Ethical dilemmas for accountants: A United Kingdom perspective

The paper provides an introduction to some of the professional ethical dilemmas facing an accountant in the United Kingdom. The first part deals with those dilemmas which accountants would normally accept are covered by the term ethics. These include the problems associated with adequately fulfilling a duty to shareholders and conflicts of interest (including whistleblowing) by the accountant acting as independent auditor or as an employee. The second part deals with wider aspects of ethical dilemmas stemming from reconciling the implicit understanding that the accountant is being objective with the fact that accounting rules make it very difficult to sustain that objectivity.Andrew Likierman, Professor of Accounting at the London Business School graduated from Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, is a qualified accountant and has worked in both the private and public sectors. He started the first regular UK MBA ethics course but more usually publishes in the field of financial control.     

Possible ethical issues and their impact on the firm: Perceptions held by public accountants

The accounting profession is concerned with the ethical beliefs of its members. To this end, the authors surveyed public accountants, questioning them about the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct and their perceptions of how potentially unethical behaviors impact the firm. The paper focuses on respondents' perceptions of the impact on the firm's practice, image and degree of concern.Public accountants appear to agree with the AICPA's Code of Professional Ethics. Their mean responses indicate they believe the Code components are important and extremely important. Some Code components were significantly more important than others, especially demonstrating professionalism and maintaining independence while performing independent audits. Gender, role and organizational level all had significant effects on the importance of the Code. Males, non-auditors and upper management all expressed stronger beliefs in the importance of the overall Code and its components.Significant differences exist in respondents' perceptions of how twelve potential ethical dilemmas impact the firm. Statistically significant differences were found in the way these behaviors harm the firm's business. Similarly, statistically significant differences exist in the degree that the firm's image is tarnished if its members engage in these behaviors and in the extent of the firm's concern about the implications of these behaviors.Not only do the various behaviors impact the firm differently, but the materiality of the behavior or the direction of the behavior result in significant differences in the extent the firm is impacted. Settling technical issues in the client's favor in response to client pressure, failing to correct known omissions and failing to correct known errors had greater impact on the firm when the technical issues, omissions and errors were material than when they were immaterial. Accountants perceived that giving unfair performance appraisals marred the firm's business more than receiving unfair performance appraisals did. Over reporting expenses on expense sheets had larger effects on the firm's business, image and level of concern. Over reporting hours had a stronger impact on the firm's image and level of concern, but under reporting hours had more of an impact on the firm's ability to transact business.Jeffrey Kantor is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Windsor.Ira Greenberg is the Director of The School of Accounting at the University of Detroit Mercy.Jeanne David is an Assistant Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy.     

Managing moral distress: A strategy for resolving ethical dilemmas

Conflicts of interest. The boundaries of confidentiality. Right v. right dilemmas. Matters of duty, responsibility, character, and consequence. Ethical issues pervade professional life, and the moral distress they can create requires thoughtful reflection that moves beyond gut intuitions and knee-jerk reactions. This article presents a practical framework for assessing and resolving ethical dilemmas in a sophisticated manner, guided by a circumspect and reflective analysis able to withstand the scrutiny of others and minimize the potential for personal regrets. Central to the analysis set forth in this article's strategy are ‘interrogation questions’—a series of inquiries that draw from the richness of moral philosophy and ethical traditions, while reflecting the practical concerns of contemporary business practices—which guide the decision maker through a comprehensive review of primary considerations. Additionally, the article highlights myriad obstacles that may challenge one's awareness of a moral dilemma, a necessary precondition to employing the strategies of careful analysis and reflective judgment that this article outlines.     

Machiavellianism in public accountants: some additional Canadian evidence

The current study surveys practising Canadian public accountants in Canada in both Big 4 and non-Big 4 firms to determine their orientation with respect to Machiavellianism, defined as 'attending to one's interests much more than to others'. Results indicate that while there are no significant differences in Machiavellianism between public accountants in the upper-level positions (managers and partners), partners are significantly less Machiavellian than seniors. These results are consistent with previous studies on Canadian public accountants.     

