Business Ethics for Modern Accounting -myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Ethics for Modern Accounting and Auditing. Answer: Introduction In the present times, it is important that all the business organizations follow ethical conduct so that healthy competition is maintained at the marketplace. Other than that, ethical behavior is important to assure that the organization do not breach any laws during its operations. The business ethics evaluate the ethical issues present in the business environments. The business ethics assist the business organizations in maintaining better relations with their stakeholders. It refers to contemporary standards, principles and set of values, which can be used by the companies in maintaining good relations with the organizations (Lucas, Van Wee Maat, 2016). The present paper has analyzed the issue of Unilevers threat to pull advertisements from Facebook and Google. It is an issue of business ethics, as online search engines and social media companies are using unethical advertising strategies. It is misleading the customers. In this essence, the present paper will discuss the news ar ticle, different ethical theories and their application on the ethical issue. Ethical theories Ethics have a significant importance in the society. They assist in establishing law and order in the society. As the business organizations are a part of the society, they should behave in accordance to the law and order of the society. The business ethics are moral principles, which guide the business organization in behaving in accordance to the law. These principles determine the actions of the business organizations in the society. The ethical conduct is the phenomenon through which the people can distinguish between wrong and the right actions (Goetghebeur, Wagner, Bond Hofmann, 2015). This process can easily identify the unethical business practices and the business organizations can easily avoid them. In the business environment, there are certain practices, which come under unethical conduct. It includes the unlawful use of copyright material and engagement in the bribery. However, in the business environment, it is fairly difficult to differentiate between the good ethical practices and the bad ethical practices. It is the responsibility of the company to provide competitive returns to different stakeholders and to treat all the employees fairly (Counts, Pitre Sullivan, 2018). Moreover, it is also the responsibility of the organization to engage in operations, which can minimize the harm to the environment and reduce the damage to the community. Therefore, it is important that the organization follows some ethical codes whole operating in the marketplace. The business organizations should set out core values and standards. The companies should also follow voluntary codes of practice, which regulate the business practice in the specific industry. These ethical codes of conduct are designed with the support of the government, employees and the local communities. There should be specific set pf principles and practices, which ensures that there is security of the employees and the volatile operations of the company does not impact on the local population (Salloch, Wscher, Vollmann Schildmann, 2015). The companies should also assure that their operations do not impact on the employees and the local people in its operations. It is the responsibility of the organization to make profit and provide maximum value to the stakeholders. Several ethical theories have need designed to assist the individuals and the decision-makers to analyze different aspects of ethical dilemma and lead them to take ethically sound decisions. There are several theories, such as deontology, utilitarianism, rights and the virtue theory. The deontology class of theories state that the people should adhere to their duties and obligations so that they can make ethically sound decisions. A person following deontological theory will make consistent decisions as they will be set on the individuals set of duties (Winkler Duminy, 2016). However, there is no logical or rational basis of taking decisions. The deontological set of theory is normative ethical position, which judges the morality of an action based on the rules. A person should fulfill his duties and obligations as a rule. Utilitarianism is another set of ethical theories, which states that all those actions are ethical, which have good outcomes. It is dependent on the ability of a person to predict the consequences of an action. The utilitarian person takes an action, which yields maximum benefit to the society. It seeks to take action, which is beneficial to most of the people and can be achieved through fairest and just means. It is based on the concept of utility. The theory states that the best action is one which maximizes utility of the actions (Uhlmann, Pizarro Diermeier, 2015). The utility is defined in several ways; however, the major concern is maintaining the well-being of the sentiments. The utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory, which puts emphasis on the outcomes or consequences of the action in choosing different actions in case of ethical dilemma. However, the challenge of this theory is that it can result in wrong predictions and ultimately lead to actions, which are not benef icial for the society (Ferauge, 2012). The ethical theories based on the rights state that the society imparts individual rights to every human being and the ethical conduct should protect these rights and safeguarding these rights should be given highest priority. These rights are ethical, as majority of the society endorses them. However, the person must decipher the rights of different individuals in a society (Thornton, Pan, Erlien Gerdes, 2017). The individual rights are also determined by the goals and the ethical rights of the society. Virtue is another set of ethical theory, which states that and individual has to be analyzed by his character. According to this theory, ethics should not be focused on the normal behavior of a person; however, it should emphasize on the character of an individual. It focusses on the morals, reputation and the motivation of an individual. Counter the position The current issue can be discussed through the application of different theories. The utilitarianism states that an organization or society should engage in actions, which are targeted towards the welfare of the society. However, the advertisement platforms such as Google and Facebook are publishing fake news, child exploitation, sexism, racism and political manipulation. It is reducing the consumer trust in these platforms. Other than that, these actions are also misleading and can be considered as ethically wrong. Therefore, the action of Unilever is ethically correct. However, several other large organizations should come along with Unilever to push change in these online platforms. Google and Facebook are major players of social media platforms and account for 73% of the total digital advertising. There are also several other issues while using these online platforms for advertisements. The response of Facebook and Google to handle fake news and extremist content has been very sl ow (Ann-Russon, 2018). However, the deontological theory states that all the actions, which follow rules or laws, are ethical (Holyoak Powell, 2016). It can be critiqued that the advertising strategy followed by Google and Facebook do not breach any law; therefore, they are justified by this ethical theory. If the same case is analyzed by the rights theory, it can be stated that case of misleading advertising is breaching the information right of the internet users (Ycel, Elibol Da?delen, 2009). The internet users access these social media tools and search engines, so that they can access correct or authentic information. However, these sites are favoring the companies, through which they can achieve additional revenue. The virtue theory also supports the action of Unilever. According to this theory, a man or an organization should follow ethical conduct and follow virtuous behavior (Eccles, Perkins Serafeim, 2012). However, Google and Facebook are not following ethical conduct. Conclusion It can be concluded that the approach of Unilever is to pull out its advertisement from Google and Facebook is correct and ethical as these organizations are using unjust and unethical advertising techniques. When this step is evaluated from the perspective of utilitarianism, right and the virtue theory, it is identified that the companies are misleading their customers as they are giving wrong information in the advertisements. However, deontological theory is supporting the advertising techniques of these companies as they are not indulging in illegal activities. The deontological theory states that as long as the companies are following the rules and laws, they should be considered as ethical. However, the utilitarianism theory states that the basis of ethics should be outcomes of the action. The advertising policies of Google are misleading the customers and therefore, it is not ethical practices. 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