12.07.2015 Views

Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ETHICS6.14 PROFESSIONAL VALALUES, ETHICS, S, ATTITUDE TITUDE AND CODE OF CONDUCTFOR ACCOUNTANTSANTS<strong>The</strong> level <strong>of</strong> ethical principles that an accountant knows <strong>and</strong> complies withdetermines his pr<strong>of</strong>essional values <strong>and</strong> not necessarily his technical skills.Attitude is our disposition, perspective, viewpoint, or outlook. It is how weview the world. <strong>The</strong> level <strong>of</strong> an accountant’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional values determineshis attitude. Attitude they say is everything, <strong>and</strong> one’s perceived level <strong>of</strong>maturity is based on your attitude. A change in attitude is the key to success.Nothing is more important: not education, aptitude, health, wealth oropportunity. Great men <strong>and</strong> women share this opinion. For example, ThomasJefferson wrote “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitudefrom achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrongmental attitude.”Accountants must be confident <strong>and</strong> not arrogant, while arrogancedemonstrates ignorance confidence depicts competence.<strong>The</strong> code <strong>of</strong> conduct is the codification <strong>of</strong> the ethical principles, values, beliefs<strong>and</strong> theories into a document which is referred when with challenges <strong>and</strong>serves as a reference guide to determine the appropriateness or otherwise <strong>of</strong>an action.Code <strong>of</strong> conduct is a document published by a government agency, pr<strong>of</strong>essionalbody, trade association etc outlining model procedures for good practice in aparticular field. It gives examples <strong>of</strong> excellent <strong>and</strong> bad behaviour, <strong>and</strong>recommendations regarding how things should be done. <strong>The</strong> obviousadvantage <strong>of</strong> code <strong>of</strong> conduct is that it provides guidance to people whogenuinely want to behave properly but who do not know what they should doin order to achieve this aim. <strong>The</strong> code also contains practical guidance onformulating, implementing <strong>and</strong> monitoring equal opportunity policies. It isthe same thing as staff h<strong>and</strong>book.A code <strong>of</strong> ethics on the other h<strong>and</strong> is a formal statement that acts as a guidefor how people within a particular organisation should act <strong>and</strong> make decisionsin an ethical fashion. Codes <strong>of</strong> ethics commonly address issues such as conflict<strong>of</strong> interest, behaviour toward competitors, privacy <strong>of</strong> information, gift giving,<strong>and</strong> making <strong>and</strong> receiving political contributions.As a pr<strong>of</strong>essional accountant, you have the primary responsibility to complywith the institutes’ code <strong>of</strong> conduct. You are also encouraged to visitwww.ifac.org to download a copy <strong>of</strong> IFAC’s code <strong>of</strong> conduct.142

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!