The Corporate Governance Debate on Professional Ethics in the Accounting Profession

Abstract

This paper focuses on the particular case of professional ethics in the context of the accounting profession. After briefl ydiscussing recent events that made us reconsider our understanding of corporate governance, accountancy and ethics,we attempt to delimit the state of the art by looking at ethics from the accounting profession’s perspective. When aimingto clarify professional ethics, we closely analyze integrity based on the latest developments undertaken by Europeanprofessional bodies. The fi ndings are used in identifying