Institutional work to navigate ethical dilemmas: Evidence from a social enterprise

Social entrepreneurs encounter ethical dilemmas while addressing their social and commercial missions. The literature has implicitly acknowledged the ethical dilemmas social entrepreneurs face; however, the nature and implications of these ethical dilemmas and how social entrepreneurs navigate them are underexplored and undertheorized. We address this by conducting a 36-month field study of a social enterprise operating in a rural resource-constrained environment in India and dealing with a stigmatized product. We found four categories of ethical dilemmas faced by social entrepreneurs: challenges in engaging the community (equality vs. efficiency and fairness vs. care), challenges related to spillover effects (right vs. responsibilities), challenges in balancing diverse stakeholders (emotionally detached vs. emotionally engaged), and challenges related to cross-subsidization efforts (utilitarianism vs. fairness). Further, we identified three types of institutional work social entrepreneurs engage in to address ethical dilemmas: recognition work, responsibilization work, and reflective judgment work. We label these three institutional works as inclusion work - purposive actions of an entity to address ethical dilemmas by implementing its program in a way that supports the most marginalized. Our study makes an important contribution to the literature on ethics in the context of social entrepreneurship by identifying specific ethical dilemmas social entrepreneurs face in managing hybridity (balancing social-commercial objectives) and enhancing social impact (managing social-social objectives). Moreover, through the concept of inclusion work, our research not only integrates insights from ethics and institutional theories but also responds to the recent call to address grand societal challenges through institutional work.     

A critique of Western philosophical ethics: Multidisciplinary alternatives for framing ethical dilemmas

American discourse in business ethics is steeped in the traditional ethical theories of Western philosophies, specifically the Greek classics, Kant, and the British Utilitarians. These theories may be largely uninterpretable or unacceptable to non-Western populations owing to different traditions, religious beliefs, or cultural histories. As economic boundaries collapse and markets become more global in scope, traditional Western ethical thought may lead to clashes among Western organizations and companies from differing cultural settings. Such clashes could lead to alienation of foreign customers, firms and governments and resultant competitive disadvantage, or to an abandonment of ethical considerations altogether in the struggle to compete internationally. This paper puts forward two general alternatives to Western ethical philosophies as useful frameworks for the analysis of international ethical dilemmas. The first alternative uses new organizational economics, while the second emphasizes role relationships and organizational citizenship.William B. Carlin passed away on Thursday, March 3, 1994 in Louisville, Colorado, after this article was accepted but prior to its publication. Bill was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Colorado and a faculty member at the University of Denver at the time of his death. His friends, family, and colleagues will miss him very much.Kelly Strong is currently an assistant professor of management at Illinois State University. He has written in the areas of corporate social responsibility and ethical decision-making. He teaches strategic management at Illinois State University.     

Applying ethical theory to public relations

There seems to be a prevailing belief among public relations professionals that ethical problems can easily be solved by either reference to a simplified code or citation of a few well-worn platitudes. However, the route to a more complete understanding of questions of ethics is circuitous and often painstaking. By applying a number of ethical theories to a public relations problem, both the skilled public relations technician and the public relations professional may arrive at similar conclusions concerning moral obligations; however, the professional is in the most favorable position to effect change.Thomas H. Bivins is Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, School of Journalism. He is also Head of Public Relations Sequence and has been awarded Public Relations Student Society of America: Faculty Advisor of the Year, 1984, 1986.     

Reasons women chartered accountants leave public accounting firms prior to achieving partnership status: A qualitative analysis

This paper reports on the stories told by 13 Canadian women Chartered Accountants (CAs)—why they pursued the CA designation and why they chose to leave public accounting firms. Their stories provide deeper insights into the previously reported reasons for female CAs leaving firms that are often reported within broad categories. Work-family issues received limited attention in the participants' stories. Two major themes emerged: the absence of stated aspirations/desire to become a partner; and frustrations with the intrinsic and monetary value of services delivered by public accounting firms. The implications of these findings for the profession and public accounting firms are examined and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Certified public accountants: Ethical perception skills and attitudes on ethics education

