Ethics Assistance Committee example essay topic

One of my very first managers, a Fellow of CPA Australia, taught me that to be a good professional in any business, you first had to 'learn the business'. He felt that until you personally experienced other aspects of a business outside your own area of expertise, you were not as skilled as you should be. Personal experience is the very best way to sharpen your perception and views on any subject. And so it is with ethics, where there is a lot written on the 'theory', but less it seems, on how to address the issues in a practical sense. We also need to be very careful about taking the moral high ground because as human beings, we are not perfect. And we do make mistakes.

We as accountants do speak the universal language of business more so than any other profession and therefore should have little excuse for not knowing what is going on. Every time we read in the paper about a major corporate crash lately, it seems that somewhere in the equation, there is a question about the accounts. And how many times do we hear: 'I could see it coming a mile off'? Ethical business behaviour is a central tenet of CPA Australia's professional standards.

Every CPA Australia division has a disciplinary committee, which investigates, disciplines and hears appeals. However I believe these committees should be seen to go further and provide stronger support to members, who are often put in very difficult situations by employers, managers and colleagues. However, they only appear to take action when a complaint is made. In the US, for example, cosmetics manufacturers are not strongly regulated, but they are asked to voluntarily report adverse reactions to any of their products or ingredients. That way, the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) can build up a profile of good and bad trends in an unregulated area through a national database. CPA Australia should do something similar.

We should encourage our members to report to an 'ethics assistance committee', which has conventional disciplinary powers of the existing disciplinary committees, but will also support members who have been put under undue pressure to accept or even be a part of unethical behaviour. The self-preservation instinct is a very powerful one that we should never ignore. From the experience and body of knowledge of the committee, including other members' registered concerns or incidents, trends can be tracked and strategies developed as to how to address particular situations. This would include advice regarding 'whistle blowing', which is absolutely essential if we are ever to come to grips with some of the lack of ethics that exist. There are times when an all out full frontal attack is needed, but equally, a bit of tactful and discreet backroom activity, can often work a whole lot better. Certainly, it would be helpful if we could get the regulators more interested.

I recall a number of times some years ago, where I contacted ASIC with clear evidence of Corporation Law breaches to do with directors duties. I was prepared to provide any assistance to help a prosecution, but they refused, as they 'did not have sufficient resources'! Or perhaps they were not interested. We make laws for the regulation of our society and when someone simply wants them enforced, they should not be told 'can't' or 'won't'. In the context of ethics, if we point the authorities in the right direction, they must help us.

Stop some of the breaches of law and some of the cavalier attitudes might just be modified as a result.