Deontology vs. Utilitarianism: The Pros and Cons

Introduction 

The accounting profession causes a dilemma involving the personal morality and their moral accountability to their specific organization . Deontological ethics system judges whether actions undertaken in any situation are right or wrong basing on ethical codes whereby consequences of those actions are not accounted for. These moral principles are meant to be scrupulous and by the book. Acting in the right manner entails adhering to behavior rules to the latter and, the assumption that comes along with it is that in the process one will be advocating for justice impartiality and egalitarianism. Immanuel Kant, the ethics system’s distinguished supporter, articulated a largely prominent model of a secular deontological moral approach. Uncharacteristic of religious deontological ideologies, the set of laws in deontological theory according to Kant originate from human reasoning. In theory deontology works greatly, however in actual world, it is not easy to act in accordance with it. Some fundamental questions accountants have to ask themselves are what will result if they are required to choose between two wrongs? What follows if they cannot be objective? On the contrary, utilitarian ethics affirms that any route action taken is under consideration of the most positive outcome that surfaces from it. This ethics system is more accurate when it comes to addressing complicated situations, which solutions are not as trivial. Initially, the Utilitarianism founder Jeremy Bentham, describe utility as the total contentment once pain involved in any encounter is eradicated. Nevertheless, the failure of this moral code system is that it is not justice-centered. In this research paper, we are going to discuss how these two ethical systems Deontology and Utilitarianism relate to the accounting profession, organizational culture, the Christian ethical worldview and the most appropriate moral code in AICPA Code of Professional Conduct between the two system .

Deontological 

The first suggested moral code that has relevance in the accounting profession, which I believe is most suitable in this profession. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy gives into details on the word deontology arising from the Greek words ( deon ) to mean duty and study of ( logos )", it furthers to give explanation on how “deontology” is one of those kinds of normative theories regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or permitted." As an alternative, it views it is in the interiors of deontological moral principles where an action is deemed ethically right as a result of certain behavior quality itself, not because the action consequence is good". There is meaningful emphasis placed on this moral code system "on the personal responsibilities or mandate to take right action (Moore, 2014) . One of the most accepted deontology form is "that certain choices are unjustified by their consequences that one way or another, ethically right influence some choices which are righteously forbidden. On such established deontological ethics accounts, agents are not supposed to make certain unethical choices even when by doing so the certain nature of wrong choices will be played down as other agents will be barred from making related unlawful choices.

Immanuel Kant, the 18th-century German critical ideology founder and a realist defined the deontological philosophy, as moral values system with higher inclination on Christianity alongside the Enlightenment Rationalism." The Kant maintain the belief that " nothing is ethical exclusive of the quality apart from the good will, which a person desires to act in keeping the ethical standard and from regards for the rule, considerably than from inherent tendencies." 

The deontological approach supports accounting neutrality quality. Its existence in this field requires individuals to be objective. As an accountant you have to deal with the given financial facts about the company without making any alterations because of their personal feelings or interpretations. The moral code of the deontological system permits this by necessitating observance of a set of ethical values irrespective of the result. It similarly fosters the integrity significance in accounting. It does this by having emphasizing on the personal responsibility or commitment to act morally or behave ethically (Sorensen, 2017) .

Utilitarianism 

Another suggested ethical system that is employed to the accounting profession is utilitarianism. (Gong, 2017), describes utilitarian assumption that "the eventual justification of logic for actions is that it results in extensive good for more individuals than it does damage. The common saying "the end justify the mean" portrays this moral system practically in a perfect way. In accordance with The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , "the basic logical utilitarianism account was established by Jeremy Bentham in1748–1832, the central motivational insight of this theory become apparent at an earlier time (Lail et al 2017) . The insight that is ethically suitable behavior will not be harmful to others, but as a substitute, boost happiness or ‘usefulness.’ What is characteristic about utilitarianism is its system in taking that knowledge along with exploiting the explanation of moral assessment and directions that develops on it. John Stuart Mill expounds on the best description of the principal utilitarianism guideline; he articulates that behavior is ethically well-balanced as they are inclined to foster happiness, immoral as they have a tendency to bring misery," Mill maintains that "the contentment" in which he suggests is "not personal utmost happiness, but the utmost simultaneous happiness for all. An alternative to view utilitarianism is that an individual ought to act in line with what bring along utmost good to maximum number of people (Gong, 2017) . The utilitarianism principles are unable to hold the accounting professions impartiality quality. The application of the utilitarian moral values eliminates objectivity from accounting, If the reason behind behavior is exclusively based on the judgment that the benefit/harm assessment is contradictory to the objectivity purpose. (Lail et al 2017), explains various dilemma when it amount to utilitarianism, " making a decision on what matters as "the good" a good is in universally broken up into two kinds: intrinsic or extrinsic goods.

Ethics and Christian Worldview 

Ethical considerations remain debatable all through many perspectives both in private as well as professional person’s life. Accountant career require ethics in handling most issues that includes the understanding the moral rightness or wrongness of a situation. The moral code of an accountant is a critical part once it comes to constructing as well as maintaining the trust relationship with the public alongside in their work environment. Individual’s moral conduct is not exclusively on the basis of ethical system of their organization or lawful obligation but all the same it arises from their personal standards and morality. A factor that majorly influence or determines how individual will react towards a situation is their religious convictions. For a Christian there are some things that make them observe morality and these is mainly the Christian perspective. Therefore, according to Christian worldview there are two things that should be taken into account, to start with, Christians must recognize that uprightness is what God desire and that "morality is both; definitive and specific. The Christian perspective on ethics is on the basis of the will of God; nevertheless, on no account God desires anything contradicting his perpetual moral nature". All through the Bible, more so in Lev. 11:45, the moral character of God has been portrayed; the prevalent account of His personality is "be holy, because I am holy.” (Bible, 2015). The biblical groundwork of Christian moral values is entrenched inside the unchanging moral God’s attribute.

All through the professional disciplines, in the present day there exist various moral perspectives. (West, 2017) classify moral code systems into two types” basing on their compatibility, they are called "absolutisms and "non-absolutisms". There are two ethical systems that are generally applies in the accounting profession, particularly deontological along with utilitarianism. A quicker analysis will give us greater insights of both and the likely relevance they hold in the accounting profession (Moore, 2014). 

Organizational Culture and AICPA 

As for any other institution, the moral organizational culture dimension is the accounting profession fundamental nature (West, 2017) . The general definition of organizational culture is the collective viewpoints, conceptions, principles, traditions, artifacts, symbols, actions, and language framework employed by the entire organization (Sorensen, 2017) . The primary moral decision-making aspect integral in the organizational culture of the accounting profession draw attention to professional insight as standards suitable in making decision that applies in accounting moral code dilemmas resolution along the lines of the professions behavior system, known as AICPA (Lail et al 2017) .

In conclusion, the reflection of the utilitarian as well as deontological moral code systems given that the accounting organizational culture along with the AICPA Professional Conduct Code supports the deontological approach as the suitable in the accounting profession. The appropriateness of this system is founded in its normative characteristics alongside its duty-oriented structure. Equally, the two qualities are found in the deontological moral system along with accounting theory and thus it creating a beneficial the Accounting professionals feature. Both moral systems recommended for accounting have been assessed considering the organizational culture as well as the expected professional behavior and the deontological system certainly remains with the upper hand.

References  

Bible, K. J. (2015). The Official King James Bible Online. 

Gong, J. J. (2017). Ethics in Accounting: A Decision-Making Approach. 

Lail, B., MacGregor, J., Marcum, J., & Stuebs, M. (2017). Virtuous professionalism in accountants to avoid fraud and to restore financial reporting.  Journal of business ethics ,  140 (4), 687-704. 

Moore, M. H. (2014). Public value accounting: Establishing the philosophical basis.  Public Administration Review ,  74 (4), 465-477. 

Sorensen, D. P., Miller, S. E., & Cabe, K. L. (2017). Developing and measuring the impact of an accounting ethics course that is based on the moral philosophy of Adam Smith.  Journal of business ethics ,  140 (1), 175-191. 

West, A. (2017). Multinational tax avoidance: Virtue ethics and the role of accountants.  Journal of Business Ethics , 1-14.