CHAPTER 5: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS making, avoid unnecessary secrecy or concealment of information, and assure that others have all
alment of information, and assure that others have all the information
Ethics can be defined broadly as a set of moral principles or values that govern the actions and decisions of an
individual or group. While personal ethics vary from individual to individual at any point in time, most people within a
society are able to agree about what is considered ethical and unethical behavior. In fact, a society passes laws that
define what its citizens consider to be more extreme forms of unethical behavior.
Each of us has such a set of values, although we may or may not have considered them explicitly. Philosophers,
religious organizations, and other groups have defined in various ways ideal sets of moral principles or values.
Examples of prescribed sets of moral principles or values at the implementation level include laws and regulations,
church doctrine, code of business ethics for professional groups such as CPAs, and codes of conduct within
individual organizations.
Ethics is a topic that is receiving a great deal of attention throughout our society today. This attention is an indication
of both the importance of ethical behavior to maintaining a civil society, and a significant number of notable instances
of unethical behavior. Much of what is considered unethical in a particular society is not specifically prohibited. So
how do we know whether we are acting ethically? Who decides what standards of conduct are appropriate? Is any
type of behavior “ethical” as long as it does not violate a law or a rule of one’s profession?
It is common for people to differ in their moral principles or values. Even if two people agree on the ethical principles
that determine ethical behavior, it is unlikely that they will agree on the relative importance of each principle. These
differences result from all of our life experiences. parents, teachers, friends and employers are known to influence
our values, but so do television, team sports, life successes and failures, and thousands of other experiences.
CHARACTERISTICS AND VALUES ASSOCIATED WITH ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Integrity. Be principled, honorable, upright, courageous and act on convictions; do not be twofaced or unscrupulous,
or adopt an end-justifies-the means philosophy that ignores principle.
Honesty. Be truthful, sincere, forthright, straightforward, frank, candid; do not cheat, steal, lie, deceive or act
deviously.
Trustworthiness and Promise Keeping. Be worthy of trust, keep promises, full commitments, abide by the spirit as
well as the letter of an agreement; do not interpret agreements in an unreasonably technical or legalistic manner in
order to rationalize noncompliance or create excuses and justification for breaking commitments.
Loyalty (Fidelity) and Confidentiality. Be faithful and loyal to family, friends, employers, client and country; do not use
or disclose information learned in confidence; in a professional context, safeguard the influences and conflicts of
interest.
Fairness and Openness. Be fair and open-minded, be willing to admit error and, where appropriate, change positions
and beliefs, demonstrate a commitment to justice, the equal treatment of individuals, and tolerance for acceptance of
diversity; do not overreach or take advantage of another’s mistakes or diversities.
Caring for Others. Be caring, kind, and compassionate; share, be giving, be of service to others; help those in need
and avoid harming others.
Respect for Others. Demonstrate respect for human dignity, privacy, and the right to self-determination of all people;
be courteous, prompt, and decent; provide others with the information they need to make informed decisions about
their own lives; do not patronize, embarrass, or demean.
Responsible Citizenship. Obey just laws; if all law unjust, openly protest it; exercise all democratic rights and
privileged responsibly by participation (voting and expressing informed views), social consciousness, and public
service; when in a position of leadership or authority, openly respect and honor democratic processes of decision
they need to make intelligent choices and exercise their rights.
Pursuit of Excellence. Pursue excellence in all matters; in meeting your personal and professional responsibilities; be
diligent, reliable, industrious and committed; perform all tasks to the best of your ability, develop and maintain a high
degree of competence, be well informed and well prepared; do not be content with mediocrity; do not “win at any
cost.”
Accountability. Be accountable, accept responsibility for decisions, for the foreseeable consequences of actions and
inactions, and for setting an example of others. Parents, teachers, employers, many professionals and public officials
have a special obligation to lead by example, to safeguard and advance the integrity and reputation of their families,
companies, professions and the government itself; an ethically sensitive individual avoids even the appearance of
impropriety, and takes whatever actions are necessary to correct or prevent inappropriate conduct of others.
WHY IS ETHICAL BEHAVIOR NECESSARY?
Ethical behavior is necessary for a society to function in an orderly manner. It can be argued that ethics is the glue
that holds a society together. What would happen if for example we could not depend on the people we deal with to
be honest. If parents, teachers, employees, siblings, co-workers and friends all consistently lied, it would be almost
impossible for effective communication to occur.
The need for ethics in society is sufficiently important that many commonly held ethical values are incorporated into
laws. For example, laws dealing with driving while intoxicated and selling drugs concern responsible citizenship and
respect for others. Similarly, if a company sells a defective product, it can be held accountable if harmed parties
choose to sue throughout the legal system.
A considerable portion of the ethical values of a society cannot be incorporated into laws because of the judgmental
nature of certain values. Looking at the honesty principle, it is practical to have laws that deal with cheating, stealing,
lying, or deceiving others. It is far more difficult to establish meaningful laws that deal with many aspects of principles
such as integrity, loyalty and pursuit of excellence. That does not imply that these principles are less important for an
orderly society.
Business decisions influence employees, customers, suppliers and competitors, while company operations affect
communities, governments and the environment.
WHY DO PEOPLE ACT UNETHICALLY?
