On ethical theory in auditing

This article discusses ways of giving support to auditors in addressing moral dilemmas. Codes of Ethics are very important in this context but are in the final analysis insufficient devices, because their necessarily generalised form has to be translated into the specific situation and thus requires acceptance rather than merely adherence. Codes have to be complemented with developed ethical reasoning of accountants. Hence, individual ethical principles are discussed which have been applied to accounting in the recent literature, i.e. utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics and ethics of care. Unsurprisingly, none emerges as giving completely satisfactory solutions. Yet eclecticism can be avoided by using compound models, which combine individual principles to provide reasonably comprehensive cover of decision-making in a business context.