The State of Ethical Practices in Accounting: How Greed Has Inhibited Accounting Leaders From Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

Abstract

It is essential that leaders within an organization routinely meet with employees to ensure needs are met and employees understand the values, which the organization is founded. Leadership and ethical decisionmaking play a vital role in maintaining a cohesive organization. Leaders must retain a stable work ethic and corporate culture within the organization by clearly defining goals and behaviors, values, decisions, and communications that align with the mission. The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to investigate accounting leaders’ stories related to ethical practices in accounting. How do leaders make decisions that support an ethical environment? Non-profit leaders who head up accounting departments are duty bound to enforce best practices and be held to high standards as organizational leaders working in the southern region of Louisiana. The data collection method used was in the form of semi-structured interviews. Ten open-ended semi-structured questions were posed to explore accounting leaders’ stories related to their ethical practices in non-profit accounting. Data analysis administered several thematic codes using NVivo 12 software.