Five fundamental principles of ethics for accountants

Elsie works for a popular retail store. Her sister, Mia, has expressed interest in buying a dress from the store, but only if Elsie can get her a discounted price. Elsie is unsure whether or not to try to arrange this.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour

Anaya, the finance manager at a car dealership, has been asked by her supervisor, Isabella, to calculate the year's depreciation on the company's fleet of vehicles. Isabella then instructs Anaya to reduce the calculated amount by 10% to decrease the expense and increase the company's profit for the year.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour

Amelia has been asked by her supervisor to resolve any payroll queries from other employees during the week ahead in the absence of the payroll clerk. While Amelia is willing to help, she has no experience in dealing with accounting for payroll or handling payroll queries from other employees like Anaya and Lily.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour

Neha has asked Isabella to disclose salary details of their mutual friend Arjun, who also works with them. Neha believes Arjun is living beyond his means and wants to try to help him if possible.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour

Isabella arrived late on the first day of a professional development course and didn’t bother to apologise to the course leader, Rohan. She also did not engage in the course activities during the day, explaining to Ava, “It’s not really important and it’s better than being in work for the day”.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour

Noah is trying to reconcile the balance of the sales ledger control account with the total of the sales ledger account balances as at the end of the month. He has done this task many times before, and usually, the problems arise from discounts allowed not being included in the relevant sales ledger accounts. As it's almost the end of the day, and his manager, Isabelle, needs the completed reconciliation before he leaves, he plans to hand over the reconciliation to Isabelle with the note “reconciliation complete, except for inclusion of discount allowed in sales ledger accounts,” without actually confirming that is the case.

• Integrity^

• Objectivity

• Professional competence and due care

• Confidentiality

• Professional behaviour