Ethics and Governance is a core component of the knowledge and skill base of today’s professional accountants. As key business decision-makers, accountants must be proficient in regulatory regimes, compliance requirements, and governance mechanisms to ensure lawful and effective corporate behaviour and operations. A better understanding of ethics, corporate governance frameworks and mechanisms links with the various roles and responsibilities outlined in other units of the CPA Program. From an individual perspective, this unit provides candidates with the analytical and decision-making skills and knowledge to identify and resolve professional and ethical issues. The skills and knowledge obtained are also important for units that specialise in the functional disciplines of accounting such as Advanced Taxation, Financial Reporting, Strategic Management Accounting and Advanced Audit and Assurance.

More than ever, today’s professional accountants are less involved in traditional accounting functions and are more concerned with leadership and management. Today’s accountants are leaders in their field providing key support to senior management and are directly involved in many important decisions. An understanding of ethics and governance is essential to those in leadership roles, and to those who support their leaders. This unit not only develops an awareness of corporate governance but also helps members (and those whom they support) in discharging their stewardship functions.

Unit aims
The unit has three key aims:
1. promoting awareness of the ethical responsibilities of professional accountants, thereby enabling them to identify and resolve ethical issues or conflicts throughout their career;
2. ensuring professional accountants understand the importance of governance, including their role in achieving effective governance; and
3. understanding the role of accounting, and of accountants, in providing information about the social and environmental performance of an organisation.