Kyle Holtry

Fraud and Ethical Reflection

Everybody lives by a code of ethics, and nobody has the same code of ethics as

somebody else. So where do our values and code of ethics come from? Most commonly it is our

parents. Our parents shape us as we are raised and brought into the professional world. They

guide us and often play a huge role in how we act. Children look up to their parents and want to

be like them. This includes the way they act, if our parents are generous and kind, generally their

children will act the same. This is not always the case though. Another thing that ties into our

parents raising children is religion. Most children don’t actively choose to go to religious

services, but parents take their children to learn. Alongside many religions are codes of ethics

that members of that faith should abide by. When being applied to the real world as adults, we

reflect back on what our parents taught us and other factors such as religion, environment, and

friends subconsciously. We act like those who we look up to. This relates to the real world of

business and accounting because when we are faced with decisions to do the wrong thing such as

commit fraud, we are forced to look at who we are and what values we have. Would my parents

do this? What would my religious leaders think if I did this? These sorts of questions ring

through the mind and cause people to make decisions. I believe that when the values and ethics

are taught at a young age they are engrained into the mind more solidly than something learned

as an adult. People live their lives based around the values they have, they work in places that

share the same values they possess, and people associate with others who share the same values.

So when faced with a tough decision, people have made their decision years ago because of how

they were raised.