their decision making skills. Secondly, paper will describe the organization, the accounting ethical breach and the impact to the organization related to ethical breach. Thirdly, this paper will determine how the organizational ethical issue was detected and how management failed to create an ethical environment. In some cases, some company pledged its own stock to ensure that partnerships would be able to borrow money. And when Enron stock started plummeting, the whole thing fell apart. Fourthly, this paper will analyze the accounts impacted and or accounting guidelines violated and the resulting impact to the business operation. They operated as the masterminds behind the system to defraud investors. The banks, by offering fake, illegal and not approved by regulators deals,…

    • 2414 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Acc 556 Assignment 2

    • 4988 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Steven R. Jackson, Roby B. Sawyers, J. Gregory Jenkins (2009).Managerial Accounting: A Focus on Ethical Decision Making. 5th ed. Ohio: South- Western Cengage Learning. Page 386.…

    • 4988 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics 2

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ASSUME YOUR WORK AS AN ACCOUNTANT FOR FEB REALITY CO., A SMALL LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY THAT DESPERATELY NEEDS ADDITIONAL FINANCING TO CONTINUE N BUSINESS .THE CEO OF YOUR CO. IS MEETING THE MANAGER OF UIC BANK AT THE END OF THIS MONTH TO TRY OBTAIN A LOAN.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting professionals consider standard practices of accounting and board of accountancy rules when creating ethical standards. Accountants also consider state and federal laws. Ethics and the law works hand-in-hand therefore should be on the minds of those considering the commission of fraud. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Excello, Terry Reed, was considering doing such by posting a $2.1 million transaction to raise year-end earnings.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good 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
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics Paper

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tamira is in a professional dilemma that anyone in her position would find difficulty in knowing how to respond to her boss’s request to have up-to-date financial statements to share with the bank. She knows that there is not enough time to have the financial statements ready by when the president of the company needs them, so she follows the principle of conservatism and estimates the totals at a low level so the statements won’t look worse than they actually are. Tamira does not mention when handing in the statements that many of the numbers are estimates. There are several other ways Tamira could have went about this situation. For example she could have been honest with her boss and told him that she would not be able to have the necessary information, and because of this would have to estimate the totals. This would make her boss aware of what is going on so he then could proceed as he felt was right. Tamira also could have requested more time from her boss so that she could have found all of the actual totals and handed in completely accurate financial statements. Another route Tamira could have went is to study past year’s financial statements and make estimates based off of them and the patterns from the past. However, regardless of the decision she makes, I think she should have been honest with the president of the company and explained to him the circumstances that she would not be able to have the totals for the financial statements in the time that he would need them. So then he good have given his input and they both could have proceeded from there.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Massive Orange in Accounting. (2010, July 8). A Breach of Professional Accounting Ethics. Retrieved from bizcovering.com: http://bizcovering.com/accounting/a-breach-of-professional-accounting-ethics/#ixzz2SEkARASD…

    • 1630 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Section 55- Article IV: Objectivity and Independence:A member should maintain objectivity and be free of conflicts of interest in discharging professional responsibilities. A member in public practice should be indpeending in fact and appearance when providing auditing and other attestation services. .01 Objectivity is a state of mind, a quality that lends value to a member’s services. It is a distinguishing feature of the profession. The principle of objectivity imposes the obligation to be impartial, intellectually honest, and free of conflicts of interest…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. Given the corporate ethical breaches in recent times, assess whether or not you believe that the current business and regulatory environment is more conducive to ethical behavior. Provide support for your answer.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The earliest documented discussions of accounting ethics appear to date to the 1400s, and many of the ethical issues which pertain to accounting continue to be the same, even if the financial world of today would be unimaginable to a 15th century accountant. One of the key issues with accounting ethics is that poor ethical behavior on the part of an accountant does not just potentially hurt a client, it can also hurt society. If, for example, an accountant colludes in falsifying financial statements, this hurts investors in a company, taxpayers who may be caught up in government bailouts or regulatory efforts pertaining to the company, and the workers at the company.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Accounting Ethics

    • 2191 Words
    • 9 Pages

    * What guidance is provided to help AICPA members follow the Code Of Professional Conduct?…

    • 2191 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each case is analysed using a seven-step model, shown below. 1. Determine the facts What? Who? Where? When? How? What do we know or need to know that will help define the problem? Define the ethical issue List the significant stakeholders. Define the ethical issues. Identify the major principles, rules and values (For example; integrity, quality, respect for persons, profit) Specify the alternatives List the major alternative courses of action, including those that represent some form of compromise or point between simply doing or not doing something. Compare values and alternatives – see if there’s a clear decision Determine if there is one principle or value, or combination, which is so compelling that the proper alternative is clear. Assess the consequences Identify the short and long, positive and negative consequences for the major alternatives. The common short run focus on gain or loss needs to be measured against the long-run considerations. This step will often reveal an unanticipated result of major importance.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Accounting is a business discipline that allows companies to record, analyze, and retrieve critical financial information that can be used to determine a company 's financial status. Its purpose is to help people understand what is going on financially within an organization provide reports and insights needed to make sound financial decisions. Effectively communicating this information is key to the success of every business. This information is reported in the form of four financial statements.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Accounting Ethics Wk 3

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages

    References: Mintz, S. (2011). Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting: Text and Cases (2nd ed). McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions. Retrieved from http://devry.vitalsource.com/books/0077586859/id/id_0078025281_001_001750…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays