TAXX 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Stakeholder Analysis, Accountant, Continuing Education
Document Summary
Ethics- a set of moral principles or beliefs. Two reasons why people act unethically: the perso(cid:374)"s ethi(cid:272)al sta(cid:374)dards are differe(cid:374)t fro(cid:373) those of so(cid:272)iety as a (cid:449)hole, the person chooses to act selfishly. The argument that it is acceptable to act unethically is commonly based on the rationalization that everyone else is doing it and therefore it is acceptable: if it"s legal, it"s ethical. Using the argument that all legal behavior is ethical relies heavily on the perfection of laws. Under this philosophy, one would have no obligation to return a lost object to its owner unless the other person could prove that it was his or hers: likelihood of discovery and consequences. This approach relies on evaluating the likelihood that someone else will discover the behavior. Typically, the person also assesses the severity of the penalty if there is a discovery.
