Preview

Ethical Lessons For Accountants By Thomas Buckhoff

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
325 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ethical Lessons For Accountants By Thomas Buckhoff
In the assigned article “Ethical Lessons for Accountants,” Thomas Buckhoff and LeVon Wilson state that the “good solider” defense does not excuse wrongful behavior. The “good solider” defense states that an individual should not be held responsible for their actions if they were merely following the requests of a supervisor. This defense allows individuals to participate in wrongful behavior and to claim no personal responsibility for their actions.
I do not think the “good soldier” defense excuses wrongful behavior. As human beings we have autonomy over our actions and decisions. Individuals who engage in wrongful behavior should be held responsible for their actions, since they choose to engage in that specific behavior. I understand that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    John Petersen’s article, “Accounting 101 For The 21 ST Century: A Liberal Arts Education in Carbon,” brought out some prevalent points in regards to the way society has forgotten to properly educate young adults in the area of finance. I agree, “Recent graduates have a lot to learn about budgeting when they leave college” (Petersen 475). College students have to be responsible and learn to only purchase the things that they need instead of buying the things they want. Most students are just getting out on their own, and making financial decisions, but they should be learning how to balance a checkbook. Instead, many of them open credit card accounts, except student loans and find themselves in the negative.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    But, some Iraqi combatants carried a much greater responsibility than others. It would be justifiable to determine the Iraqi Republican Guard, a wealthy higher up, forced the loyal to the regime, who are responsible for their actions to higher standard, than to a rusty armed draftee who has been attacked by threats to themselves and their families. Due to blackmails and threats to the poor, it changed their self- interest, which derived and prompted their actions. In the text, it stated, “More generally, it is true of most unjust combatants that their conduct is excused to varying degrees by the sorts of consideration Walzer mentions in arguing that they are not criminals and that these excuses diminish their liability to varying degrees” (McMahan,…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Should auditors insist that their clients accept all proposed audit adjustments, even those that have an “immaterial” effect on the given set of financial statements? Defend your answer.…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics 2

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ASSUME YOUR WORK AS AN ACCOUNTANT FOR FEB REALITY CO., A SMALL LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY THAT DESPERATELY NEEDS ADDITIONAL FINANCING TO CONTINUE N BUSINESS .THE CEO OF YOUR CO. IS MEETING THE MANAGER OF UIC BANK AT THE END OF THIS MONTH TO TRY OBTAIN A LOAN.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting professionals consider standard practices of accounting and board of accountancy rules when creating ethical standards. Accountants also consider state and federal laws. Ethics and the law works hand-in-hand therefore should be on the minds of those considering the commission of fraud. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Excello, Terry Reed, was considering doing such by posting a $2.1 million transaction to raise year-end earnings.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Management needs to have a plan or purpose in motion and gather the necessary information which will make the health care organization successful. Controlling is when the healthcare organization is adhering to the plans that are developed by management. Organizing and directing a plan which the health care organization needs to follow and maintain certain steps, resources and stayed focused on the end result, which is success. The proper decision making choices are through education. The financial team is accountable for making sure the appropriate reports are up-to-date, and they are accountable for reporting the funds with principles set forth by the code of ethics and mission statements of the health care organization. Every organization must be willing to release the financial reports which are deemed to be correct. If a health care organization provides incorrect information, this can be immoral and cause financial difficulties to the…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Let’s say that the soldier did fire the drone and bombed the kids. Thousands of lives saved after sacrificing 1-5 bystanders. The soldier has worked very hard and has literally sweat blood and tears just for that moment of success. Yes, to kill innocent people is his success to save thousands upon thousands. Some will say that it is his duty to do what he has to do in order to protect his country, but it is not right to say there is good killing and bad killing.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The decision to go to war has nothing to do with the individuals fighting the war. The warfighters are merely following the orders of the politicians and heads of state who have decided to enter into a war. Walzer claims, “We draw a line between the war itself, for which soldiers are not responsible, and the conduct of the war, for which they are responsible, at least within their own sphere of activity” (39). Soldiers are only responsible for what they directly take part in, so as long as both sides, whether fighting a just or unjust war, follow Jus in Bello principals all soldiers should have the same moral equality. However, Jeff McMahan presents a refutation to this belief in his piece, “Rethinking the ‘Just War’ Part 1”, in which he poses the idea that soldiers are directly responsibility for justice/ injustice of a war. McMahan adheres to a school of thought known as the revisionist approach which believes, “ … that it is the individual…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics Paper

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tamira is in a professional dilemma that anyone in her position would find difficulty in knowing how to respond to her boss’s request to have up-to-date financial statements to share with the bank. She knows that there is not enough time to have the financial statements ready by when the president of the company needs them, so she follows the principle of conservatism and estimates the totals at a low level so the statements won’t look worse than they actually are. Tamira does not mention when handing in the statements that many of the numbers are estimates. There are several other ways Tamira could have went about this situation. For example she could have been honest with her boss and told him that she would not be able to have the necessary information, and because of this would have to estimate the totals. This would make her boss aware of what is going on so he then could proceed as he felt was right. Tamira also could have requested more time from her boss so that she could have found all of the actual totals and handed in completely accurate financial statements. Another route Tamira could have went is to study past year’s financial statements and make estimates based off of them and the patterns from the past. However, regardless of the decision she makes, I think she should have been honest with the president of the company and explained to him the circumstances that she would not be able to have the totals for the financial statements in the time that he would need them. So then he good have given his input and they both could have proceeded from there.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The government trains soldiers for years to teach them when to and when not to pull the trigger. The ethical line remains blurred when it comes to shooting another human, and soldiers must realize when it is allowed ethically and factor in everything that has led up to the moment where the decision to take another life is made. There is no clear time when the military allows a civilian to be shot, but it remains unsaid that many soldiers will have to shoot a civilian. Many of them will not receive punishment for these actions because it will be to protect themselves or their comrades, but there will be times when a soldier views someone as dangerous when the truth is that they are not. How ethical a decision like this is in a time of war is…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was created to prevent fraudulent financial activities, and to provide investors with more accurate financial resources on corporations. Under SOX, companies are held accountable if they fail to maintain the requirements that were set forth in the act. The act requires companies to maintain satisfactory internal control measures, provide responsible financial reports, disclose periodic reports, and establish rules for annual reporting. (Hazels, 2010) These requirements are all part of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Corporations and accounting firms should have already been practicing these principles to uphold ethical behavior. However, the governing bodies charged with monitoring of corporate finances as well as their practices were outdated and that necessitated the reforms outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.…

    • 658 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A number of financial crises worldwide have shown that accounting ethics is not enough to stop accountants from behaving unethically. Some accountants and accounting organizations have clearly overstepped ethical lines for money, prestige, and…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    No man can be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt how he will react in any given situation. One can know how he would hope to react; however, until the circumstances are in place behavior can not be entirely predicted. A person’s reaction in the direst of moments is in fact the heart of who they are. While reactions are spontaneous, actions are not and the decisions to act or not to act in one fashion or another are based on an ethical viewpoint. This truth spans across both personal and professional lives and from those individual lives crosses the boundaries into entire professions. Ethics is not limited to individuals, but stretches across entire organizations, social practices, and even complete social, political, and economic systems (Duska & Duska, 2003). The accounting profession is not an exception. This paper will describe the deontological ethical system as well as the utilitarian ethical system, both of which are proposed for the accounting profession. Second, it will evaluate each system with respect to the accounting professions organizational culture and the Accounting Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct. Finally, it will conclude the use of the deontological ethical system as most appropriate for the accounting profession.…

    • 2840 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting Ethics

    • 95067 Words
    • 381 Pages

    Accounting Ethics, Second Edition. Ronald Duska, Brenda Shay Duska, and Julie Ragatz © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-405-19613-0…

    • 95067 Words
    • 381 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each case is analysed using a seven-step model, shown below. 1. Determine the facts What? Who? Where? When? How? What do we know or need to know that will help define the problem? Define the ethical issue List the significant stakeholders. Define the ethical issues. Identify the major principles, rules and values (For example; integrity, quality, respect for persons, profit) Specify the alternatives List the major alternative courses of action, including those that represent some form of compromise or point between simply doing or not doing something. Compare values and alternatives – see if there’s a clear decision Determine if there is one principle or value, or combination, which is so compelling that the proper alternative is clear. Assess the consequences Identify the short and long, positive and negative consequences for the major alternatives. The common short run focus on gain or loss needs to be measured against the long-run considerations. This step will often reveal an unanticipated result of major importance.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays