INTHEBLACK September 2024 special edition - Flipbook - Page 41
Accountants must meet the
standards of the IFRS framework
for financial reporting.
Application of professional
judgement and expertise is vital
when preparing financial reports.
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A company’s ethics are
intertwined with the quality
of its financial reporting.
UNETHICAL PRACTICES EXPOSED
Abundant regulations, guidelines and frameworks
govern ethical business practices, but unethical
behaviour can still go unnoticed.
The 2019 final report of the Hayne Royal Commission
into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and
Financial Services Industry was widely seen as an
indictment of unethical behaviours across the sector.
“Some deeply unethical practices emerged from the
Hayne Royal Commission,” says Wayne Stokes FCPA,
a member of CPA Australia’s Ethics and Professional
Standards Centre of Excellence, president of its New
South Wales Divisional Council and non-executive
director and chair at City West Housing.
“As a former CFO, I have had some very robust
discussions with my executive peers on what I was and
was not willing to put in the financial statements.
“Yes, we have IFRS and other accounting standards,
but there is still a ‘grey area’ that requires some level
of objectivity and common sense,” Stokes says.
“Places like Australia are very compliance-heavy,
for all the right reasons, but I think that introduces an
extra layer of stress that can result in the opposite of
what it is intended to achieve.
“Sometimes, personal agendas come into play,
because executives may have a personal opinion
and they push it, although I think that occurs less
these days.”
ETHICS ESSENTIALS intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 41
