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 inculcated from young. Accountants are no different. In fact, ethics plays an important part in the accountancy profession where accountants operate in a highly complex commercial world that is also fraught with temptations.

In the course of their profession, accountants are further trained on ethics standards that reinforce their values on honesty and integrity. Accountants are also professionally bound by a code of ethics to prepare information fairly, honestly and in accordance with relevant professional standards so as to depict clearly the true nature of business transactions.