外文翻譯—會計倫理與財務(wù)信息可靠性（節(jié)選）

1、<p>　　字?jǐn)?shù)：英文2739單詞，15535字符；中文4778漢字</p><p>　　出處：John Ikponwosa Otalor,Ofiafoh Eiya.Ethics in Accounting and the Reliability of Financial Information[J]European Journal of Business and Management.2013, 5(

2、13):73-81</p><p><b>　　外文文獻(xiàn)：　</b></p><p>　　Ethics in Accounting and the Reliability of Financial Information</p><p>　　Abstract One of the unique features of most recogni

3、zed trades and vocations including the highly regulated accounting profession is the existence of code of ethics which are the hallmarks of global best practices. The society evaluates the performance of professionals on

4、 the basis of both moral and technical codes. Adherence to these codes by the practitioners of the profession inspires confidence in the work of the professional by shareholders who depends on the auditor’s opinion as a

5、means of</p><p>　　The huge and embarrassing corporate failures and high profile frauds in the last two decades has called to question the integrity of the accounting profession both within and from outside t

6、he profession, leading to increased demands for ethics within the auditing profession. This study highlights the consequences of unethical practices and proposes some possible solutions to the question of ethics in the a

7、ccounting profession.</p><p>　　Keywords: Ethics, reliability, financial information</p><p>　　1.Introduction</p><p>　　The collapse of several companies and high profile frauds in the

8、 last two decades has called to question the integrity of the accounting profession. These scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Cadbury, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Polly Peck, Parmalat and so

9、on) have questioned the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms, the quality of financial reports, and the credibility of audit functions thus, leading to increased demands for ethics within the auditing pro<

10、/p><p>　　In the past only a small group of industrialists and financiers were interested in financial reporting, but lately it has become a highly complex activity that is of considerable interest to various st

11、akeholders in the firm (Arvanitidou, Konstantinidou, Papadopoulos and Xanthi, nd). The development of financial reporting differs from one country to another as a result of various factors peculiar to them (Baker & W

12、allagey, 2000). While the British traditionally considers the main purpose of finan</p><p>　　Accounting is pivotal to establishment of accountability and transparency in the economy of any nation as it provi

13、des information on financial position and profitability of operations of corporations as well as serving as the foundation of countries’ fiscal, monetary and financial systems. The information so provided must be reliabl

14、e to be useful to users who rely on the periodic financial statement for assurance that their investments are being efficiently and prudently managed. The independent</p><p>　　The public accounting practitio

15、ners enjoys the monopoly of statutory audit as a privilege of belonging to the accountancy profession. Arguably the profession’s superior qualities of independence, integrity, and of serving the public interest are used

16、as grounds to defend this monopoly by the profession. Ironically, the relationship of these characteristics to ethical behavior is central to most of the criticisms leveled against the profession over the past 30 years.

17、The accountancy profession ha</p><p>　　Accounting provides economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by users of the information. Financial information plays a key role in the economic

18、 life of both individuals and nations by affecting the decisions of investors as well as contributing to the allocation of capital (Baker & Wallagey, 2000). Financial accounting information is defined as “a product o

19、f corporate accounting and external reporting systems which measures and publicly discloses audited, quantitative da</p><p>　　Accountants have a significant responsibility to the public. This responsibility

20、exists because outside shareholders, creditors, employees, and others rely on financial statements in making various business decisions. Business organizations employ internal accountants to prepare financial statements.

21、 These statements are then audited by a firm of independent Auditors. Both the internal accountants and the external auditors have a responsibility to perform their tasks with integrity and due care </p><p>

22、　　2.The concept of ethics</p><p>　　The term “ethics” is defined as the science of study of morals, rules or principles of which guides the behaviour and decision of a certain person, community or group, etc.

