Ethics in the Accountancy Profession

1. Ethics in the Accountancy Profession

In this first topic presented, I have learned how important the role of ethics is in the accountancy profession.  The public and the other users of information, expects that accountants are living up to their values and they uphold the honesty of their work. With having ethics in practicing this profession, accountants can regulate and prevent malpractices done by some companies. They can help mitigate corporate scandals which could be detrimental to the entity itself and to the public. I have learned being an accountant is not just all knowledge and skills, but there must be integrity and strong stand to what is morally right.

1. Financial Crisis

A financial crisis is defined a situation in which the value of financial institutions or assets drops rapidly. The group that presented this topic made me learned how volatile the world market could be and sensitivity of the economy to changes that may cause inflation or deflation. Financial crisis could be a scary thing because it destabilizes the normal course of the business and can do harm to people even without wounding them physically. But there are some positive effects brought by financial crashes as presented by the group and made me say that even in a bad situation there could be a good thing.

1. Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion Issues

People would sometimes tend to enrich themselves at the expense of others, this is one of the reasons I could think of with regards to tax avoidance and evasion issues. It may not be broadcasted daily in the news, but I know that tax evasion is rampant these days. As the group reporters have said, many business or individuals practice tax evasion to make it look like they have lesser income to have a lesser tax to pay. But there could be several legal ways as mentioned by the group wherein the companies can practice to avoid paying higher taxes. I have learned that being an aspiring accountant, I should be aware and vigilant with these issues to help and mitigate.

1. Sweatshop

This topic is one of my favorite because I have learned more than what I expected. I did not know that this kind of practice exists to some big companies and it makes me sad to think that they can allow giving low wage rates to their workers and make them work for longer hours in a bad condition. This is considered to be a trend to clothing industries and makes me sick that they still continue practicing this despite the cases that was filed to them for they can just pay their way out of it. Companies who practice this must have more burdensome penalties to give just to those workers. In my opinion, sweatshops is an issue that must not be taken for granted or tolerated for humanity is the one that should be considered here not high profits.

1. Collective Bargaining Agreement

As graduating students, I find this topic important to discuss. Having this topic gave us some insights what is really a collective bargaining agreement and how vital to know its purpose. In the near future, we would be employees of a company and we should be aware of the contract that we are about to enter into and its components. This topic made me understand that having a collective bargaining agreement is not just about how much pay will I get but it covers a wider scope of being in an employer-employee relationship. I have learned that there laws which govern the process of collective bargain agreement and that the company has no sole authority on it.

1. Foreign Direct Investments

In this topic, I have learned that one country cannot stay self-sufficient for a long time and it needs other countries to help in developing its economy status. FDIs are one of the reasons why developing countries become competitive in the world market. Also, I learned that FDIs percentages are increasing for the past years in the Philippines and this is a great help in improving our economy. Having more investors in a country could be a good news but the government must also restrict them in order to preserve control of the local businesses. This topic enlightened me of some ideas regarding how FDIs work which could help me in my profession someday.