Understanding Accounting Ethics - 2nd Edition

The product of a unique collaboration between a leading forensic accountant and a distinguished expert in classical philosophy, Understanding Accounting Ethics is widely admired for its "virtue-based" approach to professionalism in accountancy. This new text, substantially expanded and revised, is well-suited to serve as the primary textbook for a course or module in ethics, or as a supplementary text to any course in accounting. New and valuable features of the second edition include: adherence to the recent IFAC four-part framework for accounting ethics education (knowledge, perception, judgment, development); fully updated discussions of Enron and WorldCom, including trials and sentencing; real-life case studies drawn from forensic practice; ample quotations from members of the Accounting Hall of Fame, emphasizing the inherently ethical nature of accounting; practical advice for "how accounting ethics can be taught" to individuals and within firms; expanded bibliographies; and helpful questions for discussion and for further research after each chapter. Understanding Accounting Ethics explores such questions as: the distinction between a business and a profession; why accounting is a profession, not a business; why accounting as a profession is inherently ethical; accountancy's essential orientation to truth; why "rules are not enough"; and how codes of professional conduct for accountants are rooted in the virtues of an accountant.

Mark Cheffers, a forensic accountant and CPA, is the Founder and CEO of IVES Group, Inc., an independent research provider of advanced audit risk assessment and market intelligence services to some of the largest professional, regulatory, insurance and research service providers in the world. Michael Pakaluk is recognized as one of the world's leading experts in classical ethics. He is the author of several books and dozens of scholarly articles, including Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2005).