Most people define unethical behavior as conduct that differs from the way they believe would have been appropriate
given the circumstances. Each of us decides for ourselves what we consider unethical behavior, both for ourselves
and other. It is important to understand what causes people to act in a manner that we decide is unethical.
There are two primary reasons why people act unethically:
1. The person’s ethical standards are different from those of society as a whole. Extreme examples of people
whose behavior violates almost everyone’s ethical standards are drug dealers, bank robbers, and
larcenists. Most people who commit such acts feel no remorse when they are apprehended, because their
ethical standards differ from those of society as a whole.
There are also many far less extreme examples when violate our ethical values. When people cheat on
their tax returns, treat other people with hostility, lie on employment applications, or perform below their
competence level as employees, most of us regard that as unethical behavior. If the other person has
decided that this behavior is ethical and acceptable, there is a conflict of ethical values that is unlikely to be
resolved.
 2. The person chooses to act selfishly. A considerable portion of unethical behavior results from selfish 4. A need for public confidence
behavior. The Pork Barrel Scam and the other political scandals resulted from the desire for political power
and wealth; cheating on tax returns and expense reports is motivated by financial greed; performing below Careless work or lack of integrity of a professional may lead the public to a negative view toward the entire
one’s competence and cheating on tests are typically due to laziness. In each case, the person knows that profession. All professionals must have public confidence of the public to be successful. Consequently, the members
the behavior is inappropriate, but chooses to do it anyway because of the personal sacrifice needed to act of the different professions act in unison by deriving their respective code of conduct.
ethically.
Code of Good Governance for the Profession in the Philippines (E.O. No. 220, June 23, 2003)
CATEGORIES OF ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
The code is adopted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the 42 Professional Regulatory Boards
Principles of Personal Ethics include among others to cover an environment of good governance in which all Filipino professionals shall perform their tasks. While each
profession may adopt and enforce its own code of good governance and code of ethics, it is generally recognized
 Basic justice, fairness that there is a general commonality among the various codes. This code which covers the common principles
 Respect for the right of others underlying the codes of various professions could be used by all professionals who face critical and ethical questions
 Concern for the right of others in their work.
 Concern for the well-being on welfare of others
General principles of professional conduct
 Benevolence, trustworthiness, honesty
 Compliance with the law 1. Service to others. Professionals are committed to a life of service to others. They protect life, property, and
public welfare. To serve others, they shall be prepared for heroic sacrifice and genuine selflessness in
carrying out their professional duties even at the expense of personal gain.
Professional ethics include among others 2. Integrity and Objectivity. To maintain and broaden public confidence, professionals shall perform their
responsibilities with the highest sense of integrity and imbued with nationalism and spiritual values. In the
 Integrity, impartiality, objectivity performance of any professional service, they shall at all times, main objectivity, be free of conflicts of
 Professional competence interest, and refrain from engaging in any activity that would prejudice their abilities to carry out their duties
 Confidentiality ethically. They shall avoid making any representation that would likely cause a reasonable person to
misunderstand or to be deceived.
 Professional behavior
3. Professional competence. In providing professional services, a certain level of competence is necessary,
 Avoidance of potential or apparent conflict of interest
i.e., knowledge, technical skills, attitudes, and experience. Professionals shall, therefore, undertake only
those professional services that they can reasonably deliver with professional competence. Corollary to
this, it is their express obligation to keep up with new knowledge and techniques in their field, continually
Business ethics include among others improve their skills and upgrade their level of competence and take part in a lifelong continuing education
program.
 Fair competition 4. Solidarity and teamwork. Each profession shall nurture and support one organization for all its members.
 Global as well as domestic justice Though a deep spirit of solidarity, each member should put the broader interest of the profession above
 Social responsibility one’s personal ambition and preference. Through teamwork within a cohesive professional organization,
 Concern for environment each member shall effectively observe ethical practices and pursue continuing professional development
as well as deepen one’s social and civic responsibility.
5. Social and civic responsibility. Professionals shall always carry out their professional duties with due
consideration of the broader interest of the public. They shall, therefore, serve their clients/employers and
The Need for Professional Ethics the publics with professional concern and in a manner consistent with their responsibilities to society. as
responsible Filipino citizens, they shall actively contribute to the attainment of the country’s national
To understand the importance of a Code of Ethics to professionals, one must understand the nature of a profession objectives.
as opposed to other vacation. 6. Global competitiveness. Every professional shall remain open to challenges of a more dynamic
interconnected world. He or she shall rise up to global standards and maintain levels of professional
There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a profession; yet for generations, certain types of
practices fully aligned with global best practices.
activities have been recognized as professions while others have not.
7. Equality of all professions. All professions shall treat their colleagues with respect and shall strive to be fair
Medicine, law, engineering, architecture and theology are examples of disciplines long accorded professional status. in their dealings with one another. No one group of professionals is superior or above others. All
Public accounting is relatively new as far as the ranking of the professions is concerned but it has achieved professionals perform an equally important, yet distinct, serve to society. In the eyes of the PRC, all
widespread recognition in recent decades. professions are equal, and therefore, every one shall treat one other professionals with respect and
fairness.
All the recognized professions have several common characteristics. The most important of these characteristics are:

1. A responsibility to serve the public

2. A complex body of knowledge
3. Standards of admission to the profession