The two requirements to act with integrity, both by Saint Leo University and by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), are related in the sense that both demand an ethical behavior from accountants. One must note that, however, Saint Leo University has adopted a more positive approach, indicating a pledge to be honest, just and consistent, while IMA prefers to mention behaviors to be avoided. As such, IMA's approach may be considered less flexible, as it will hardly list every possible unethical conduct.
Integrity has been an important trait in the accounting profession since its roots as a bookkeeping trade, but more so since there was a separation of ownership from management. Gunz (2012) states that since that era “the role of the accountant also shifted from simply recording transactions to assuming a role in monitoring the information available to investors” (p.7). As the financial data became significant to more stakeholders, the importance of ethics and integrity increased.
As for the hardships of acting ethically with integrity, Gunz (2085) points out that “generally, legal obligations are the minimum standards with which any member of society must comply. Ethical standards go further and apply even though there is no specific legal obligation to take particular action or make a particular decision” (p.12). The author proceeds to describe a school of thought that calls upon accountants to see themselves more as stakeholders than shareholders while performing their reporting functions. As such, there will be occasions when the accountant may need to consider respective rights and interests, on top of corporate decisions, and balancing these calls for ethical judgments. This example shows that it may indeed be hard to act with integrity, as the call for an ethical behavior goes beyond the mere abiding of the laws. Judgment calls have to be made, and those are hardly easy.
References
Gunz, S. (2012). Accounting and Business Ethics. In R. Chadwick (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
Applied Ethics (2nd ed., pp. 7-16). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
