Question

ACCT 200 TERM 3 January 7, 2019 to March 1, 2019 ASSIGNMENT: ETHICS ESSAY 3 Pages Double spaced 12 Font Times New Roman or Arial Sited page not necessary but can be included Address Ethics in Accounting, the following are examples of topics that can b your essay, but this list is not all-inclusive: 1. History of Ethics in Accounting. 2. Sarbanes Oxley Act 3. Military Ethics 4. Current Ethics policies in your profession or major. 5. Look at a business on the Internet for their ethics policy 6. AICPA Code of Professional Ethics 7. Others topics with prior approval from the instructor.

Answer 1

Codes of Professional Conduct

Rules and regulations help to keep society in order. Without such, society would breakdown. However, rules and regulations may be ambiguous and should be broken down to clear and concise details. To do so, clarification is sometimes required. Clarification is an interpretation that eliminates hindrances to perception, recognizing and understanding. For clarification purposes, it is important to be aware of the seven characteristics of a profession issued by the Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for Certified Public Accountants which include: (1) a set of specific skills and knowledge (2) a documented formal education (3) a standard of professional qualifications regulating access to the profession (4) a standard of conduct managing the relationship of the specialist with customers, associates, and the public (5) recognition of status (6) an acceptance of social responsibility essential in a vocation imparted with the public interest and (7) an organization dedicated to the improvement of the social obligations of the group (Duska, Duska & Ragatz, 2011).

Code of Conduct: Purpose

A fundamental area of the aforementioned characteristics is the code of conduct. A code of conduct is an established set of standards, beliefs and expectations that are deemed binding on any individual who is a member of a specific group ("Free Dictionary by Farlex", 2015). The overall purpose of a code of conduct is to provide guidance on a variety of issues including organizational operations, values and principles, behavioral expectations, decision making, social responsibilities, ethical actions, public interest, penalties, etc. The code of conduct establishes a regulation standard against which the organization/professional can evaluate their performances and take corrective actions.

Code of Conduct: Nature, Purpose, & the Six Principle Implementation

            The AICPA Code of Conduct is based on six principles; (1) responsibilities (2) serve the public interest (3) integrity (4) objectivity and independence (5) due care and (6) scope and nature of services. These principles are required practices for all certified public accountants who are members of the AICPA. The principles are the required behavior for accountants and lay the groundwork for specific rules of accounting. “The Principles of the Code…express the profession’s recognition of its responsibilities to the public, to clients, and to colleagues. They guide members in the performance of their professional responsibilities and express the basic tenets of ethical and professional conduct. The Principles call for an unswerving commitment to honorable behavior, even at the sacrifice of personal advantage.” (Duska, Duska & Ragatz, 2011, pg. 80)

The nature and purpose of the Code of Conduct is to provide guidance for accounting practitioners in the conduct of their professional affairs. These principles were designed to provide the conceptual framework for specific accounting rules that all AICPA members must follow in their course of business. Accountants have an ethical responsibility to three main groups; the public, their clients, and colleagues.

The implementation of the code starts with behavior. Accountants have to be willing to change their behavior to meet the needs of these principles for the code to work properly.

• Responsibility – Accountants have a responsibility to use professional and moral judgement in all their activities.

• Serve the public interest – Accountants must act in a way that serves the public interest.

• Integrity – Accountants must perform all work with a high sense of integrity which is an important character trait in this profession. It is a way of determining what is right and just.

• Objectivity and Independence – Accountants have to remain objective and cannot get to close to a client. They must also remain independent of their clients with no conflicts of interest.

• Due Care – Accountants have to strive to follow all the required rules and regulations required of them. This process involves a desire to always improve the quality of service provided and strive to improve competence in their duties.

• Scope and Nature of Service – Accountants use all the principles to determine the services they can provide each client. They use moral and ethical reasoning to decide what services can be provided without crossing any ethical boundaries.

Code of Conduct: Current Criticism Analysis

The current criticism of the code of conduct takes on different perspectives. To review the validity of the Code of Conduct is to evaluate the relevance of its likelihood. The principles of the code were established to provide a guideline for the accounting profession to adopt an ethical methodology. By using this concept, it is imperative to design a process that will encompass relevant factors to maintain and adhere to.

The principles of the Code of Conduct face assessment from critics who consider that at least two inadequacies exist. The inadequacies from the critic’s opinions focus on the general and vague nature as well as the absence of penalties or sanctions. The critics declare that these obstacles are prevalent because of the interpretation of the language included in the code principles. The analysis addresses the concern that the code principles should represent encouraging meanings and be more specific in the content. Another issue is the lack of enforcement of the code principles. It is recognized that the principles of the Code of Conduct has challenges of infrequently getting implemented.

Code of Conduct: Suggestions for Improvement

All companies should have some type of commitment in order to make the environment fair, have a legal workplace, and protections for their workers. With having these codes in place stakeholders, employees, customers, and partners would be aware that each individual person is being treated fair. This would also help to guide the actions of everybody that works for the company and will help ensure the development of their operating procedures in each department and would help to manage any risks or problems that might arises. Listed below are some ways to improve Code of Conduct in the workplace.

• If an employee doesn’t know that they’re behaving unethically then how can they improve? Employers should implement a code of ethic that can be applied to the workplace situation with a list of examples and applications.

• Having a reward system could instill in an employee a sense of self-worth, motivation, and remind them that they’re good work is not going unnoticed.

• Implementing a training program or seminars whereas this attempt would help to develop their ethical behavior by listening to a speaker.

• Bring in an outside group that has nothing to do with the company and this would help with any type of favoritism. The outside group could help and suggest about increasing the ethics in the workplace.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Code of Conduct and Ethics for business should reflect the company commitment to upholding their highest standards in regards to their legal and ethical business conduct. This Code wouldn’t contain a company policies and procedures but yet their details in regard to their policy. The Code would set forth their fundamental on a legal and ethical aspect when it comes to conducting their company business. A detailed policy and procedures for the company should be contained in the company policy manual, human resource policy and procedures, integrity and compliance manual, and their security policy. All of this information should be made available to the company employees. The information that’s contained in the Code of Conduct and Ethics does not constitute a contract but create an express or implied contract for their continued employment with the company and the company would reserve the right to modify and provision made available to the employees.