This study investigated the proficiency of CPAs in recognizing and evaluating ethical and unethical situations. In addition, CPAs provided attitudes on ethics education. Respondents were asked to evaluate the ethical acceptability of CPA behavior as presented in six vignettes involving a variety of ethical dilemmas from questions of conflict of interest to questions of personal honor. The results tend to signify that CPAs can, to a degree, distinguish ethical and unethical behaviors. It appears that ethical behaviors and very specific unethical behaviors were more easily identified by practitioners. This may reveal uncertainty and apprehension as to exactly what constitutes unethical behavior since, in many circumstances, this resolution is made on a case-specific basis rather that via a universal rule. In addition, it is interesting to note that CPAs tend to picture themselves as more ethically-oriented than their peers.With respect to ethics education, the CPAs indicated that instruction in ethical concepts and literacy was important and should definitely be embodied in the accounting curriculum as well as at all educational levels. However, the CPAs were remarkably uncertain and ambivalent as to the qualifications of university faculty to provide this instruction and guidance.Suzanne Pinac Ward, CPA, is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, LA 70504. She received her Ph.D. in Accounting. Dr. Ward is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Accounting Association.Dan R. Ward is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, LA 70504. He received his DBA in Accounting. Dr. Ward is a member of the International, Taxation, and Accounting Behavior and Organizations Sections of the American Accounting Association, the Society of Petroleum Accountants, and the Academy of Accounting Historians.Alan B. Deck, CMA, is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, LA 70504. He received his Ph.D. in Accounting. Dr. Deck is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants and the American Accounting Association.     

Confidentiality decisions: The reasoning process of CPAS in resolving ethical dilemmas

As in other professions, such as law and medicine, accounting has a Code of Professional Conduct (Code) that members are expected to abide by. In today's legalistic society, however, the question of “what is the right thing to do,” is often confused with “what is legal?” In many instances, this may present a conflict between adhering to the Code and doing what some may perceive as proper ethical behavior. This paper examines (1) the reasoning process that CPAs use in resolving ethical issues related to confidentiality; and, (2) whether or not there is a perceived conflict in adhering to the Code and the moral values of some CPAs. The results indicate that although most CPAs sampled resolve ethical issues in accordance with the Code, such decisions do not always reflect their belief of what is morally right. Although the results are useful in understanding how some CPAs reason in making moral choices involving confidentiality decisions, care should be exercised in drawing further inferences from this study due to the limited sample size.     

A $10 million question and other cybersecurity-related ethical dilemmas amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Cybercrime and cybersecurity are like two sides of the same coin: They are opposites but cannot exist without each other. Their mutual relation generates a myriad of ethical issues, ranging from minor to vital. The rapid development of technology will surely involve even more ethical concerns, like the infamous example of a fitness tracking company allegedly paying $10 million worth of ransom. Every cybersecurity solution, tool, or practice has to be ethical by design if it is to protect people and their rights. To identify the ethical issues that cybersecurity/cybercrime might bring about in the future, we conducted the first broad and comprehensive horizon-scanning study since the COVID-19 pandemic arose. As we began this project, nobody had the slightest idea that the coming months would bring the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the reality we had known was about to change dramatically. As it soon became apparent, the deadly coronavirus brought completely new cybersecurity/cybercrime ethical dilemmas to light, and some of the ones known before were transformed or shifted. This article presents the results of our horizon-scanning study concerning the ethical dilemmas that emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic.     

A comparative analysis of ethical beliefs: A four country study

This study examines the extent to which business students from Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan react differently to ethical dilemmas involving employees, supervisors, customers, suppliers, and business rivals. The empirical results show that the national origin of the students does have an impact on their reactions to particular ethical dilemmas. In addition, the results indicate that controlling for the problem of social desirability response bias is important to ensure the validity of the empirical findings.     

Ethical dilemmas in marketing: A rationale

Because of their visibility, marketers are often perceived by society as engaging in unethical or questionable behaviors. The marketing literature does not specifically provide an explanation for this dilemma. This paper suggests that there are three major reasons for this problem: fluctuating limits of consensus, ethnocentrism, and utilitarian economic analyses. Dr Paul Hensel is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Kentucky. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Houston in 1982. He has published in Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Equal Opportunity International and Marketing Educator's Proceedings.Topics include marketing ethics, advertising effectiveness, and social responsibility in marketing.Alan J. Dubinsky (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Visiting Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He has served on the faculties of Southern Methodist University and the University of Kentucky. Prior to pusuing his graduate work, he was a territory manager for Burroughs Corporation. He has published widely in the areas of sales and sales management.     

