BONUS | Global Ethics Day 2021

Contact Russ Porter:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/russporter42/
Contact Margaret Michaels:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-michaels/


IMA (Institute of Management
Accountants): https://www.imanet.org/


IMA's Ethics Center:
https://www.imanet.org/career-resources/ethics-center
Members of IMA shall behave ethically. A commitment to ethical
professional practice includes overarching principles that express
our values and standards that guide member conduct.
IMA’s overarching ethical principles include: Honesty, Fairness,
Objectivity, and Responsibility.  Members shall act in
accordance with these principles and shall encourage others within
their organizations to adhere to them. 
IMA members have a responsibility to comply with and uphold the
standards of Competence, Confidentiality, Integrity, and
Credibility. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary
action 


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch:
(00:05)
 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast
about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm
your host Mitch Roshong. And today I will be previewing a special
bonus episode in our series. October 20th is global ethics day, a
day created by the Carnegie council for ethics in international
affairs. Global ethics day is an annual moment to empower ethics
through the actions of individuals in organizations. It takes
place annually on the third Wednesday of every October, ethics
lies at the heart of the management accounting profession, and
IMA considers ethics to be foundational to its work in core
values. For this special count me in podcast, in honor, of this
day, we are delighted to have IMA's CFO, Russell Porter discuss
why ethics is so important to management, accounting and
financial oversight for organizations. IMA's manager of brand
content and storytelling, Margaret Michaels will ask for us to
share his experiences working in management, accounting, some of
the ethical dilemmas that can arise and how he learned to
navigate questions around ethics to steer the organizations he
has worked for in the right direction. Russ will also provide
information on IMA resources that are available to members who
want to learn more about navigating ethics. So to hear more about
this very important topic, let's head over and listen to their
conversation now.
 
 Margaret: (01:34)
 So welcome Russ to IMA's Count Me In. We are so happy you
could join us for this special and important episode.
 
 Russ: (01:41)
 Pleasure to be here, Margaret, and, thanks for, initiating
this discussion about ethics. It's a personal favorite topic of
mine.
 
 Margaret: (01:48)
 I know you are very interested in helping IMA members
navigate ethical questions and issues they face every day in
their work. You even did an unscientific LinkedIn poll asking
what the most important ethics issue facing accounting and
finance professionals today is. What did you find out? And what
do you believe is the most pressing issue they face?
 
 Russ: (02:11)
 Yeah, it's funny, Margaret. Unsurprisingly, I did not get a
lot of responses. And a lot of the ones I did get were in
one-to-one messages, as opposed to being on the LinkedIn message
board. Ethics is one of those areas that people often don't like
to talk about. Despite the fact that we read about issues of
ethical lapses in the papers all the time, that said, when you
look for them around any business environment, you'll see plenty
of ethical issues. Most of them are addressed right up front in a
company's culture, but when the ethical component of culture
isn't strong enough, the temptation to overlook principles can
overwhelm people. Keep in mind, also there are, in my mind, two
types of ethics to consider: the macro and the micro. The micro
is the one people often think about where an individual or a
small group has to make a decision between the right way and the
wrong way as if decisions were that black and white, but there
are also macro ethical issues like sustainability, equitable
treatment, proper governance, those are affected by individual
decisions, but they can often have a much wider impact.
 
 Margaret: (03:25)
 Yes, I agree. I think we are seeing those wider impact
issues around us every day. I know that I am much more aware of
those macro issues. And I do think that business has really been
stepping up to the plate to try to address public concerns
related to the climate or income inequality or gender bias or
racial injustice through their work on sustainability. In this
way, sustainability really has an ethical dimension beyond just
reporting non financials. Is this a change you welcome in the
profession and how does sustainability change the paradigm for
accounting and finance professionals from an ethical
perspective?
 
 Russ: (04:07)
 So Margaret, all those items you just mentioned under the
umbrella of sustainability economists call them externalities
because in theory, these are effects that don't directly impact
an organization making the decision. And for that reason,
management accountants often exclude sustainability issues from a
relevant cost benefit analysis. That idea of what costs are
relevant to an organization. It's really been expanding though,
in the eyes of consumers, regulators, and investors, they're all
taking those elements into account when making their buying or
investing decisions as society increases the focus on those
areas, through the lens of ethical treatment of the planet and
society, accountants, ignore those issues at their peril. I would
also point out that, you know, perspectives on some of these
macro ethical issues can vary greatly. Different cultures,
whether those cultures are based upon geography, religion,
political affiliation, or any other factor, they'll interpret an
ethical approach to issues differently. Now exploring these
different perspectives, that can really be valuable in increasing
our understanding of the topics. But it's really important to be
aware of how the societies in which we operate view these issues.
For an management accountant, that perspective and that
understanding - that's crucial.
 
 Margaret: (05:39)
 Those macro ethical issues do have many dimensions and
awareness of that fact is critical for the accounting and finance
profession, as well as society at large. And since we're on the
topic of macro issues and changes affecting society, I think it's
a good time to up something that has literally transformed the
profession, which is technology and digitization. At IMA, we are
acutely aware of how technologies like automation, AI, and data
analytics have changed the way management accountants work.
Upskilling in technology is something we champion, but while the
technical skills involved with these technologies are
significant, so are the ethical questions. What is your view of
technology from an ethics perspective?
 
 Russ: (06:28)
 So Margaret, digitization, it's not just affecting the
accounting profession, it's affecting almost every element of our
lives and in society today. And there's a lot of good that comes
out in terms of both individual, as well as societal welfare.
That said, the application of technology, if not done well. Well,
that can also exacerbate existing tendencies to a detrimental
effect. For example, we've been hearing the term algorithmic bias
lately, and that is the propensity for technology driven...