Part A. Q1. Corporate governance failures and financial scandals have led the public to question the ethicality of accounting professionals. Many have recommended teaching ethical theories to accounting professionals as one of the possible ways for improving ethical sensibility in accounting profession. You are required to critically discuss consequentialism and deontology and their roles in underpinning social and environmental responsibility and reporting.
Introduction
Ethics relate to actions and decisions how to make good, moral choices in accordance to different situations with analysing what is right and wrong. Many financial scandals in past two decades which regarded to fraudulent financial reporting, misappropriation of assets, disclosures with ethical omission showed that is very important of improving ethical sensitivity and ethical behaviour in the accounting profession (John Freedman, 2017).
Sometimes by taking one course of action outcome is not good for everybody or every area as for example can prevent harm and violate a right to privacy. That situation leads to ethical dilemma which must be resolved using the most basic ethical principles based on ethical theories (R.F.Duska and B.S.Duska, 2003).
Social Accounting Schools consider a few aspects influence in good, ethical outcome where a crucial role is convergence critical accounting perspective and conventional accounting perspective which lead to enhance environment as a mainstream source to be an important role of social and environmental accounting. Existing organisations, factories and producers influence on economic, social (health and safety, training, education, community support) and environment. Measurement of that impact companies presenting in sustainability report also knowing as Corporate Social Reporting (CSR) (D.Cullen, C. Whelan, 2011).
Findings
Deontology and Consequentialism are theories of normative ethics where companies embark on voluntary (deontology) or mandatory (consequentialism) discharge of accountability. The two theories of normative ethics consequentialism and deontology have a different point of view of where explained below (Philosophy basics, 2017):
Normative Ethics |
Consequentialism |