Beyond bean counting: Establishing high ethical standards in the public accounting profession

Business professions are increasingly faced with the question of how to best monitor the ethical behavior of their members. Conflicts could exist between a profession's desire to self-regulate and its accountability to the public at large. This study examines how members of one profession, public accounting, evaluate the relative effectiveness of various self-regulatory and externally imposed mechanisms for promoting a climate of high ethical behavior. Specifically, the roles of independent public accountants, regulatory and rule setting agencies, and undergraduate accounting education are investigated. Of 461 possible respondents, 230 questionnaires (a 49.6% response rate) indicated that the profession's own rule setting body (The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and the use of peer review were perceived as the most effective mechanisms, while government regulation was ranked least. Respondents also evaluated the extent to which ethics should be covered in the accounting curriculum. For every course, the CPAs believed a greater emphasis on ethics is appropriate than presently exists. Suggestions for more effectively integrating ethics into accounting courses are made. Finally, respondents were also asked whether in answering the questionnaire they used a definition of ethics as either the Professional Code of Conduct or a moral and philosphical framework for guiding beliefs. Those who viewed ethics as abiding by a professional code had more confidence in the mechanisms addressed in this study to aid the public accounting profession's ability to ensure high ethical standards of conduct. Methodological implications of this distinction for future studies in business ethics are discussed. Jeffrey R. Cohen is Assistant Professor of Accounting at Boston College. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a C.M.A. and a Peat Marwick Research Fellow. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Accounting Research, Decision Sciences and The Organizational Behavior Teaching Review. His work on Ethics has appeared in Issues in Accounting Education, Management Accounting, and The CPA Journal. Laurie W. Pant is Assistant Professor of Accounting at Boston College. She holds an M.B.A. and a D.B.A. from Boston University and an M.Ed. from Emory University. She serves on the editorial board of Issues in Accounting Education. Her articles on Ethics have appeared in Issues in Accounting Education, Management Accounting and The Organizational Behavior Teaching Review.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 American Accounting Association National Meeting.     

A comparison of ethical evaluations of business school faculty and students: A pilot study

This paper reports the results of a pilot study of differences in ethical evaluations between business faculty and students at a Southern university. Data were collected from 137 business students (46 freshmen and 67 seniors) and 34 business faculty members. Significant differences were found in 7 of the 30 situations between freshmen and faculty and four situations between seniors and faculty. When the combined means for each group were tested, there was no significant difference in the means at the 0.05 level of significance. A trend was revealed, however, in that the majority of the time faculty members were the most ethically oriented followed by seniors and then freshmen.Dr. Robert E. Stevens is Professor of Marketing at Northeast Louisiana University and is the author of 11 books and more than 80 articles. Dr. Stevens has served as a consultant to local, regional, and national firms for research projects, feasibility studies, and market planning, and has been a partner in a marketing research company.Dr. O. Jeff Harris is Professor of Management at Northeast Louisiana University. Prior to coming to Northeast, he taught at Louisiana State University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Texas. Professor Harris has written three books and numerous articles and position papers. He is a consultant to many health care and processing organizations.Dr. Stan Williamson is an assistant professor of management at Northeast Louisiana University. He teaches strategy, human resource management, and management principles. Before this, he served as a senior executive for a regional health care system for 13 years and as a consultant in the health care field.     