23、 Ethics therefore, is concerned with norms, ground rules, principles, values or conduct of behaviour and practices exhibited by a group of people, community or profession. It can also be regarded as acceptable standards

24、of behavior or unwritten regulations or moral principles that guide an individual, an organization, a discip</p><p>　　The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) defined professional ethic as the prof

25、essional behaviour and characteristics that identifies professional accountants as members of a profession.</p><p>　　In the light of the above definitions, we can safely define professional ethics as a set o

26、f principles or rules which stipulates in broad terms the responsibilities of a profession to clients, colleagues and the society in general.</p><p>　　The need for ethics arose from the claims of the account

27、ing profession and the role the profession have assumed over time. These include:</p><p>　　(1)It is the responsibility of Professional accountants to maintain the reputation of the accounting profession by c

28、onsistently considering the public interest in any given assignment. Personal interest must not be allowed to override these duties (ICAEW, 2009 and 2010).</p><p>　　(2)Accountants deal with a range of issues

29、 on behalf of clients. They often have access to confidential and sensitive information. Auditors claim to give an independent view (ICAEW, 2009 and 2010).</p><p>　　(3)The professional sees himself or hersel

30、f as responsible to the customer; the mission is to solve the problem of the customer, to create the value that the customer requires. If that value is not created, if problem is not solved, the professional has not done

31、 his or her job. It is only by producing the result that customer requires- by performing the entire process that yields that result-that the professional discharges his or her responsibility (Kabir, 2009).</p>&l

32、t;p>　　(4)Technically, the professional accountants should carry out professional services in accordance with the relevant technical and professional standards. The professional accountants have a duty to carry out wit

33、h care and skill, the instructions of the client or employer in so far as they are compatible with the requirements of integrity, objectivity and, in the case of professional accountants in public practice, independence

34、(Kabir, 2009).</p><p>　　International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) code of ethics for professional accountants has prescribed five (5) fundamental principles to be adhered to by accountants. These are as

35、 follows:</p><p>　　(1)Integrity: A professional accountant should be straight forward and honest in all professional and business relationship.</p><p>　　(2)Objectivity: A professional accountant

36、 should not allow bias, conflictive interest or undue influence of others to override professional or business judgment.</p><p>　　(3)Professional Competence and Due Care: A professional accountant has a cont

37、inuing duty to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the level required to ensure that a client or employer receives competent professional service based on current developments in practice, legislation and techni

38、ques. A professional accountant should act diligently and in accordance with applicable technical and professional standards when providing professional services.</p><p>　　(4)Confidentiality: A professional

39、accountant should respect the confidentiality of information acquired as a result of professional and business relationships and should not disclose any such information to third parties without proper and specific autho

40、rity unless there is a legal or professional right or duty to disclose. Confidential information acquired as a result of professional and business relationships should not be used for the personal advantage of the profes

41、sional accountant or thir</p><p>　　(5)Professional Behavior: A professional accountant should comply with relevant laws and regulations and should avoid any action that discredits the profession.</p>

42、<p>　　3.Ethical Challenges in Auditing Profession</p><p>　　There are five types of ethical threats associated with the auditing profession. The ethical dilemmas occur as a result of these threats:</p

43、><p>　　(1)Self Interest Threats</p><p>　　Self interest threats arise of from having financial interest in client. This financial interest can be for own or for other family members or for relatives

44、. The IFAC code of ethics highlights a great number of areas in which a self interest threat might arise as follows: employment with client, close business relationship, partner on client board, financial interest, famil

45、y or personal relationship, higher fees, gifts & hospitality, lowballing contingent fees, overdue fees, loans & guarantees.</p><p>　　(2)Self Review Threats</p><p>　　A self review threats

46、 when the auditors has to re-evaluate work completed by himself or if the external auditor advised on the implementation of the financial reporting system of the client. Service with assurance client, preparing accountin

47、g records and financial statements, other service, valuation services, corporate finance, tax services, internal audit service are some sources of self review threats.</p><p>　　(3)Advocacy Threats</p>

48、<p>　　This may occur when the auditor is asked to promote the client’s position or represent them in some way. In this situation the auditor would have to be biased in favor of the client and therefore cannot be ob

49、jective. This could happen if the client asked the auditor to promote their shares for a stock exchange listing or if the client asked the auditor to represent them in court. The sources of advocacy threats include legal

50、 services, contingent fees, and corporate finance.</p><p>　　(4)Familiarity Threats</p><p>　　A familiarity threats occur when the auditor is too sympathetic or trusting of the client because of a

51、 close relationship with them. This may be because a close friend or relative of the auditor works in the key financial role for the client. The sources of familiarity threats can be found in the following situations: wh

52、ere there is family and personal relationship between client and firm, employment with assurance client, long association with assurance client, recruitment and recent service wi</p><p>　　(5)Intimidation Thr

53、eats</p><p>　　An intimidation threat arises when members of the assurance team have reason to be intimidation by client staff. The sources of intimidation threats are: close business relationship, litigation

54、, family & personal relationship, assurance staff members move to employment with client.</p><p>　　4.Ethical Dilemma</p><p>　　Most of the criticisms that have trailed the accounting professi

55、on following the discovery of fraud in the financial statement of the collapsed companies bothered on poor ethical behavior on the part of the accountant. One major scandal in the USA which revealed lack of ethics at the

56、 executive levels is the celebrated Enron case (Agacer,Vehmanen & Valcarcel, 1997). In December 2001 Enron became the largest bankruptcy ever in the USA. It failed due to the twin problem of improper accounting pract

57、</p><p>　　The dominating auditing firms at the market offers consultancy services in addition to the traditional audit and assurance services and this is often seen as a dilemma (Crane & Matten, 2004). I

58、n raising the complex interrelationship of issues concerning how auditors ought to behave, what rules and principles they ought to adopt and follow, and how to promote a culture in which we can expect compliance with the

59、se norms, it is helpful to classify the ethical issues that arise in relation to auditi</p><p>　　Fortunately, ethicists have developed frameworks for examining ambiguous ethical situations to help auditors a

60、void ethical dilemma. Two of these frameworks, utilitarianism and deontology, are briefly described below: Utilitarianism (consequentialism) posits that the moral correctness of an act is based solely on its consequences

61、. Accordingly, they advocate that the act which maximizes the overall favorable consequences (net of unfavorable ones) should be the one that is taken. In order words the</p><p>　　5.Conclusion and Recommenda

62、tion</p><p>　　The Professional accountant has a duty to maintain the reputation of the accounting profession by consistently considering the public interest in any given assignment. Unethical financial repor

63、ting could lead to legal action for breach of civil or criminal law, loss of practicing licence with its attendant consequences and loss of confidence in the financial statement. Auditors are expected to carry out their

64、standard procedures carefully, diligently and punctually in accordance with their instr</p><p>　　It is therefore recommended that the auditor should be bold enough to decline or discontinue any engagement th

65、at may constitute a threat to his integrity and put his reputation in jeopardy.</p><p><b>　　中文譯文：</b></p><p>　　會計倫理與財務(wù)信息可靠性</p><p>　　摘要 大多數(shù)公認(rèn)的行業(yè)和職業(yè)，包括受到高度監(jiān)管的會計職業(yè)的特色之一是存

66、在道德準(zhǔn)則，這是全球最佳實踐的標(biāo)志。社會在道德和技術(shù)準(zhǔn)則的基礎(chǔ)上評估專業(yè)人員的表現(xiàn)。遵從這些準(zhǔn)則的從業(yè)人員激發(fā)了股東對專業(yè)人士工作的信心，股東依賴于審計師的意見，并將其視為評估財務(wù)報表完整性的一種手段。</p><p>　　在過去的二十年里，眾多的和令人不安的企業(yè)破產(chǎn)和高調(diào)的欺詐行為使人們對該行業(yè)內(nèi)部和外部的會計職業(yè)的誠信提出了質(zhì)疑，導(dǎo)致了對審計倫理要求的提高。這項研究突出了不道德做法的后果，并針對會計倫理問題，

67、提出了一些可能的解決方案。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：道德規(guī)范，可靠性，財務(wù)信息</p><p><b>　　1.介紹</b></p><p>　　在過去的二十年里，幾家公司的破產(chǎn)和高調(diào)的欺詐行為使人們對會計專業(yè)的誠信提出了質(zhì)疑。這些丑聞（如安然，世通，環(huán)球電訊，吉百利，國際信貸商業(yè)銀行，波力派克，帕馬拉特，等等）對公司治理機(jī)制的有效性、財務(wù)

68、報告的質(zhì)量以及審計職能的可信性提出了質(zhì)疑，導(dǎo)致了對審計倫理要求的提高。這是因為，確保公司財務(wù)報表的真實性的責(zé)任，完全落到對這些報表發(fā)表意見的獨立審計師的肩膀上。</p><p>　　在過去，只有一小部分企業(yè)家和金融家對財務(wù)報告感興趣，但最近它已經(jīng)成為一個非常復(fù)雜的活動，該公司的各種利益相關(guān)者都十分關(guān)注財務(wù)報告（Arvanitidou，Konstantinidou，帕帕佐普洛斯和克桑西,nd）。由于各國特有的各種原

