Ethics
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This paper explains how I weigh the need for valid results against the ethical
dilemma of using deception. Here is the situation: I took some data from the sales and marketing projections in relation to manufacturing costs. According to my colleague, my analysis of the mid year forecast was right on the button. I have discovered a serious flaw in the forecast recommendation, it was understated. My friend tells me the increase in sales will make up for any downturn the mistake may have caused – at least in the short term. He assures me that whether or not I tell is not going to change anything but how it affects me. If I tell the truth, it may affect my upcoming promotion and result in a number of people being laid off. Regardless of the results, the truth must be told.
According to Graham Ward, the Deputy President of IFAC, “our profession is recognized as contributing to every sector and aspect of the global economy. We are not solely auditors. We are management accountants, business leaders, corporate financiers, business advisers. We should also not forget the large number of accountants who serve the public sector – a hugely important sector which accounts for 40% of global capital expenditure.”
Truth-telling is recognized as an ordinary virtue in every field of human endeavor, and it is this virtue that has special relevance to the accounting field. Telling the truth involves at least three distinct matters, relevance, accuracy and sincerity. This situation calls for telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As much as I would like to spin the truth and ride it out, my conscience would prohibit this.
According to Newton Garver, “a great deal, so far as clear thinking is concerned, hangs on how “spinning” stands in relation to lyinglegally there is all the difference in the world, as there should be. Even though both spinning and lying are attempts to deceive, only lying involves saying what you know, or ought to know, to be straightforwardly false……… morally there is no significant difference between spins and lies. It is the attempt to deceive that is morally relevant, since that in itself, whatever form it takes, violates the Golden Rule.”
I have learned in a Philosophy class on Ethics some time ago that the Golden Rule offers a way to make principled choices of behaviors from diverse ethical guidelines. Individuals are led to behave as if every action they might be able to cover up and every motive they might be able to