The Impact Of Ethics On Professional Accounting Practices: A Literature Review

• Australian accounting standards are developed and implemented by AASB (Australian Accounting Standards Board) that the business entities complying with Australians Corporations Act 2001 need to follow.
• The main objective of AASB is to participate and contribute effectively in the development of a single set of accounting standards at a global level.
• This is because the development of a uniform set of accounting standards will promote integrity among the companies globally and also improve transparency in the business practices.
• The non-compliance with IFRS standards can have a negative impact on the global competitiveness of the Australia companies.
• This can reduce the capital inflows from the foreign market impacting their profitability.
• The adoption with IFRS seems to improve the quality and comparability within the Australian financial reporting
• The consistency in the accounting practices will tend to develop ethical accounting that is critical for the development of country’s companies

• Does the adoption of IFRS by the publicly listed Australian companies have positive outcome on the investors and analyst?
• What is the impact on the value relevance of financial reports after the adoption IFRS in the Australian financial reporting?
• Does the adoption of IFRS helps in promotion of comparability of Australian entities’ within the financial reporting practices?
• What is perception of senior personnel in public listed companies of Australia after the adoption of the IFRS and benefits received by the public companies?

1. To understand the impact on the quality of Australian financial reporting after the adoption of IFRS
2. To understand the impact on the comparability of Australian financial reporting after the adoption of IFRS
3. To gain the knowledge about the benefits that investors and analysts have received after the adoption of IFRS by the publicly listed companies
4. To conduct the survey from the senior personnel of Australian publicly listed companies in order to capture their perception on the impact of IFRS adoption

• Accounting Ethics: It can be described as the application of moral values and judgments to the field of accountancy. There are unique set of ethical codes and practices developed for accounting professionals that they need to comply.
• Accounting Standards: The set of rules and regulations that accounting professionals need to follow at the time of carrying out accounting functions
• Accounting Quality: It can be described as the effectiveness of accounting practices in adequately measuring the underlying economic performance of a firm.
• Accounting Comparability: It is regarded as one of the major quality of accounting information. Accounting information can be stated to be comparable when the accounting standards and policies are applied in consistency from one accounting period to another.
• Reliability: Accounting information can be stated to be reliable if it can be used in decision-making process by end -users.
• Financial Reporting: It is carried by developing financial statements by a company to represent the financial status or position of a company

Duarte, A. 2015. IFRS Adoption and Accounting Quality: A Review. Journal of Business & Economic Research 2(2), pp. 104-123.

Chua, Y. and Cheong, C. 2012. The Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Accounting Quality: Evidence from Australia. Journal of International Accounting Research 11(1), pp. 119-146.

Jeanjean, T. and Stolowy, H. 2008. Do accounting standards matter? An exploratory analysis of earnings management before and after IFRS adoption. Journal of Accounting & Public Policy.

Liu, C. The Impact of IFRS on Accounting Quality in a Regulated Market: An Empirical Study of China. Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance 26(4), pp. 659–676.

The present research will adopt the use of mixed research method to address its aims and objectives effectively. The mixed research method adopts the use of both primary and secondary data for addressing the research question.  It will implement the use of deductive research approach as it will move from exploring general to reaching specific findings. The major steps used in data collection process are as follows:

Sampling: A sample size of accountants in public practice, governance and trade will be used. The primary data will be collected with the use of questionnaire method.

Questionnaire: It will mainly consist of close-needed questions to facilities easy and quick collection of responses from the target population. The questionnaire will be divided into two sections, that are, general and specific questions.

Data Analysis: The primary data collected with the use of questionnaire will be analyzed with the use of graphical method of data analysis. Also, the primary findings will be supported by the key themes extracted from literature review.

• As there are many ethics issues related to the accounting and its governance as they are sensitive and also creates several problems if does not handle properly. So in order to make proper regards to the ethical considerations related with accounting various consents have been taken from accounting bodies in order to conduct the questionnaires.
• The information gathered from the respondents is considered to be sensitive that requires to be protected and data must be handled confidentially. Information regarding the respondents need not be disclosed.
• As respondents have their own will to answer the questionnaire and as per their own convenience. It means there should not be any force and misconduct while taking up the questionnaire from the senior personnel of public listed companies. Each and every data of respondents must be kept secretly and must not be disclosed without the prior permission from concerned respondent.
• There will be partiality while selecting the respondents and questions must be kept anonymous.
• There is need to give proper credit to the authors and scholar who’s data has been used to conduct the literature review. There is need to do proper citation each source whose work has been used to complete this research work.
• There is need to maintain the integrity, confidentially, accuracy and reliability of the information so that it cannot further used for private purpose and any other matter whatsoever.