Level of Ethics, Ethical Frustration and Accountant Discretionary Practices

In this paper it is shown with the help of a small sample that accounting is ethically loaded; that there exists ethical frustration caused by situational factors related to accounting; and that most probably the situational pressures may also change the level of ethics in the Kohlbergian sense; and that in studying accounting-related ethical problems empirically, the paper-and pencil tests and interviewing may give biased results. The accountant's model of the world is supplemented with many discretionary practices. The general structure of this model is determined by the duality of double-entry bookkeeping, the system of stock accounts and flow accounts, principles of valuation, allocatio…