Ethical dilemmas in organization development: A cross-cultural analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and extent to which cultural differences bear on perceptions of ethical Organizational Development consulting behaviors. U.S. (n=118) and Taiwanese (n=267) business students evaluated eleven vignettes depicting potential ethical dilemmas. Respondents judged the ethicality of each vignette, the likelihood of the event's occurrence and the party responsible for the event's occurrence. Multivariate Analyses of Variance revealed significant cultural differences in perceptions of ethicality, and group differences in perceptions of the events' likelihood of occurrence. U.S. subjects provided higher ethicality ratings than the Taiwanese, and lower ratings on the likelihood of occurrence. Response distributions resulting from the identification of the responsible party were similar for six of the eleven vignettes. When differences did occur, it appeared that the Taiwanese were more inclined than the U.S. subjects to view responsibility as shared by the client and the consultant. The results suggest the need for the incorporation of cultural differences in a code of ethics for the profession and the need for cross-cultural ethics training for partitioners.Louis P. White is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. His articles have appeared in theAcademy of Management Review, theTraining and Developing Journal, Gaming and Simulation, andHuman Relations. He is also the author ofProfessional Ethics and Practice in Organizational Development (with Kevin C. Wooten), Dr. White received his Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology.Melanie J. Rhodeback is an active Human Resource Management consultant, writer and speaker, and the owner of Rhodeback & Associates, a firm specializing in data analytic strategies to improve management decision making. Her research and consulting interests include the assessment of attitudes, values, ethics, and equity. Dr. Rhodeback serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in the School of Business and the School of Human Sciences & Humanities.     

The effects of professional education on values and the resolution of ethical dilemmas: Business school vs. law school students

Prior research on the impact of ethics education within the business curriculum has yielded mixed results. Although the impact is often found to be positive, it appears to be both small and short-lived. Interpretation of these results, however, is subject to important methodological limitations. The present research employed a longitudinal methodology to evaluate the impact of an M.B.A. program versus a law program on the values and ethical decision making behavior of a cohort of students at two major universities in the northeast. The results suggest that the M.B.A. curriculum remains a value-neutral experience for most students. In contrast, the law school program had a significant impact on both values and ethical decision making.Donald L. McCabe is Associate Professor of Management at the Graduate School of Management, Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey. His research focuses on ethical decision making, interpretive processes under conditions of uncertainty, and issues of student values and ethics.Janet M. Dukerich is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on individual and group decision making and interpretation processes in organizations.Jane E. Dutton is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan. Her research interests center on organizational adaptation processes, and in particular, organizational responses to value-laden issues.     

The social and ethical alchemy: an integrative approach to social and ethical accountability

In recent years there has been an explosion of interest by companies in developing approaches to instill values in their decision-making processes and to manage and report on their social performance. The emerging field of social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting (SEAAR) is characterised by considerable differentiation not only in terminology, but also in methodology and focus. This article aims to analyse the key conceptual and methodological differences between internally focussed approaches to SEAAR, dealing with ethics (behavioural) issues, and externally focussed approaches to SEAAR, dealing with social (stakeholder) issues.
In their discussion of the benefits and potential pitfalls of exclusively internally or externally focussed approaches the authors suggest two organisational metaphors as heuristics – the Cultish and the Chameleon organisation. The authors then propose an integrative approach to SEAAR which will overcome this dissonance and initiate a mutually reinforcing process that, in the long-term, can build both internal trust and cohesiveness and external credibility. The suggested approach is characterised as social and ethical alchemy since the aim is to achieve more than the sum of the two separate parts – a business ethics programme and a social reporting process – by creating leverage and synergy between the key components.     

The impact of a shift in organizational role on ethical perceptions: A comparative study

This study investigates ethical decision-making by considering the differences in ethical judgments between undergraduate business and MBA students on selected ethical issues facing employees and managers of today's businesses. The study further investigates differences in ethical judgments between undergraduates and MBAs in terms of a perceived position as an employee or as a manager. The findings indicate that undergraduate students tend to be more ethical than MBA students and that both groups tend to be more ethical when they perceive themselves as managers rather than employees. The authors discuss the implications for both business practitioners and educators.Shohreh A. Kaynama is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a Ph.D. in Marketing and the Decision Sciences. Dr. Kaynama has published extensively in numerous National and International proceedings. Her area of research is strategic marketing, consumer behavior, applications of computers and decision sciences in marketing and global marketing. Louise W. Smith is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Smith's main professional interest is consumer behavior. Dr. Smith's articles have appeared in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Marketing among others. Algin B. King is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has served on the Faculties of seven universities, publishing numerous articles in National Professional Meetings Proceedings and scholarly journals including Journal of Euro-Marketing, Atlantic Economic Journal. In addition he has served as a business consultant to numerous business firms.