The Contribution of Islamic Ethics Towards Ethical Accounting Practices

Abstract

The professional ethics of accountants is an important issue directly relating to the integrity of 
the profession and its ability to secure the public trust. The fraudulent activities in accounting 
field indicate the failure of accounting education as the beginning stage of the practice. It is 
perceived that those happen due to deficiency of moral values inserted in the education level. 
Inevitably, education system is alleged as the main cause of the problem. Accounting education 
seeks for moral values to generate ethical accountants as part of society. Accordingly, the visi
bility of ethics education in accounting programs may initiate the development of morality and 
also increase public confidence in the profession. However, the efforts to integrate ethical val
ues in educational system will not work well if there are no moral commitments implanted in 
the individuals.  Islam with its divine values plays the notable role to embed cognitive ethical 
values.  It emphasizes on the unity of God, the accountability to God and the concept of 
maslahah (public benefits) to be the foundations of ethics. Incorporating Islamic ethics into the 
system will be a significant contribution towards generating ethical accounting education. This 
paper attempts to elucidate how the Islamic ethics contribute its role towards ethical 
accountants as the products of accounting education.