Giving Voice to Values in Accounting

There has been much written on the importance of responsibility accounting and integrated reporting to ensure business accountability, but not on how to be a responsible accountant. As the accounting profession is built on the foundation of maintaining public trust, making the right decisions when faced with a challenging dilemma has a major impact on the long-term performance and perception of the firm as well as personal credibility. Accountants make judgement calls on a regular basis: they are privy to highly confidential information regarding their clients and their clients' businesses. Unethical earnings management practices can easily lead to falsifying records, but how does the accounting professional avoid succumbing to these practices when faced with other pressures?

Giving Voice to Values in Accounting is the first book to explain the ethical dilemmas faced by accountants in their day-to-day work and to provide clear guidance for accounting students and professionals in navigating through these issues. The Giving Voice to Values framework focuses on resolving ethical conflict by encouraging individuals to act on their values. This book provides accounting educators, coaches, trainers and professionals with both the impetus and the tools to easily implement the GVV offering into their own work, their organizations and in the classroom.

Tara J. Shawver is the Department Chair and Professor of Accounting at King’s College, Pennsylvania, USA.

William F. Miller is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, USA.