A Sense of Well-being: An Influence to My Personal Ethics
This essay summarizes my personal sense of well-being that dictates my behavior when faced by ethical dilemmas. This growing sense of well-being in me was firmed up by my reflection of Metzger’s (2011) article entitled The Keys to Integrity and a Sense of Well-being for Accounting Professionals. My insights from the article can be condensed in three key senses, namely, sense of wholeness, sense of purpose, and sense of prudence.
Sense of Wholeness
A person’s integrity is rooted in his sense of wholeness which Metzger (2011) describes as the binding thread between the person and the people in society through his role as a professional. One’s sense of wholeness implies a deep-seated connection between his conduct and principles. This is the reason why one of the hardest situations wherein a professional with a strong sense of wholeness can find himself is that which involves ethical dilemmas.
I have personally experienced being in such a predicament that truly challenged the usual alignment of my actions with my own principles in life. I was then the well-trusted treasurer of a school organization when I found out by chance that my senior officer had mismanaged the funds entrusted to him by using a portion of it for his personal gains rather than appropriating it all for the projects of his office. When he asked me to cover up for his misconduct by tampering our books, I felt the powerful tug of my sense of wholeness alerting me that my integrity as the well-trusted treasurer was at stake. Tampering with reports is one of the greatest misdemeanors that a true professional accountant can do. And doing so would be fooling myself. In that specific situation, my wanting to be true to myself made me report the misappropriated funds as they really were.
Sense of Purpose
A professional who has a sense of purpose is one who takes pride in the importance of his work. This insight is well-encapsulated in Metzger’s statement that “a job well done is work done with integrity” (2011, p.10).
The situation I illustrated above also put my sense of purpose to a test. When my senior officer gave me his bleak suggestion to tamper with the books as a way to conceal his foul move, I had to once again ponder on the purpose of my being entrusted with the position and the very objectives of my task. I knew the bearing my financial reports had on the planning and approving of budget for the projects of the next term. I knew and understood the importance of my work’s input in informing a crucial decision-making to be done. I then decided to uphold my sense of purpose by reporting the actual data against the odds I had to face.
Sense of Prudence
My reflection on the Metzger’s article (2011) led me to identify that a sense of prudence is an integral part of a professional’s sense of well-being. Sachs (2002) describes prudence as the call for the right course of action in a particular moment, as opposed to acting according to a general rule.
A true professional who knows his craft well acts according to his wise judgment as the situation calls for. In the same situation I was faced with, I had to put this sense of prudence to the fore by studying and thinking about the consequences of the options I had. I believe that it was this sense that eventually prevailed and dictated my firm decision to follow what I knew was the right course of action to take, that is, to give an accurate report of our financial activities.
In the light of these three key senses which I believe put the main points of Metzger (2011) in a nutshell, if I were the company’s auditor who is put in the situation he described, I will listen to my sense of well-being and keep my integrity by following the memo’s stated directives.
Conclusion
My reading and reflecting on the article of Metzger (2011) made me realize that a true accounting professional is one who puts his sense of wholeness, sense of purpose, and sense of prudence to the fore of his practice and listen to them as his guiding principles all throughout his professional life. These three key senses are what will keep his integrity as a professional and even make him stand out as an exemplar.
Metzger, L. (2011, March). The keys to integrity and a sense of well-being for accounting professionals. The CPA Journal, 10-11.
Moschella, M. (2000). Aristotle: Nicomachean ethics study guide: Summary and analysis of book six. Retrieved from http://www.gradesaver.com/aristotles-ethics/study-guide/section6/
