{ Practice Management | Ethics }
Ethical behavior in accounting is a function of actions, beliefs and perceptions from all areas of our world
T
he plethora of unethical behaviors continues to astound. What will be the impact on our country if unethical behavior continues? The loss of civility has also contributed to and affected unethical behavior. Consider some current ethical By Jim Lindell, lapses: conflicts of interest; the CPA, CSP, loss of privacy; religious leader, CGMA, MBA political party and COVID-19 behavior; the college admissions scandal and more. This author firmly believes that the root cause of ethical lapses comes down to selfishness.
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On Balance
September | October 2020
If you consider the above list of unethical behaviors, you already know the specific examples that fall under each of those categories and that wrong behavior occurs when one person believes that their needs, wants and desires are more relevant and take precedence over the rights — and possibly the safety — of another person. The reason selfishness is so critical to understand is that it drives inappropriate behavior beyond what we would consider reasonable bounds. Here is where it gets confusing. The vast majority of people have implicit boundaries that everyone within their group (or “tribe”) understands. For the most part, people will play by the same rules. At some point, one of the members of the group or tribe decides that they need an advantage; they want possession of something they don’t have and can’t get within the standard rules of behavior for their group.
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