BUS707 : Applied Business Research : Global Commercial and Business

Importance of Ethics in Accounting in Australian Commercial Framework

1. Research Background 

In the contemporary global commercial and business scenario, with increased integration and interconnection of businesses in different industries across the globe, owing to factors like Globalisation, trade liberalisation and technological as well as infrastructural innovation, one of the primary aspects contributing to the profitability, prosperity as well as sustainability of the operations of businesses is that of the presence of the robust accounting framework within the organizations (Bull, 2014. The term “accounting”, in business, refers to identification, measurement, recording as well as classification of crucial financial information of the business organizations.

However, in the recent periods, various financial reporting and accounting scandals have come in the forefront, in the global commercial scenario, which not only affected the concerned businesses but also had considerable negative implications on the direct and indirect stakeholders as well as the economies in general, thereby highlighting the need for the presence of an ethical framework for accounting in accounting (Agrawal and Cooper, 2015). However, in the contemporary corporate and business accounting and financial reporting scenario, several crucial ethical issues arise in the general framework, which the companies have to deal with in their path of decision-making and other operations.

2. Research Problem 

The contemporary business scenarios, in general face several crucial ethical dilemmas in the aspects of accounting the financial reporting operations, which can be seen to be having considerable impacts on their operational framework, performances, reputation as well as the welfare of the people linked to the same. The primary ethical dilemmas which arise in this aspect, are that of conflicts of interests, predicaments with the level of confidentiality of the clients, the impacts of financial reporting and others (Thomas, 2012). Keeping this into consideration, the primary research question for the concerned study is as follows:

2.1 Primary Research Question 

How important is the presence of ethical framework in accounting aspects of Australian business scenario?

2.2 Secondary Research Questions 

Based on the primary research question, as stated above, the secondary questions which the concerned research aims to explore are as follows:

1. What are the ethical issues which are found to be present in the accounting aspects of Australian business scenario?
2. What are the ways in which these issues can be solved?
3. What are the benefits and limitations of having an ethical framework in the aspects of accounting and financial reporting?
4. What are the steps taken by the organizations in general, in commercial framework of Australia, to ensure the presence of an ethical framework in the aspects of accounting and financial reporting?

3. Research Objective 

The concerned research proposes to explore the importance of the presence of an ethical framework in accounting and financial reporting aspects, thereby trying to explore the ethical issues which are generally present in the same and how they can be solved by the organizations, especially in the commercial and economic domain of Australia (Warren, Reeve and Duchac, 2013). The proposed research also tries to analyse the pros and cons of different steps taken by the businesses in the commercial domain of Australia as well as the government of the country, in order to ensure implementation of ethical framework in their accounting and financial reporting aspects.

4. Keywords for Literature Review 

Keywords: Accounting, financial accounting, financial reporting, business accounting, ethical issues in accounting, ethical dilemmas in Australian accounting scenario, accounting ethics in organizations, importance of ethical considerations in accounting

5. Main articles of Literature Review: Publication Details 

Horomnea, E. and Pascu, A.M., 2012. Ethical and Morality in Accounting Epistemological Approach. Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business & Economics, 2012, p.1.

Jennings, P. and Marriott, N., Ethics in Accounting.

Miller, P. and Power, M., 2013. Accounting, organizing, and economizing: Connecting accounting research and organization theory. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), pp.557-605.

Tweedie, D., Dyball, M.C., Hazelton, J. and Wright, S., 2013. Teaching global ethical standards: A case and strategy for broadening the accounting ethics curriculum. Journal of Business ethics, 115(1), pp.1-15.

6. Data Collection Plan 

For the purpose of carrying out the study, the concerned research proposes to collect primary data. This is because usage of secondary data, in spite of being time-efficient and less costly option, however, has the problem of authenticity and intended or unintended biases and errors, which can have negative implications in influencing the results of the analysis, thereby making the concerned less productive and robust (Walliman, 2017). Working with primary data, on the other hand, in spite of being costlier and time-taking to collect, helps in maintaining the authenticity of the research, thereby contributing to the overall research quality and relevance.

The study intends to collect both quantitative data as well as qualitative data from the selected samples of relevant individuals in the business and accounting framework of Australia, keeping into consideration, the significance of both the numerical data (showing the positive or negative cardinal perceptions) as well as that of the ordinal data (capturing the abstract aspects present in the concerned domain which cannot be taken into consideration by the quantitative or numerical data) (Neuman, 2013). For the collection of quantitative data, the research proposes to use survey questionnaires with close ended questions, where the participants can choose from answer options or can rank in Likert Scale (between 1 to 5). On the other hand, for the purpose of collecting qualitative data, the research proposes to conduct in-depth interviews with the relevant personnel, with the aim to capture the abstract and ordinal aspects present in the domain of ethical issues in accounting (Bryman, 2017).

7. Ethical Considerations 

For a research to be robust and of superior quality, it is of immense importance to abide by the ethical norms present in the domain of research. Keeping the importance of ethics in consideration into consideration, the concerned research proposes to follow the following ethical norms:

• The respondents will be selected unbiasedly by the process of random sampling.
• The interviews will be conducted only after receiving written consent from the participants.
• The information collected will be used for the purpose of research only.
• Confidentiality and anonymity of the participants will be maintained in order to respect their dignity, integrity and individuality (Kono, 2012).
• The statistical and other results of analysis will be unbiasedly interpreted to maintain the truthfulness of the research.
• Permission of the ethical body of the esteemed institution will be sought for before carrying out the different research activities.  

References:

Agrawal, A. and Cooper, T., 2015. Insider trading before accounting scandals. Journal of Corporate Finance, 34, pp.169-190.

Bryman, A., 2017. Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their integration. In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78). Routledge.

Bull, R.J., 2014. Accounting in business. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Kono, N., 2012. Ethics in research. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.

Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.

Thomas, S., 2012. Ethics and accounting education. Issues in Accounting Education, 27(2), pp.399-418.

Walliman, N., 2017. Research methods: The basics. Routledge.

Warren, C., Reeve, J.M. and Duchac, J., 2013. Financial & managerial accounting. Cengage Learning.