دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی حرفه و اصول اخلاقی حسابداران مدیریتی - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Using experimental scenarios, the current study suggest that the management accountants’ professional attributes social obligation, professional autonomy, professional affiliation, and professional dedication are associated with three ethical rationales that have been identified as playing important roles in ethical judgment, the perception of the ethicality of an action; moral equity, contractualism, and relativism. Understanding these issues will assist in determining the management accounting professional attributes that should be fostered in encouraging the ethical judgments of management accountants since research indicates that the moral equity and contractualism rationales are consistent with individuals at the postconventional stage of ethical development and more ethical judgments while the relativism rationale is consistent with the conventional stage of moral development and less ethical judgments.

Conclusion

Ethical behavior is a cornerstone of the management accounting profession and this is directly related to making ethical judgments (Flory et al.,1992; Reidenbach & Robin, 1990). This report suggests that promoting four attributes of professionalism: social obligation, professional autonomy, professional community affiliation, and professional dedication will encourage the use of three ethical rationales identified as playing important roles in making ethical judgments: moral equity, relativism, and contractualism. As the IMA and as individual members promote professionalism, they are motivating ways of thinking that lead to more ethical decisions. Understanding these links will help guide the profession in preparing its members to be more ethical decision makers within their organizations. Knowing the relationships between the activities and benefits of the management accounting profession and the ethical decision-making process will be invaluable in this regard. The results indicate that belief in social obligation is the most important professionalism attribute for promoting ethical judgments. For a scenario dealing with the manipulation of earnings and another dealing with violation of a company policy, social obligation was associated with ethical judgment and as well, use of the moral equity rationale. Social obligation was also associated with use of the contractualism rationale for the violation of a company policy scenario. Research suggests that when making ethical judgments, the moral equity rationale is the most influential and that the contractualism rationale provides occasional support depending on the context (Flory et al., 1992; Reidenbach & Robin, 1990). Research also indicates that the moral equity and contractualism rationales are consistent with individuals at the post-conventional stage of ethical development and more ethical judgments while the relativism rationale is consistent with the conventional stage of moral development and less ethical judgments (Ge & Thomas, 2008; Kohlberg, 1969, 1976; Thomas, 2012). Furthermore, management accountants’ belief in social obligation was also stronger than for any of the other professional attributes examined in this study. The profession’s past and continued promotion of this attribute thus appears to be successful and warranted.