By: William Morehead, Ph.D., CGFM
William Morehead, Ph.D., CGFM, a member of AGA’s Jackson Chapter, is the chair of Accountancy, Computer Information Systems and Finance at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. He is AGA’s National President-Elect.
Is it just me or do we as a nation seem to be continuously surrounded by issues where violations of ethics, failures in personal integrity and personal abuse of public trust abound? We barely leave one ethical dilemma before we find ourselves facing another. Just this past week the news media have been covering issues where the Illinois governor allegedly was trying to “sell” a vacant Senate seat to the “highest bidder” of funds to his campaign—if true, what a blatant abuse of public position and power.
All too often, the dilemmas we face are not quite as obvious or blatant as the one in Illinois. I’ve read many stories of “fallen” individuals who indicated the slippery slope of betraying ethics and personal integrity sneaked upon them; and, they were too far down the slope when they realized they were going (or had gone) over the edge.
Marianne M. Jennings, professor of Legal and Ethical Studies in Business at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, is frequent presenter on the subject of ethics. She in fact, is a wonderfully knowledgeable, witty and gifted speaker. She has several “trade-marked” quotes like: “Never trust the people you cheat with. They will throw you under the bus” and “It’s not the first mistake that gets you. It’s the second one, the cover-up, that will.” Even in the late 1700s, Ben Franklin said something very similar: “Three people can keep a secret; if two are dead.”
How true! How many times have we seen individuals who have colluded turn state’s evidence on the other to minimize their own punishment? And, in many situations, if the individuals had just come forward when the first “mistake” was made and admitted the problem, they may have never slipped over the edge of ethical and/or moral failure.
We, in Mississippi, are not immune to our own ethical failures. In Clinton, Mississippi, drivers on Interstate 20 pass a massive building that is a “white elephant” of personal and corporate ethical and legal failure, the former world headquarters of a company that became telecommunications giant WorldCom. The company’s former CEO, Bernie Ebbers, a home-grown Mississippian, was credited with saying: “You’ll see people who in the early days…took their life savings and trusted this company with their money. And I have an awesome responsibility to those people to make sure that they’re done right.”
Franklin Raines, former CEO of Fannie Mae is credited with saying: “Ethical standards and practices in the workplace are the pillars of successful employment and ultimately the benchmark for a strong business.”
What has gone wrong in our society? Is it personal greed?
I’ve heard it said, and personally believe, that ethics and integrity are not always about following the law, they include more than that—they are about our relationships and interactions with others. Ms. Jennings defines ethical standards as: “the generally accepted rules of conduct that govern society. Ethical rules are both standards and expectations for behavior, and we have developed them for nearly all aspects of life. Ethics consists of those unwritten rules we have developed for our interactions with each other.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines ethics as: “The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by the individual in his relationship with others; the philosophy of morals; the rules or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession.”
Several key points about and challenges we all face surrounding ethics:
- The “right choice” is sometimes obscured by considerations never before faced by our professional predecessors.
- Often there is no obvious line between “right” and “wrong.”
- We sometimes find ourselves on a slippery slope when it comes to finding the best course of action.
- Rules and laws can’t always be relied upon to supply the answer.
- New ethical issues emerge every day in this “information age.”
- Public trust in our financial systems and profession depends on keeping high standards of conduct among those who handle financial affairs.
- Without basic trust in our government, economy, currency and business practices, the system would collapse.
- Adherence to ethical standards secures the greater good of the industry and ensures the ethical behavior of the individual is above reproach.
- Psychologists tell us people naturally act in their own best interests. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the professional to be aware of the ethical codes that should guide his or her behavior.
In determining what to do in an ethical dilemma you might want to ask yourself these four questions:
- Is the action I am considering legal and consistent with ethical standards for all citizens?
- Is the action I am considering consistent with the Codes of Professional Ethics by which I am bound?
- Is the action I am considering consistent with my own personal standards?
- How would this action look on the evening news or the front page of the local paper? How would this publicity reflect on my colleagues, on my profession, and on my own professional and personal reputation?
In the video “Crossing the Line,” distributed by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the narrator says: “Diligence, objectivity, independence, due care and conflicts of interest are not just boilerplate provisions inserted into codes of professional responsibility. Financial professionals such as accountants [and] auditors … are required to follow these codes to protect both themselves and their clients. Such standards require professionals not just to be reactive (give advice when asked), but to be proactive as well (looking for possible conflicts or problems).”
As government accountability professionals, let us not just
be reactive; let’s be proactive as well! Let’s all work together acting
courageously, if we must, to make a difference in our society. If you have not
done so in a while, you may want to take time to look at AGA’s Code of
Professional Ethics; you may find them at AGA’s website.
