Essence of Accounting Ethics Accounting ethics refers to the guidelines (consisting of judgments and moral values) that a professional

needs to follow while practicing accounting. Just like professionals in the field of medicine or law, an accounting professional also needs to strictly adhere to the ethics that have become a norm in accounting. The people who receive the services of accounting professionals not only rely on their skills and abilities, but also on their professional integrity. People using the services of accounting professionals rely on their professional competency to make decisions and the ethics used when making those decisions.

Essence of Accounting Ethics (continued)

Because of the previous reasons listed, accounting professionals developed a code of conduct that must be followed by all accounting professionals. The essence of the ethics lies in their use. This code of conduct or set of ethics requires an accounting professional to adhere to high degrees of selfdiscipline which even go beyond legal requirements. Whenever an accounting professional becomes a member of organizations like IMA, IIA and CIA, he/she is required to follow the code of conduct and ethics of that group. It is the responsibility of accounting professionals to follow the code of ethics. This is the role of ethics in accounting, to ensure that nobody loses confidence in this noble profession. The essence of accounting ethics is in the maintenance of professional objectivity and integrity.

Role of Ethics In Accounting

The role of ethics in accounting is a guideline to follow. It provides certain rules to ensure accounting is conducted in a fair way. This helps to ensure a high level of public confidence in accounting. There is a set of guidelines that have been created by the AICPA for the field of public accounting. The IIA (Institute of Internal Auditors) and the IMA (Institute of Management Accounts) have also issued their own code of ethics to enforce the ethics in the field of accounting. It is the responsibility of all professional accounting organizations to require their members to follow the ethical guidelines that they set. The biggest question that the accounting profession faces is whether or not it is possible to teach ethics. Ethics have to be taught at some point in a persons life because no one is born with a set of ethics in place. Therefore, family, society, schools, colleges and professional organizations carry the burden of continuously instilling ethics in a person. The same is true in the case of accounting professionals. The codes of conduct that the professional organization expects from its members build a sense of ethics in a professional.