Ethics in accountancy
Ethics has been at the heart of the accountancy profession – and the training of its students – since its earliest days.
It’s your north star. It’s a professional competence, and something you have to do. Ethics is essentially a framework for decision-making. In your daily professional life, you’re going to come across challenges, and you need a framework. That framework is provided by the ICAEW Code of Ethics, and its five fundamental principles.
While ethics has always been key, the landscape has changed over time and certain things like the global financial crisis have brought ethics to the fore. Following high-profile failure-of-trust scandals, public tolerance is low and expectation high – making it more important than ever that financial institutions have trusted professionals behind them.
Everyone – from the student on day one of their training to the most senior professional – has their own ethical responsibility.
Ethics in the ACA
Ethics is one of the three central themes which runs throughout the ACA, alongside sustainability and technology.
As a core tenet of the profession, ethics features throughout all components of the qualification.
The Certificate Level Sustainability and Ethics exam introduces fundamental content early on – and tests it under exam conditions. Ethics is then embedded throughout every exam of the Professional and Advanced Levels, requiring students to demonstrate their ethical understanding and skills alongside their technical knowledge. Furthermore, three case study exams, including one at Professional Level and two at Advanced Level, provide the opportunity to explore the complexities of real-life scenarios in an assessment format.
As I always say to the examiners, we both test ethics and we profile it. We want it wrapped around everything.
In addition to the integration of ethics in exams, another requirements of the ACA is discussions of ethical scenarios within students’ six-monthly reviews. “We’ve had a very good response from the Ethics in Practice scenarios,” Caroline says. “Employers find it useful to have something concrete there, and the students I talk to always find it helpful too. It often triggers conversations about their own experiences in the workplace.” Students will also encounter ethics throughout Specialised Learning content and as they develop professional skills.
Pushing ethics further
As the world of work becomes increasingly complex, so does the need to explore ethics within all facets of the modern working environment. Therefore one area of focus in the ACA is the interrelationship between ethics and the other central themes of sustainability and technology. Another is responsibility to stakeholders, something that has been gaining prominence over the past four or five years. It’s not enough just to think about your company or even your customers; it’s that responsibility through the supply chain.
The emphasis throughout is on proactivity rather than reactivity, and the ethical duty of every student and member.
Where we’ve pushed the bar on ethics is very much that responsibility to question more and be proactive. The ACA is designed to bring everyone to the same point, and there are frameworks and rules, but it’s also about holding on to your own moral compass. Does it feel right?
Ethics beyond the ACA
The ACA is the start of lifelong practice in ethics.
It’s like a muscle – you have to exercise it. Everyone, no matter how senior or junior, has a role in promoting an ethical culture as part of the Code of Conduct. It’s not a ‘nice to have’. It’s part of your makeup of being a trusted professional.
The importance of continuous learning is reflected in the introduction of mandatory CPD – and it’s often those further on in their careers who need that ‘re-grounding’, David points out.
Thanks to the knowledge, skills and practical application gained through the ACA, young people starting out in the profession will be armed with the confidence to face challenges, make decisions and positively influence culture from the bottom up.
Develop future-ready talent
Last updated: June 2026