Accountants need to be strong in their ethical principles

NEWS broke on Dec 12, 2014, that three former top executives of Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine) were charged in court for corruption and falsification of accounts. Among them is ST Marine's former financial controller, a professional accountant, who was charged with making fictitious petty-cash claims amounting to over S$500,000 when there were none. It would be easy and convenient for accountants, dealt another blow by this debacle, to be generalised as being dishonest.

But one rotten egg in a basket should not render all other eggs to be equally bad. Fundamentally, honesty and integrity are personal values inculcate…