Prepared by L. Murphy Smith

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Presentation on Ethics in Business and Society
Prepared by L. Murphy Smith Texas AM University
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Ethics Whats the Fuss?
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When evaluating ones goals and objectives, a
vital question must be asked What is your
highest aspiration? A. Wealth B. Fame
C. Knowledge D. Popularity E.
Integrity
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If integrity is second to any of the
alternatives, then it is subject to sacrifice in
situations where a choice must be made. Such
situations will inevitably occur in every
persons life.
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Why talk about ethics? The National Commission on
Fraudulent Financial Reporting (Treadway
Commission) recommended that accounting
curricula should integrate the development of
ethical values with the acquisition of knowledge
and skills. In a keynote speech to the American
Accounting Association, John Burton, Dean of the
Columbia University Business School stated that a
declining influence of social institutions has
increased the role educators must play in shaping
values.
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In a recent Wall Street Journal
article, Psychology
professor Steven Davis says that cheating by
high school students has increased from about
20 percent in the 1940s
to 75 percent today. Students say cheating
in high school is for grades, cheating in college
is for a career.
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If students lack ethics in high school and
college, then there should be little surprise
that they lack ethics in their careers. Greed and
over-reaching ambition often end in disastrous
personal consequences. Convicted inside trader,
Dennis Levine, in a Fortune magazine article
wrote
I have painful memories of Sarah learning to
walk in a prison visiting room, and of Adam
pleading with a guard who wouldnt let him bring
in a Mickey Mouse coloring book.
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Many institutions of higher education have
instituted policies regarding ethics education.
For example, the Faculty Handbook of the Mays
Business School at Texas AM University includes
the following statement Therefore, faculty and
staff have a responsibility for creating an
academic environment that promotes honest
academic inquiry and teaches students ethical
behavior in the process.
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Educational Institutions have established ethics
codes for their students, e.g. the U.S. Air Force
Academy
"We Will Not Lie, Steal Or Cheat, Nor
Tolerate Among Us Anyone Who Does" -- Which
do you think is the harder part Line 1 or
Line 2? Why?
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What do profs think? In a survey of college
faculty, 187 professors responded to several
statements about teaching ethics 1. The
importance of ethics and personal integrity
should be
stressed in the courses I teach. 4.75 2. The
basis for ethics and personal integrity
should be
discussed (e.g. benefit to society as a
whole, moral and
religious foundations of
society, etc.) 4.11 Note
Scores are based on a scale from
1
Strongly Agree to 5 Strongly Disagree
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American Institute of CPAs Code of Professional
Conduct, Principles Article I In carrying out
their responsibilities as professionals, members
should exercise sensitive professional and moral
judgments in all their activities.
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Is there an ethics crisis in America? One
recent national election day poll indicated that
56 percent of voters thought that Americas
problems are primarily moral and social. Only
36 percent thought that the nations problems
were primarily economic.
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Can ethics be taught? Teddy Roosevelt said, To
educate a person in mind and not in morals is to
educate a menace to society.


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In his best-seller, The Closing of the
American Mind, Allan Bloom says that the eternal
conflict between good and evil has been replaced
with Im okay, youre okay. Students
unthinkingly embrace a blind tolerance in which
they consider it moral never to think they are
right because that mean someone else is wrong.
Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind,
New York, Simon and Schuster, Inc. 1987
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More than 200 years ago, Professor Alexander
Tyler wrote of the Athenian Republic, which had
fallen 2,000 years earlier A
democracy cannot exist as a
permanent form of government The average age of
the worlds greatest civilizations has been 200
years. These nations have progressed through this
sequence From bondage to spiritual faith, to
great courage, to abundance, to selfishness, to
complacency, to apathy, to dependency, and back
again to bondage.
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In the quest for educational
reform, we would do well
to
turn not only to the great books,
but the great
exemplars of
wisdom with which our country
is
blessed. To help reclaim our
destiny as human beings
and
citizens, we need to rediscover the
generation that really can claim to be the best
and the brightest in American history, at least
from the moral and political point of view the
founders of the American Republic. Professor
C.R. Kesler Kesler, C.R. Education, Cultural
Relativism, and the American Founding. The
Intercollegiate Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, Spring
1989, pp. 35-42
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Whereas it is the duty of all nations to
acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to
obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits,
and humbly to implore His protection and
favor. George Washingtons Thanksgiving
Proclamation of 1789
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Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality
can prevail in the exclusion of religious
principle. George Washingtons Farewell Address,
September 17, 1796
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We have no government armed with power capable
of contending with human passions unbridled by
morality and religion. Our Constitution was made
only for a moral and religious people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government of any
other. President John Adams, 1789
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God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the
liberties of a nation be secure when we have
removed a conviction that these liberties are the
gift of God?
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect
that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep
forever. Thomas Jefferson
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Declaration of Independence The second paragraph
of America's founding document states "We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness."
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Where Do We Start? Upon What Can We Agree?
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Whether we derive a code of ethics from religious
beliefs, a study of history and literature, or
personal experience and observation We can all
agree upon some basic values.
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In an issue of Management Accounting, James
Brackner stated The universities are responding
with an increased emphasis on ethical training
for decision making. For the most part, however,
they ignore the teaching of values. For moral or
ethical education to have meaning there must be
agreement on the values that are considered
right.
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Be sure you are right, then go ahead. Davy
Crockett 1786-1836
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A nation or a culture
cannot endure for long
unless it
is undergirded
by common values such
as
valor, public
spiritedness, respect for

others and for the law It cannot stand unless it
is populated by people who will act on the
motives superior to their own immediate interest.
Chuck Colson, Against the Night
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Michael Josephson, in Chapter 1 of Ethical Issues
in the Practice of Accounting, describes the Ten
Universal Values Honesty, integrity, promise
keeping, fidelity, fairness, caring, respect for
others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of
excellence, and accountability.
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Until about 50 years ago, it was commonly
accepted that universities were to provide
students not only with knowledge and skills, but
also moral guidance based on the essentials of
the Western tradition. Business Prof Geoffrey
Lantos
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If we want to produce people who share the values
of a democratic culture, they must be taught
those values and not be left to acquire them by
chance. Cal Thomas, The Death of Ethics in
America
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Can you make a difference?
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To sin by silence when they should protest makes
cowards of men. Abraham Lincoln Do you think
this relates to line 2 of the U.S.A.F. Academy
Code of Honor?
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Leadership is a potent combination of strategy
and character. But if you must be without one, be
without strategy. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
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The reputation of a thousand years may be
determined by the conduct of one
hour. Japanese proverb
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At the Congressional Hearing on Accounting and
Business Ethics in July 2002, Truett Cathy, the
Founder of Chick-Fil-A quoted Proverbs 221 "A
good name is more desirable than great riches to
be esteemed is better than silver or gold."   The
truth is that fame and fortune are nothing
compared to personal honor.
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President Lincoln said Honor is better than
honors.