69、因，財務(wù)報告的發(fā)展因國家而異（貝克和沃利奇，2000）。英國傳統(tǒng)上認(rèn)為財務(wù)報告的主要目的是為投資者提供信息，但歐洲大陸認(rèn)為財務(wù)報告可以用于多個目的（奧德爾赫德，1993；科耐，1997）。各種利益相關(guān)者出于各種目的使用財務(wù)報表，投資者將財務(wù)報表作為最后一道防線，通過深入評估組織的可行性和預(yù)期壽命來保護(hù)他們的投資（利亞安納恩和拉斯馬森，2002：1）。債權(quán)人使用財務(wù)報表來確定組織的償還債務(wù)能力。對政府而言，財務(wù)報表有兩個用途：一是確定可以

70、征收多少營業(yè)稅；二是監(jiān)測機(jī)構(gòu)通過證券交易委員會（SEC）和其他類似實體進(jìn)行監(jiān)測的一種手段，防止資本主義崩潰。另一方面，會計師使用財務(wù)報表來確定其持續(xù)費用和潛在負(fù)債的來源。如果會計師出具的財務(wù)報表被發(fā)現(xiàn)存在誤導(dǎo)性，無論有意與否，負(fù)責(zé)的會計師或事務(wù)所都必須面臨監(jiān)管和法律制裁。</p><p>　　會計是任何國家建立經(jīng)濟(jì)問責(zé)制和透明度的關(guān)鍵，因為它提供了企業(yè)運營的財務(wù)狀況和盈利能力的信息，以及作為國家財政、貨幣和金融體

71、系的基礎(chǔ)。會計所提供的信息必須具備可靠性，對依賴定期財務(wù)報表來確保其投資得到有效和謹(jǐn)慎管理的用戶具有幫助作用。在確保財務(wù)報表如實地反映其涵蓋期間的管理活動方面，獨立審計師發(fā)揮著非常關(guān)鍵的作用（沃塔勒，2012：2）。</p><p>　　執(zhí)行公共業(yè)務(wù)的職業(yè)會計師享有法定審計的絕對權(quán)，屬于會計行業(yè)的特權(quán)?？梢哉f，該行業(yè)的獨立性、誠信和服務(wù)于公共利益的卓越性，是捍衛(wèi)這種絕對權(quán)的原因所在。具有諷刺意味的是，在過去的三十

72、年里，針對這一職業(yè)的大多數(shù)批評的核心是道德行為與這些特征的關(guān)系。在20世紀(jì)，會計專業(yè)一直聲稱是充滿道德的和倫理的，但這種說法已被監(jiān)管者、立法者、投資者以及利益相關(guān)者質(zhì)疑（艾哈邁德，2010：3）。例如，研究表明，審計師所做的和公眾認(rèn)為他們所做的之間的差別（“感知差距”），繼續(xù)影響公眾對審計師工作的信心（格勞提爾，昂德當(dāng)和莫里斯，2011）。</p><p>　　會計提供經(jīng)濟(jì)信息，以允許用戶對信息做出知情的判斷和決

73、定。通過影響投資者的決定以及促進(jìn)資本分配，財務(wù)信息在個人和國家的經(jīng)濟(jì)生活中發(fā)揮著關(guān)鍵作用（貝克和沃利奇，2000）。財務(wù)會計信息被定義為“企業(yè)會計和對外報表體系的產(chǎn)品，其衡量和公開披露關(guān)于上市公司的財務(wù)狀況和業(yè)績的經(jīng)審計、定量的數(shù)據(jù)”（布什曼和史密斯，2001）。</p><p>　　會計師對公眾負(fù)有重大責(zé)任。這種責(zé)任的存在，是因為外部股東、債權(quán)人、雇員以及其他人在做出各種商業(yè)決策時依賴財務(wù)報表。商業(yè)組織聘請內(nèi)部

