"Ethics in its broader sense, deals with human conduct in relation to what is morally good and bad, right and wrong. It is the application of values to decision making. These values include honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect and compassion."
Rushworth Kidder
President, Institute for Global Ethics
I open with the above quote from the Institute of Management Accountants website because I have been thinking a lot about ethics recently. Perhaps it is because my oldest son recently graduated from High School and is about to embark on a new era. Or perhaps it is the result of a conversation I had with a Corporate CPA and an article I read by another CPA. I have further discussed both with two other CPA friends and the three of us are in agreement “WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO?”
The conversation I mentioned above occurred in a CPA ethics continuing education class. We were asked to discuss the question of borrowing earnings from the following period into the current period in order to make the numbers we were supposed to make. I always thought that this was a very black and white answer. Instead, I was confronted by the answer that it depends. Were the statements for internal consumption only, or were they to be presented to people outside the business. Now between you and me, the answer to that is; it doesn’t matter. Besides are you only going to fudge the work for internal use?
Then a few weeks later I get an email from an association I belong to with a question posed by a practicing CPA; “IS IT EVER ALRIGHT TO COOK THE BOOKS?”. Again, I thought the answer to this was rather black and white but when reading the blog attached to the question determined that this fellow didn’t think it was black or white. He believed that it was alright to cook the books in order to make the numbers better reflect what management wants to show. Please trust me, I am not making this up.
For the record, I believe that an ethical person would respond in both of these cases with a flat NO, NEVER, NO WAY. Of course, that is based upon my values, my reading of right and wrong. And what I was taught are the values that are supposed to be held by CPA’s, CMA’s and other professionals in the accounting field.
I came across a book last winter based on the recommendation from a cousin of mine. It’s called Cowboy Ethics, What Wall Street Can Learn From the Code of the West. The author James P. Owen lists ten key principles which he believes embody the core principles of the working cowboy. They are Honesty, Loyalty and Courage. The last one “KNOW WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE” I believe provides the answer to the two ethics questions I discussed above. Or perhaps the 9th principle “REMEMBER THAT SOME THINGS AREN’T FOR SALE” would answer it as well.
At the beginning of every day, we need to commit ourselves to doing what is right because it is right.
Please check out Mr. Owen’s book on Amazon.com
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