JOB SATISFACTION OF ACCOUNTANTS AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Abstract

Corporate accountants might be faced with many ethical dilemmas and pressures, some of which are complex and difficult to resolve. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the job satisfaction of accountants in the context of their professional ethics. Empirical research is based on a questionnaire addressed to corporate accountants in Croatia. The collected data were statistically tested using SPSS. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in the job satisfaction of accountants in relation to the situations when they have to compromise their own principles to fit the expectations of the organization. According to the findings, ethical issues make a difference in accountants’ job satisfaction. This finding indicates that companies should consider the IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants when introducing business ethics into their organizations. Since the IFAC Code represents a well-established framework for ethical behaviour of accountants, it could be used in the initial phase of institutionalization of ethical standards at the company level and then adapted according to the organizational culture of each company. Although this study has limitations regarding the scope of empirical investigation, it represents an initial effort in the research of corporate accountants’ professional ethics. So, this paper makes a contribution to rather scarce literature on the relationship between job satisfaction and business ethics.