Before starting with any criticism related to the code of ethics for public accountants in Colombia, we consider it pertinent to give our concept about the meanings of the terms to which we refer.
To speak of ethics, we dare to define it as the term that for some is "thinking freely and responsibly" while for others "it is a rational attempt to find out how to live better", even for many others "it is the science of a specific form of human conduct ”, then, all that implies ethics, that is, brotherhood, is to coexist with everyone in the place and time that we define worthy for our existence.
Now, morality is understood as “the norms, principles and values that regulate the relationships between individuals, understanding as values everything that gives meaning to life and acquires social acceptance.
In this order of ideas, we can say that the professional code of ethics is "a set of rules in which the profession declares its intention to comply with society"; It is loyalty to it since professionals have responsibilities and obligations with all sectors that trust their work.
The ethics being independent of life comes to form an important part of it, because it provides a set of norms and values for the right conduct of a society, each society in particular takes these norms and gives certain relevance to the different values depending on what is important for each one according to their social development.
When presenting a code of ethics for a certain profession - in this case for the profession of Public Accountants - general rules of conduct are taken as a basis that help in a given moment or situation to overcome conflicts of moral order that arise inherent to specific development of the profession.
The concrete circumstances that arise in the world with a globalizing economy put pressure so that the differences in values of different societies become smaller and much more similar.
The code allows us to think and identify social values that allow good professional performance in the aspects that each profession presents, such as the cognitive, the psychomotor and above all the personal and attitudinal.
Ethics being the science that seeks ultimate and universal reasons to adapt human behavior to the good of the universe.
The code of ethics must also have universal principles when considering this profession as social.
It should be clarified then that ethics is one or the principles on which each profession is based for good performance are the same, which can make some difference from one society to another, is the ethical criterion to handle a certain recurring situation.
This ethical criterion is influenced by personal experience and the social and historical development of the community.
We can speak, for example, of a country where its development is increasingly progressive and the administration is concerned with the continuous improvement of the quality of life of people, these people have in their consciences that they must comply with all economic norms and obligations. (taxes) that have been imposed on him, and thus are paid for his welfare.
But if we talk about another country where its financial obligations only benefit a few, the ethics and principles of complying with these standards are spilling over, and it is no longer intended to comply but rather to “evade”.
In the second case, a process of social awareness must be developed, in order to determine within the established norms the benefit that is granted to each of the parties; both to the administration and to the society, if it is developed with ethical criteria in all the indicated norms.
Taking as an example the comparative case of two societies that develop at different levels such as North American society and Colombian society where each one has its specific characteristics based on the social values that each one of them has promoted to their individuals, it is possible to affirm without a doubt that the IFAC code of ethics complies with the principles, objectives, and general norms for the North American society characterized by its commercial development as a capitalist model.
However, when implementing it in the case of our society with lower quality standards, a more folkloric culture in terms of taxes and taxation, where resources are not always raised to improve the quality of life of all members of the state. and the moral conscience is not so independent, a different code of ethics must be considered in its content but not in its principles.
The International Federation of Accountants, IFAC, has then established the standardized code of ethics for professional accountants, in order to help improve the degree of uniformity of the accounting profession throughout the world, however it recognizes that the legal, social and economic that prevail in each country, will affect in a different way the application of the pronouncements contained in the code; Likewise, the IFAC considers that due to national differences in culture, language, legal and social systems, the task of preparing detailed and specific ethical requirements belongs mainly to each interested country and that they will also have the responsibility to implement and enforce said requirements..
IFAC therefore recognizes the responsibility of the accounting profession and believes that its own role is to provide guidance, promoting the continuity of efforts, promoting harmonization through a code of ethics for professional accountants that is international, to be the basis on which, the ethical requirements are founded through codes, detailed rules, guidance guides, standards of conduct, etc., for professional accountants in each country.
It is in this aspect that the neglect of the nation with respect to the ethics of accountants is noted, since if we refer to the Colombian code of ethics, contained in chapter 4 of law 43 of 1990, we can see that it is a species of summary of the international code of ethics, since its brevity is limited to touching on very superficial, if not obvious, topics about the behavior of the accountant, without specifying situations that may arise and that may be the cause of conflicts, either between colleagues or between accountants and clients, obviously referring to the limitations of our country, that is to say, the term of harmonization of the code is very much taken, since more than harmonizing is summarizing and adopting; as you always see in our country regarding accounting standards,the lack of interest in studying the current situations in our society so that they can be taken as the basis, in this case, for a code of ethics; while if we refer to the international code of ethics, it brings a series of examples that place us more or less in the conflicts that may arise and the possible solutions to be applied, while in our country's it does not specify anything in what absolute.
