Essays --

Deontology and Utilitarianism in the Accounting ProfessionThe American Association of Public Accountants first implemented ethical rules in 1905. Since then, accounting ethics has been heavily scrutinized. It has been said that the relationship between personal values, codes of conduct and decisions to engage in financial misrepresentation are weak at best (Douglas, Davidson, & Schwartz, 2001), p. 101). It is essential for Accountants to make ethical decisions. In order to promote ethical decision making, it is vital that profession develop a strong ethical environment. The function of this paper is to look at two of the main ethical theories as they relate to the accounting profession. Specifically this paper will give a detailed description of utilitarianism and deontology. The organizational culture and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants code of professional conduct will then be looked at from the consideration of the two ethical theories. Finally, I will present the ethics system I believe is most appropriate for the accounting profession.1.0 UtilitarianismThe term utilitarianism, as delimit in this paper, is not a psychological theory that is based on what is. Instead, it is an ethical theory based on what should to be. Utilitarianism, also called universalistic hedonism, should not be confused with Egoism or Egoistic Hedonism (which states the agents individuals own happiness as the ultimate end of his actions (Sidgwick, 2000, p. 254). Instead, utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates the idea that the happiness of some must, at times, be forfeited for the benefit of the larger quantity of people. This theory suggests that proper behavior seeks to maximize happiness for the... ...eads to the perverse result that under certain mass a lie, for example, might be morally right if the individual contemplating the lie felt no compunction about lying and morally wrong except if the individual felt such a compun ction (Kelman, 1981, p. 34). As mentioned earlier, the accounting profession is working hard to regain the publics trust. This is because at some point the profession as a whole assumed the utilitarian based concept that ...the purpose, nature, and responsibility of business are to maximize receipts or shareholder value. To the goal that an accounting firm is a business, it falls under the profit-maximizing rubric. But when an accounting firm sees itself primarily as a business, making a profit overrides its main function of attesting to the truth and correctness of financial statements. (Duska, Duska, Ragatz, 2011,p. 170)