Accounting, Ethics of

Accounting ethics determines the ethical obligations and responsibilities of an accountant. A professional accountant has an obligation to record, provide, and attest to information regarding the economic affairs of an organization. The fundamental ethical responsibility of an accountant is to fulfill this obligation, which is crucial to the functioning of commerce in any market. All other ethical responsibilities of the accounting professional are derivative on the performance of this task.

Originally, financial records were kept by and for the person who used the information. As economic and market systems grew more complex, the nature of the information required for the successful functioning of the economic systems became more complex as well and the demand for this information by various stakeholders increased. These two factors combined with ...