Mara Cameran Works for Accountants' Ethical Standards

THE BOCCONI PROFESSOR IS THE EAA REPRESENTATIVE TO IAESB'S CONSULTATIVE ADVISORY GROUP

Recent economic events have demonstrated that questionable behaviors of accountants affect everyone, even those who do not have any direct involvement with these professionals. To meet the continuous challenges facing the global economy, the accountancy profession needs to ensure that individuals who become professional accountants achieve an agreed level of competence, which is then maintained. A key role in this respect is played by education and, in particular, university education, as the latter provides students not only with technical skills but also with the appropriate mind frame, the necessary critical thinking and the indispensable ethical background to make proper accounting judgments.
 
Accountants’ ethical background was one of the main points tackled in the last meeting of the Consultative Advisory Group (CAG) of the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB). Mara Cameran (Department of Accounting) participated in the meeting as the representative of the European Accounting Association, a role she covers since 2015.
 
“To protectco accountants’ reputation and the public trust in the profession, accountants should have and demonstrate advanced levels of ethical standards and commitment to the public interest”, prof. Cameran says. “At the very root of well-known business scandals that damaged the reputation of the accounting profession worldwide there was the lack of an ethical dimension rather than technical weaknesses. In this framework, it is of utmost importance that from entry into the profession, junior accountants should possess advanced levels of ‘ethical principles’ and ‘commitment to the public interest’ competence areas”.
 
IAESB is one of the independent standard setting boards operating under the IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) umbrella. The IFAC is composed of representatives from 130 countries and jurisdictions that represent approximately 2.84 million accountants.

by Ezio Renda