ACCT 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Insider Trading, Business Ethics, Critical Role
18 Sep 2020
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Document Summary
The term ethics has many nuances and definitions: Values and judgments play a critical role in the making of ethical decisions, as does recognizing how different groups may be impacted by a decision. Some special aspects must be considered when applying ethics to business: Businesses must balance their desires for profits against the needs and desires of society, and maintaining this balance often requires compromises or tradeoffs. Business ethics comprises principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business. Investors, employees, customers, interest groups, the legal system, and the community often determine whether a specific action is right or wrong -- ethical or unethical. Reports of unethical activities, such as accounting fraud, insider trading, falsifying documents, deceptive advertising, defective products, bribery, abusive behavior, harassment, and employee theft regularly appear in the media. These issues are not new, nor confined to any one country or culture. Many examples of unethical activities go unreported and/or undetected.
