Ethics as an Imperative

Abstract

INTRODUCTION While the last few years have seen disturbing ethical scandals in virtually every sector of our society, Enron and other financial scandals have raised particularly serious concerns about the ethical failure of the accounting and auditing profession. To regain the trust and respect it previously enjoyed, the profession must rebuild its reputation on its historical foundation of ethics and integrity. On that theme, the remainder of this paper focuses on ethics in the accounting and auditing profession and the role accounting academics have played and will play in the development of ethical behavior within the profession. I do not believe we have any choice about whether academics or practitioners will or will not teach ethics. Practitioners and academics assume that role when we convene a meeting as a partner in a professional services firm, or stand in front of a class of students—whether we want to or not. Those who lead invariably teach and influence—and not just in areas related to the subject matter. Our lives and personal conduct teach far more effectively than what we say about the subject matter—more about that later.