Accounting Ethics

This second edition of Accounting Ethics uses concrete examples and case studies to examine the ethical responsibilities of individual accountants as well as accounting firms. Approaches the myriad ethical issues in the accounting environment from both a theoretical and practical perspective Offers a comprehensive overview of ethics in accounting, as well as an examination of and recommendations for solving the current crisis in this field Investigates the nature and purpose of accounting Uses up-to-date case studies and addresses current issues such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Examines the ethical responsibilities of individual accountants as well as accounting firms

Ronald Duska is The Charles Lamont Post Chair of Ethics and the Professions at the American College as well as the Director of the Center for Ethics in Financial Services. He is the author and editor of several books including, Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, Ethics for the Financial Services Professional (with Julie Anne Ragatz, 2008), and Moral Development: From Piaget to Kohlberg. Brenda Shay Duska MT, CPA, is currently a manager at Del Pizzo Associates, specializing in taxation. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Society for Financial Service Professionals. She serves on the boards of the non-profit, MusicWorks and the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Society for Financial Service Professionals. Julie Anne Ragatz is Assistant Professor of Ethics at The American Colleges and the Associate Director of The Center for Ethics in Financial Services. She is currently finishing her PhD in philosophy at Temple University where she concentrates on ethical theory and applied ethics.

Acknowledgments	p. x
Preface	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
The Nature of Accounting and the Chief Ethical Difficulty: True Disclosure	p. 9
The Nature of Accounting	p. 10
Ethics of Disclosure	p. 14
The Financial Statement	p. 17
Roles an Accountant can Fulfill	p. 20
Development of Explicit Accounting Standards and Regulations	p. 22
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)	p. 27
Recent Scandals that Provoked More Regulation	p. 29
Conclusions	p. 30
Ethical Behavior in Accounting: What Is Ethics?	p. 31
What Is Ethics?	p. 34
Ethics: The Intellectual Enterprise	p. 35
Actions	p. 35
Social Practices, Institutions, and Systems	p. 36
Why Study Ethics?	p. 36
Being Ethical: How to Determine What to Do	p. 38
Questions to Ask to Justify an Action: The Basis of Ethical Theory	p. 42
Using the Reasons	p. 46
Ethical Dilemmas	p. 47
Some Classic Moral Dilemmas	p. 48
Ethical Behavior in Accounting: Ethical Theory	p. 51
Egoism	p. 52
Utilitarianism	p. 57
Kant and Deontology	p. 61
Deontological Ethics	p. 62
The First Formula of the Categorical Imperative	p. 64
The Second Formula of the Categorical Imperative	p. 65
Virtue Ethics	p. 66
Accounting as a Profession: Characteristics of a Profession	p. 69
Accounting Codes of Conduct	p. 77
AICPA Professional Code of Conduct	p. 79
Code Principles	p. 80
Criticisms of the Code of Conduct	p. 92
The Rules of the Code of Conduct	p. 93
Section 100 - Independence, Integrity, and Objectivity	p. 94
Section 200 - General Standards Accounting Principles	p. 99
Section 300 - Responsibilities to Clients	p. 102
Section 400 - Responsibilities to Colleagues	p. 103
Section 500 - Other Responsibilities and Practices	p. 103
The Auditing Function	p. 109
The Ethics of Public Accounting	p. 113
Trust	p. 115
The Auditor's Responsibility to the Public	p. 116
The Auditor's Basic Responsibilities	p. 118
Independence	p. 122
Independence Risk	p. 127
Professional Skepticisrn	p. 131
Reasonable Assurance	p. 133
The Ethics of Managerial Accounting	p. 135
Reasons Used to Justify Unethical Behaviors	p. 140
Blowing the Whistle	p. 144
The Ethics of Tax Accounting	p. 151
Ethics Applied to the Accounting Firm	p. 167
Accounting as a Business	p. 169
The Social Responsibility of Business	p. 170
Good Ethics is Good Business	p. 175
Ethical Responsibilities of Accounting Firms	p. 177
The Accounting Profession in Crisis	p. 177
Afterword: Current Debates on Accounting Issues	p. 185
Fair Value and Principles vs. Rules	p. 185
Fair Value Accounting	p. 189
Arguments for and Against the Fair Value Approach	p. 193
Summary	p. 198
Principles vs. Rules	p. 199
Introduction	p. 199
Isn't GAAP Already Principles Based?	p. 200
An Example: The Continental Vending Case	p. 204
Recent Developments of ôPresent Fairlyö	p. 206
A Better Question	p. 207
Argument for a Rules Based Approach	p. 208
What Would a Principles Based Approach Look Like? The True and Fair Override	p. 211
Argument for a Principles Based Approach	p. 212
Conclusion	p. 215
Summary of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002	p. 217
The IMA Code of Conduct for Management Accountants	p. 230
Index	p. 233
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