The Routledge Handbook of Accounting Ethics

The perspective of this book is to present "ethics" as a conversation about how we decide what is good or bad, right or wrong. It is a collection of conversations employed by educators to assist accounting students in developing their understanding of accounting's ethical aspects and to help them develop into critical thinkers who consider the ethical complexities of the function of accounting in human society.

 

Because we are social beings, ethics is a central human concern, since it involves determining the ethicality of human actions and their effect on other individuals, as well as determining the collective societal acceptance or rejection of an action. Thus, the book’s primary goal is to call attention to the intersectionality of accounting and ethics and to encourage students and researchers to consider the ethical implications of accounting decisions. The book contains a diversity of perspectives within which discussions of accountants' and accounting's ethical responsibilities may occur. The contributing authors were deliberately chosen for their diverse perspectives on whence moral guidance for accounting may come. Each chapter stands on its own and represents the thinking of its authors. The book is not a primer on correct behavior for accountants but a place where educators may spur the conversation along.

Table of Contents

List of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

Introduction

Eileen Z. Taylor and Paul F. Williams

Part 1 Historical Perspectives on Business and Accounting Ethics

1 History of Professional Accounting Ethics

Diane H. Roberts

2 Historical Development of the Code of Ethics of the US Public Accounting Profession

Richard Charles Baker

3 In Our Time: Accountant Ethics and Historical Relativity

Timothy J. Fogarty

Part 2 Alternative Perspectives for Thinking About Accounting Ethics

4 Virtue Ethics and the Accounting Profession

Marc Peter Neri

5 Habermas and Discourse Ethics

Larita J. Killian

6 Stories and Accounting Ethics

Sara Reiter

7 Feminism and Ethics in Accounting: Emancipatory Perspectives

Cheryl R. Lehman

Part 3 Religious Perspectives on Accounting Ethics

8 Use of Stories in the Jewish Talmud to Emphasize Substance over Form

Dov Fischer and Hershey H. Friedman

9 A Christian Accounting Ethic: God’s Image and Work Transform Our Image and Work

Martin Stuebs and John M. Thornton

10 Human Accountability and Divine Grace in the Qur’an Perceived Through an Accounting Perspective

Athar Murtuza, Khalid R. Al-Adeem, and Mary B. Curtis

Part 4 Topical Perspectives on Accounting Ethics

11 Ethics in Auditing

Georgios Papachristou and Michalis Bekiaris

12 Promoting a Stronger Ethical Focus in Management Accounting Research and Practice

Wioleta Olczak and Robin W. Roberts

13 Development and Analysis of Three Sustainability Initiatives

Robert Bloom

14 Governmental Accounting Ethics: Providing Accountability to Maintain the Public Trust

Patrick T. Kelly

15 Ethics and Accounting Information Systems

Richard B. Dull and Lydia F. Schleifer

16 Blockchain Technology in Accounting Information Systems: Intended and Unintended Consequences

Robin R. Pennington

17 Ethical Considerations of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Diverging Perspectives from Different Stakeholders

Nathan C. Goldman and Christina M. Lewellen

18 Personal Tax Compliance: Ethical Decision making in the Tax Context

Jonathan Farrar, Dawn W. Massey, and Linda Thorne

Part 5 Education and Accounting Ethics

19 The Role of Practical Wisdom in Accounting Ethics Education

Steven M. Mintz and William F. Miller

20 Ethics in Higher Education

Christine Cheng, Kristy Schenck, and Renee Flasher

21 Have Advanced Degrees Increased Ethical Professionalism for Auditors?

Francine McKenna

22 A Business Practitioner’s Guide to Resolving Moral Dilemmas: Employing a Location Map to Define Boundaries of Permissible Behavior

Michael Alles and Michael Kraten

Part 6 Ethical Accountants and Ethical Accounting

23 An Examination of the Virtues of Accounting Exemplars

Patrick T. Kelly, Timothy J. Louwers, and John M. Thornton

24 Investigating the Ethical Implications of Whistleblowing within Accounting

Phebian Davis, Amy M. Donnelly, and Robin R. Radtke

25 The Boundary Problem in a Surveillance Society: Moving Beyond Individual Ethics and Compliance

Louella Moore

26 A Survey of Diversity Ethics in the Accounting Profession

Margarita Maria Lenk

Index