Due to the recent financial scandals that have occurred in large multinationals, in which many accountants have been involved, it is necessary to make reflections on what is a profession, the social responsibility that all professionals have, regardless of the area in which they work. and the importance of each one of them when they carry out their daily activities in an ethical way.
The certified public accountant, as a professional with university training, through his actions and opinions is obliged to present the highest standards of professional conduct to keep intact the trust that society has placed in him.
Taking into account that the interests of third parties depend on their opinions, therefore the collegiate public accountant must maintain a constant independence of action and judgment, keeping the strictest professional secrecy, as well as constantly striving to increase their technical capacity, exalting thus the dignity, prestige and honor of the profession.
It is worth adding here that if the professional accountant is dishonest and demeans the profession with inappropriate behaviors, said code will not do any good, whether it is general for the world or individual for Colombia.
In this particular case, the educational environment in which this type of person is being raised must be reviewed to analyze social change.
This proposed change must be generated through education in order to touch the mentality generated by values only of the utilitarian type to promote a mentality of cooperation and interaction to achieve that our country arises economically.
This new paradigm must be strengthened from primary school through all the educational stages of the person, so that the intergenerational conflict gap becomes ever narrower, so that the change does not last 25 years.
Changing this paradigm means being fairer, more laborious, giving more, going beyond what is required of us, projecting ourselves, being critical and self-evaluating, thinking of coherent solution alternatives for problems before trying to solve them without reason, in a few Words apply the ethical principles provided in the codes to improve society from within us.
As is well known, the legislative bodies trying, in their eagerness to seek the good of all, obligatorily determine the minimum that people have the right to demand of those with whom they live in society, thus establishing duties and rights.
Thus, with so many existing regulations, it was up to public accountants to be regulated administratively, technically, disciplinarily and in good time, ethically, that is, through the code of ethics for professional accountants. Due to the nature of the norms of this code, it is desirable that their compliance does not depend on fear of a sanction, but on the conviction that their observance will increase the prestige of the collegiate public accountant individually and of the profession as a whole.
Definitely in our country, ethics is a term that everyone uses but no one applies, due to the lack of culture in our society, since something that is also lacking in this code is promotion, making it known by all accountants and all those people who are related to these professionals; taking into account that accountants should be appropriated on the subject of the code of ethics from their formation, that is, from their university, but this is very few spaces that are devoted to studying ethics, much less the code of Ethics, they only limit themselves to studying or learning the technique, even for its origins, that is, the theory is also very little space that is used.
But there is something that is definitely to note; There are some external factors that also influence the fact that the Code of Ethics for Accountants is not like the anthem for the nation, that is, it is not respected or taken into account, and that is that our society is based on corruption and self-interest, and if an accountant is shown a considerable sum of money he does as he is asked.
Unemployment itself has a great influence, since if we take the examples of tax evasion or double accounting, an accountant has to agree to perform such work, since if they do not, they easily get another person and in these cases simply forget their values, their ethics, the code of ethics to which they are subject.
That is why on several occasions it has been said that ethics is a very relative term, since the situations seen in our country, other countries are also seen, some with a higher proportion and others with a lower proportion, the case is that they are seen, and this makes ethics so doubtful and faith less and less, to say the least, although in their oath, and when accountants graduate, they commit to being ethical above all, but that simply remains in the word no more, because there are many accountants who do not even know the code of ethics, much less have they only heard it mentioned and already then we can realize how ethics is something so profound, to the perhaps so superficial in preaching it but not applying it.
The responsibility to enforce a code of ethics in this case, in our country and one for professional accountants, is not only those who are responsible for issuing the credits, but many people are involved in enforcing them, such as for example, the government, as well as those managers and rulers of the profession as such, as well as, and it is obvious, that the accountants themselves have great responsibility when acting and being an example to others, including all those who may see harmed or benefited from the behavior of accountants.
But unfortunately no one today is interested in being ethical and despite the fact that several agents are involved in their responsibility, none undertakes to be the faithful example of ethics to follow.
