Essays --

Deontology and Utilitarianism in the Accounting affairThe American Association of Public Accountants first implemented respectable rules in 1905. Since indeed, accounting ethics has been heavily scrutinized. It has been said that the relationship between individualised 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 respectable decisions. In order to promote honorable decision making, it is vital that profession develop a strong ethical environment. The purpose of this paper is to look at two of the main ethical theories as they relate to the accounting profession. Specifically this paper willing intermit a detailed description of functionalism and deontology. The organizational culture and the American constitute of Certified Public Accountants code of professional conduct will then be looked at from the context of the two ethical t heories. Finally, I will present the ethics system I be populateve is most take away for the accounting profession.1.0 UtilitarianismThe term utilitarianism, as defined in this paper, is not a psychological theory that is found 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 self-conceit or Egoistic Hedonism (which states the agents individuals own happiness as the ultimate polish off of his actions (Sidgwick, 2000, p. 254). Instead, utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates the idea that the happiness of roughly must, at times, be forfeited for the benefit of the larger quantity of people. This theory suggests that proper mien seeks to maximize happiness for the... ...eads to the perverse result that under certain slew a lie, for example, might be morally right if the individual contemplating the lie felt no compunction about lying and morally terms only if the individual felt such a compunction (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 net profit or shareholder value. To the extent that an accounting firm is a business, it go 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 righteousness and correctness of financial statements. (Duska, Duska, Ragatz, 2011,p. 170)