74、會計師編制財務(wù)報表，然后由獨立審計師事務(wù)所審計這些財務(wù)報表。內(nèi)部會計師和外部審計師都有責(zé)任以誠信和謹(jǐn)慎的行為準(zhǔn)則履行其任務(wù)，從而提高報表中所載信息的可靠性。本文旨在強(qiáng)調(diào)倫理在會計專業(yè)中的重要性。</p><p><b>　　2.倫理的概念</b></p><p>　　術(shù)語“倫理”被定義為研究道德、規(guī)則或原則的學(xué)科，指導(dǎo)個人、團(tuán)體或群體的行為和決定等。因此，倫理涉及規(guī)范

75、、基本規(guī)則、原則、價值觀或由一群人、團(tuán)體或職業(yè)所表現(xiàn)的行為和做法。它也可以被看作是可接受的行為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，或不成文的規(guī)則，或道德原則，指導(dǎo)個人、組織、學(xué)科或社會彼此之間的交往。一個職業(yè)形成和建立的前提如下：一個普遍接受的知識體系，一個廣泛認(rèn)可的達(dá)標(biāo)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和一個可執(zhí)行的道德準(zhǔn)則。</p><p>　　國際會計師聯(lián)合會（IFAC）將會計職業(yè)倫理定義為，確定職業(yè)會計師作為職業(yè)中的一員的職業(yè)行為和特征。</p>&

76、lt;p>　　根據(jù)上述定義，我們可以有把握地將職業(yè)倫理定義為一套原則或規(guī)則，從廣義上講，這規(guī)定了職業(yè)對客戶、同行和社會的一般責(zé)任。</p><p>　　倫理的需要源于會計職業(yè)的要求，以及隨著時間的推移會計職業(yè)所發(fā)揮的作用。這些包括：</p><p>　?。?）職業(yè)會計師有責(zé)任維護(hù)會計職業(yè)的聲譽(yù)，在任何工作下都始終要考慮公共利益。個人利益不能凌駕于這些職責(zé)之上（英格蘭及威爾士特許會計師

77、協(xié)會，2009和2010）。</p><p>　　（2）會計師代表客戶處理一系列問題。他們經(jīng)常獲得機(jī)密性和敏感性信息。審計師要求給出獨立觀點（英格蘭及威爾士特許會計師協(xié)會，2009和2010）。</p><p>　　（3）職業(yè)會計師認(rèn)為自己對客戶負(fù)責(zé)，使命是解決客戶的問題，創(chuàng)造客戶所需要的價值。如果這個價值沒有被創(chuàng)造，問題沒有得到解決，那么職業(yè)會計師就沒有完成他或她的工作。只有通過產(chǎn)生客戶

78、要求的結(jié)果——通過執(zhí)行產(chǎn)生結(jié)果的整個過程——職業(yè)會計師才能履行他或她的責(zé)任（卡比爾，2009）。</p><p>　?。?）在專業(yè)上，職業(yè)會計師應(yīng)按照相關(guān)技術(shù)和專業(yè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)開展專業(yè)服務(wù)。只要客戶或雇主的要求符合誠信、客觀性以及職業(yè)會計在公共實踐中的獨立性的要求，職業(yè)會計師就有責(zé)任以謹(jǐn)慎的態(tài)度和嫻熟的技能完成客戶或雇主的要求（卡比爾，2009）。</p><p>　　國際會計師聯(lián)合會（IFAC）

79、會計職業(yè)道德規(guī)范制定了五（5）項會計基本原則。這些內(nèi)容如下：</p><p>　　（1）誠信：職業(yè)會計師提供專業(yè)服務(wù)時應(yīng)該坦率和誠實。</p><p>　　（2）客觀性：職業(yè)會計師不得因偏見、利益沖突或他人影響而損害專業(yè)或商業(yè)判斷。</p><p>　?。?）專業(yè)能力和謹(jǐn)慎性：職業(yè)會計師提供專業(yè)服務(wù)時應(yīng)該保持應(yīng)有的職業(yè)謹(jǐn)慎、專業(yè)勝任能力，并隨著業(yè)務(wù)、法規(guī)和技術(shù)的最新

