The Role of Professional Accountants in Tackling Ethical Dilemmas in Tanzania

Abstract

This study aimed to explore what Professional Accountants experience as ethical dilemmas in their work and how they resolve such dilemmas. An ethical dilemma arises when the accountants must choose between alternatives and where the morally correct choice is unclear. This may be due to conflicting personal values or loyalties, tensions arising from the realization that the moral action is not in line with his self-interest, cross-cultural conflict, or moral ambiguity.

This study was premised on the fact that there were intense complaints about unethical behaviors and dilemmas among professional accountants in Tanzania. An interview was used to elicit responses on the experiences of accountants regarding the ethical experiences and the dilemmas they encounter in their daily work.

Qualitative methods were used in this study to establish the accountants' role in tackling ethical dilemmas. They were asked to describe any dilemmas they have experienced, how they were handled, and what challenges they experienced as accountants.

The research findings revealed that professional accountants are faced with a lot of ethical dilemmas. The top ethical dilemmas are a cover-up of accounting errors, delays in recognizing expenses, manipulation of depreciation and amortizations, accelerating income recognitions, misleading reporting, and payment of ghost vendors/employees.

The research reveals further that some accountants were ethically active, sensitive to ethical issues, and experienced ethical doubt and uncertainty. The studies also show that professional accountants adopt different approaches to deal with dilemmas. The approaches include confronting, reporting, and persuading.