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As a practising auditor for a large global accounting firm, I have plenty of experience upon which to base this article. In my line work, the number of businesses I have worked within has to be a number in the mid 30’s.
And I’m going to make a statement that would go completely against the public opinion: Accountants are ethical people. In fact, I’d go one further and pronounce that they’re very ethical people.
Why do I feel like saying this? Well, the wind has been blowing against accountants and auditors for some years now. Firstly, at the start of the 21st century, a few mistakes by a couple of partners at Arthur Andersen in relation to Enron meant the collapse of a several hundred year old accounting institution. It also meant something more: it branded all accountants as frauds and unethical.
The public uproar against Enron was massive, and the lawsuits quickly piled up against both the beleaguered company and its auditor, which I believe is fair. I believe that due to the stupid decisions by the partners, that Arthur Andersen did owe compensation, however it should not have tarnished absolutely everyone who worked there in the way it did.
If a singer or actor suddenly made a racial slur, the public would not then imagine that all singers, or all actors, or even the celebrities entourage were also racist. So why should they tarring brush hit every employee of Andersen?
From my experience in a large firm, I know that the vast majority of an audit is carried out by junior staff who do a very god job. All of this work is then reviewed by a senior colleague to ensure the highest of quality. Situations of unethical behaviour rarely occur in such an environment. Far too many people are checking far too many peoples work in front of everyone else, for a junior member of staff to get away with making such a decision. Fraud, if it were to happen, can only be done at a very senior level of leadership. The leadership level I’m speaking of represents only 3% of the accountants at a large accounting firm. You can therefore understand why I believe it unfair that so many accountants are perceived to be even slightly corrupt in the way they do their work.
At the end of the day, one of the reasons why I think the public love to enjoy this slight ‘dodginess’ of accountants, is that they appreciate that accountants charge a fee hourly rate, and for someone to being earning so much, to profit from being corrupt, is just a fantastic piece of drama that the gossip-loving public wish were true.
matthew Anderson
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