Ethics for Accountants and Auditors offers an introduction to the ethical value systems and ethical theories that are relevant to the accounting and auditing profession. The text combines theoretical and practical guidance to equip students and practitioners with the tools to deal with ethical dilemmas in practice.

The book is suitable for accounting and auditing students taking modules in ethics, as well as managerial training, and the ethical orientation of members of accounting and auditing professional associations.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

•    The fifth edition is aligned with the IODSA King VTM  Code on Corporate Governance for South Africa 2025.
•    The new edition also considers the implications of sustainability reporting, environmental, social and governance (ESG) imperatives, and inclusive capitalism in relevant chapters.
•    The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (2024) is discussed.

Table of Contents:

Part 1    Principles of ethics

1    Introductory case study: Cows, tax, a bank and one of South Africa’s ‘big four’ auditing firms
2    Key concepts in business and professional ethics
3    Ethical value systems for professionals in South Africa
4    Classical ethical theories
5    Ethical decision-making
6    Applying the Five Lenses of ethical decision-making

Part 2: Business ethics

7    Macro-ethics
8    The modern corporation and its moral obligations
9    Corporate governance
10    Governance of organisational ethics
11    Case studies in business ethics
Part 3: Professional ethics
 12    Accountants and auditors as professionals
13    Codes of professional ethics
14    Case studies in accounting ethics

This work addresses the topic of philosophical complexity, which shares certain assumptions with scientific complexity, cybernetics, and General Systems Theory, but which is also developing as a subject field in its own right. Specifically, the post-structural reading of philosophical complexity that was pioneered by Paul Cilliers is further developed in this study. To this end, the ideas of a number of contemporary French post-structural theorists and their predecessors - including Derrida, Nancy, Bataille, Levinas, Foucault, Saussure, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hegel - are introduced. The implications that their various insights hold for our understanding of complex human systems are teased out at the hand of the themes of economy, (social) ontology, subjectivity, epistemology, and ethics. The analyses are also illuminated at the hand of the problematic of the foreigner and the related challenges of showing hospitality to foreigners. The study presents a sophisticated account of both philosophical complexity and philosophies of difference. By relating these subject fields, the study also extends our understanding of philosophical complexity, and offers an original characterisation of the aforementioned philosophers as complex thinkers.

Corporations, and the environments in which they operate, are complex, with changing multiple dimensions, and an inherent capacity to evolve qualitatively. A central premise of this study is that a postmodern reading of ethics represents an expression of, and an engagement with, the ethical complexities that define the business landscape. In particular, the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida offers a non-trivial reading of a complex notion of ethics, and thereby helps us to develop the skills necessary to critique and intervene in our practices, and to develop robust strategies for living in the absence of prescriptive ethical frameworks. Although a central premise of this study is that substantive ethical claims can only be generated within a given context, the study nevertheless presents readers with a meta-position that illustrates the type of considerations that should inform ethical reflection from a complexity perspective. In order to illustrate the value that this meta-position holds for business ethics, these considerations are explored in terms of the implications that they hold for our understanding of corporate social responsibility, for the practice of responsible management and leadership practices, and for teaching business ethics.

Corporations, and the environments in which they operate, are complex, with changing multiple dimensions, and an inherent capacity to evolve qualitatively. A central premise of this study is that a postmodern reading of ethics represents an expression of, and an engagement with, the ethical complexities that define the business landscape. In particular, the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida offers a non-trivial reading of a complex notion of ethics, and thereby helps us to develop the skills necessary to critique and intervene in our practices, and to develop robust strategies for living in the absence of prescriptive ethical frameworks. Although a central premise of this study is that substantive ethical claims can only be generated within a given context, the study nevertheless presents readers with a meta-position that illustrates the type of considerations that should inform ethical reflection from a complexity perspective. In order to illustrate the value that this meta-position holds for business ethics, these considerations are explored in terms of the implications that they hold for our understanding of corporate social responsibility, for the practice of responsible management and leadership practices, and for teaching business ethics.

This work addresses the topic of philosophical complexity, which shares certain assumptions with scientific complexity, cybernetics, and General Systems Theory, but which is also developing as a subject field in its own right. Specifically, the post-structural reading of philosophical complexity that was pioneered by Paul Cilliers is further developed in this study. To this end, the ideas of a number of contemporary French post-structural theorists and their predecessors - including Derrida, Nancy, Bataille, Levinas, Foucault, Saussure, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hegel - are introduced. The implications that their various insights hold for our understanding of complex human systems are teased out at the hand of the themes of economy, (social) ontology, subjectivity, epistemology, and ethics. The analyses are also illuminated at the hand of the problematic of the foreigner and the related challenges of showing hospitality to foreigners. The study presents a sophisticated account of both philosophical complexity and philosophies of difference. By relating these subject fields, the study also extends our understanding of philosophical complexity, and offers an original characterisation of the aforementioned philosophers as complex thinkers.

Ethics for Accountants and Auditors 4e offers an introduction to the ethical value systems and ethical theories that are relevant to the accounting and auditing profession. The text introduces various ethical dilemmas, and the combination of theoretical and practical guidance equips students and practitioners with the tools to deal with these issues in practice.