80、發(fā)展，職業(yè)會計師應(yīng)使自己的專業(yè)知識和技能維持在較高水平，以保證客戶或雇主能夠享受合格的專業(yè)服務(wù)。</p><p>　?。?）保密性：職業(yè)會計師應(yīng)對執(zhí)業(yè)過程中獲知的信息保密。除非有法定或?qū)I(yè)的披露權(quán)力或義務(wù)，否則在未經(jīng)正當(dāng)或特別授權(quán)的情況下，職業(yè)會計師不得向第三方披露任何類似消息。因業(yè)務(wù)關(guān)系而獲得的機(jī)密資料，不得用于職業(yè)會計師的個人利益或第三方。</p><p>　?。?）職業(yè)行為：職業(yè)會計

81、師應(yīng)遵守相關(guān)法律和法規(guī)，并避免任何損害職業(yè)形象的行為。</p><p>　　3.審計職業(yè)的倫理威脅</p><p>　　與審計職業(yè)相關(guān)的倫理威脅有五種類型。這些威脅導(dǎo)致了倫理困境的發(fā)生。</p><p><b>　?。?）自身利益威脅</b></p><p>　　自身利益威脅來自于客戶的經(jīng)濟(jì)利益。這種經(jīng)濟(jì)利益可以為自己或

82、其他家庭成員或親屬所有。IFAC道德規(guī)范強(qiáng)調(diào)了大量可能出現(xiàn)的自身利益威脅，列舉如下：受雇于鑒證客戶，密切的商業(yè)關(guān)系，與客戶的合作伙伴關(guān)系，經(jīng)濟(jì)利益，家庭或個人關(guān)系，更高的費用，禮品和款待，低價虛報成功酬金，逾期費用，貸款和擔(dān)保。</p><p><b>　　（2）自我評價威脅</b></p><p>　　當(dāng)審計師必須重新評估自己完成的工作或外部審計師建議執(zhí)行客戶的財務(wù)

83、報告系統(tǒng)時，將產(chǎn)生自我評價威脅。服務(wù)于鑒證客戶，編制會計記錄和財務(wù)報表，其他服務(wù)，估值服務(wù)，企業(yè)融資，稅務(wù)服務(wù)，內(nèi)部審計服務(wù),是一些自我評價威脅的來源。</p><p><b>　?。?）過度推介威脅</b></p><p>　　當(dāng)審計師被要求以某種方式提升客戶的地位或代表他們時，可能會發(fā)生過度推介威脅。在這種情況下，審計師必然會偏向于客戶，因此無法做到客觀。如果客戶

84、要求審計師在證券交易所上市，或客戶要求審計師在法庭上代表他們的話，也可能會發(fā)生過度推介威脅。過度推介威脅的來源包括法律服務(wù)，成功酬金，或企業(yè)融資。</p><p><b>　?。?）密切關(guān)系威脅</b></p><p>　　當(dāng)審計師過于同情或信任客戶時，由于與他們的密切關(guān)系，會出現(xiàn)密切關(guān)系威脅。審計師的親密朋友或親戚為客戶提供關(guān)鍵的財務(wù)工作，也可能會導(dǎo)致密切關(guān)系威脅。

85、密切關(guān)系威脅的來源包括以下情形：客戶和公司之間存在家庭和個人關(guān)系，受雇于鑒證客戶，長期與鑒證客戶發(fā)生關(guān)聯(lián)，最近受雇和服務(wù)于鑒證客戶。</p><p><b>　?。?）外在壓力威脅</b></p><p>　　當(dāng)鑒證團(tuán)隊的成員受到客戶的恐嚇時，會產(chǎn)生外在壓力威脅。外在壓力威脅的來源包括：密切的商業(yè)關(guān)系，訴訟，家庭和個人關(guān)系，鑒證成員轉(zhuǎn)向受雇于客戶。</p>

86、<p><b>　　4.倫理困境</b></p><p>　　在破產(chǎn)企業(yè)的財務(wù)報表中發(fā)現(xiàn)欺詐行為后，大多數(shù)關(guān)注會計行業(yè)的批評都會困擾著會計師的倫理行為。美國的一個主要丑聞在行政層面揭示了倫理的缺失，即著名的安然案（阿加斯?fàn)?，韋赫馬寧和瓦爾卡索，1997）。2001年12月，安然成為美國最大的破產(chǎn)案。它的失敗是由于會計實務(wù)不當(dāng)和企業(yè)文化不良的雙重問題，將管理層推向不道德的行為（羅

