PRESS RELEASE
20 December 2007
Wanting to close off the calendar year of 2007 on another topic of interest to accountants locally and internationally, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Chair in Applied Accounting Research at the University of Nicosia organised a conference on “Ethical Traits of Accountants” on Wednesday, 19 December 2007 to raise awareness about professional integrity and ethical values of accountants and accounting students.
Sponsored by the Chair of PwC, a survey was carried out by three academics from three different Universities in an attempt to identify the ethical traits of accountants as well as prospective accountants and to provide suggestions for their improvement.
The survey’s findings were presented by the holder of the Chair, Dr. Maria Krambia - Kapardis, which record the opinions of qualified accountants and accounting students in Cyprus. The survey concluded that qualified accountants are ethical and that there is an imbalance of head and heart traits for both qualified and prospective accountants. It suggests that traits like friendliness, trust, loyalty, cooperation and honesty should be embedded in case studies prospective accountants are asked to complete in their courses and that the profession should promote the heart traits amongst its members.
In his introductory speech, Mr Phidias Pilides, Chief Executive Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers Cyprus noted: «At PwC we believe that business and competitiveness are only served through adherence to ethical principles. These principles set the boundaries of our business activity. And it is up to all of us to maximize our businesses through openness and respect for each other, building strong relationships with our teams and our clients, based on trust. Through accountability and personal responsibility, commitment to quality and integrity. Through collaboration, integration, proactive and holistic thinking, courage and persistence in cases of difficulty».
Mr Pilides stressed that «our era is one of intensive competitiveness and cultural change. And at such times, the real danger is the flattening of ethical values in professions like ours, in the name of competitiveness. Ethical traits are important as they configure business culture from top to bottom and vice-a-versa in all stages of business performance. The diffusion of this culture should not be based only on teaching but it needs to be incorporated in everyday practice.»
Mr Frank Attwood, Deputy Chair of the International Ethics Standard Board of Accountants shared with the participants his knowledge and experiences on the challenges faced today by accountants on the issue of professional integrity and independence. He discussed the fundamental principles that accountants are expected to adhere to and addressed the threats facing them if they fail to comply with the Code of Conduct. He concluded his presentation by mentioning the future projects the Board will be addressing, one of which is ethics for accountants in the government sector.
Mr Liakos Theodorou, Partner, Ethics and Business Conduct Leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers Cyprus, gave an insight on what Code of Conduct is and why organisations need an Ethics and Business Conduct program. He also discussed with the participants the reasoning process they ought to go through to deal with dilemmas they may be facing.
The results of the survey in both Greek and English as well as speakers’ presentations can be downloaded through Ethical Traits: survey and presentations