87、賓斯，2003）。這個丑聞也導(dǎo)致了一家失去許多客戶的大型審計事務(wù)所的倒閉。為了能夠留住他們的客戶，審計師選擇忽視他們面臨的一些倫理困境（阿加斯?fàn)柕热耍?997）。倫理困境可以表現(xiàn)為商業(yè)壓力、會計師事務(wù)所的商業(yè)風(fēng)氣，以及對職業(yè)精神、企業(yè)文化等方面的威脅（麥吉爾和普雷維茨，1991；漢隆，1997；威爾莫特和錫卡，1997；瓊斯，梅西和索恩，2003），是在提供專業(yè)服務(wù)的過程中，由于相互矛盾的需求或機(jī)會而產(chǎn)生的（斯頓夫，卡塔爾和克拉克，20

88、02）。這些困境應(yīng)該列入該職業(yè)發(fā)布的職業(yè)行為準(zhǔn)則的范圍內(nèi)（皮爾斯，2003）。由于企業(yè)丑聞的存在，如今企業(yè)對倫理的興趣越來越高（拉松和文納霍爾姆，2006：1）。倫理涉及的內(nèi)容，包括個人在決策中所面臨的問題（哥爾斯特，1996）。倫理也是對道</p><p>　　市場上主要的審計公司，除了傳統(tǒng)的審計和鑒證服務(wù)之外，還提供咨詢服務(wù)，這往往被視為一個倫理困境（克蘭和馬頓，2004）。關(guān)于審計師應(yīng)該如何行事，應(yīng)該采取什

89、么樣的規(guī)則和原則，以及如何促進(jìn)我們期望遵守這些規(guī)范的文化，引起了問題的復(fù)雜的相互關(guān)系。（1）審計師的做法；（2）審計事務(wù)所的管理與文化；（3）審計準(zhǔn)則與法律的設(shè)置（坎貝爾 n.d），通過區(qū)分活動的這三個領(lǐng)域，有助于對審計中出現(xiàn)的倫理問題進(jìn)行分類。</p><p>　　幸運的是，倫理學(xué)家已經(jīng)開發(fā)了用于檢查模糊倫理情境的框架，以幫助審計師避免倫理困境。其中兩個框架，功利主義和道義論，簡單介紹如下：功利主義（結(jié)果主義）

90、假定一個行為的道德正確性完全基于其結(jié)果。因此，他們主張應(yīng)該采取充分挖掘整體有利的結(jié)果（扣除不利的結(jié)果）的行為。任何行為的適當(dāng)性取決于有利的結(jié)果，這種有利的結(jié)果不僅作用于行為者，也作用于其他有關(guān)各方。道義論（規(guī)則-道德）的支持者斷言，一個行為的結(jié)果并不意味著其道德的正確性。他們認(rèn)為，行為的正確性很大程度上受到行為本身的根本性質(zhì)的影響。不過，在道義論中有兩種不同的觀點。有些人認(rèn)為，在評估其道德正確性時，唯一需要考慮的是行為的性質(zhì)。這部分人堅

91、信在任何情況下殺人和說謊都是道德上的錯誤。其他人認(rèn)為，在特定情況下行為的性質(zhì)及其結(jié)果都應(yīng)該考慮（米爾，1910（1861）；本瑟姆，1948（1823）；康德，1953；弗里德，1978；內(nèi)格爾，1986）。</p><p><b>　　5.結(jié)論和建議</b></p><p>　　職業(yè)會計師有責(zé)任維護(hù)會計職業(yè)的聲譽(yù)，在任何工作下都始終要考慮公共利益。不道德的財務(wù)報告，

92、可能導(dǎo)致違反民事或刑事法律的法律行為，失去執(zhí)業(yè)許可證的后果，以及對財務(wù)報表失去信心。審計師在執(zhí)行其標(biāo)準(zhǔn)程序時需要認(rèn)真、用心與及時，應(yīng)該根據(jù)他們的操作指南和適當(dāng)審計準(zhǔn)則和程序，并考慮到誠信、客觀性、獨立性、保密性，堅守技術(shù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和專業(yè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的時代美德，提高財務(wù)信息的可靠性和謹(jǐn)慎性。個人利益不能凌駕于這些職責(zé)之上</p><p>　　因此，建議審計師應(yīng)該大膽地拒絕或停止可能對其誠信構(gòu)成威脅，并將其聲譽(yù)至于危險境地的任何雇