AI is not just transforming the way professional accountants work – it is driving ‘a clear shift’ in the profession’s ethical landscape, argues a new report from ACCA.
Navigating ethics for trust draws on survey responses from 135 countries and discussions at roundtable events. ‘Taken together, the evidence presents a profession that remains strongly grounded in ethics, trusted for its core qualities and well place to lead through change,’ says the report’s author Sarah Lane, head of ethics and assurance in ACCA’s Professional Insights.
But while it is clear that professional accountants ‘continue to play a central role in fostering trust, accountability and sound decision-making’ through strong ethical standards and professional judgment, it adds, there is a real challenge in ensuring that fundamental ethical principles can be applied consistently in an increasingly complex environment.
Technology, rising expectations of transparency and accountability, and organisational culture are reshaping the landscape. More than half of respondents to the survey say that ethical challenges have become more difficult to resolve over the past three years. More than one in five (22%) say that they have been put under pressure to act in an unethical way over the same period, while 53% say they have witnessed unethical behaviour.
The issue facing the profession, says the report, is not uncertainty around the profession’s ethical principles – the fundamental principles remain sound – but the growing complexity of applying them consistently in practice. When in the past ethical risk tended to be linked to isolated personal incidents, it is now embedded in the working environment.
‘Grey areas’
As one survey respondent said: ‘Ethical challenges today are less about clear right and wrong, and more about navigating grey areas under pressure. In many cases, professionals are not directly told to act unethically – but are influenced by expectations, incentives, or organisational culture.’
AI has rapidly become the leading ethical challenge – cited by 61% of survey respondents, up from 32% in 2024. This, says the report, ‘represents a clear shift in the profession’s current ethical landscape’.
Almost three-quarters (72%) of survey respondents say that AI tools enhance the quality and efficiency of their work. But the challenges identified around the use of AI include over-reliance, inadequate human oversight on AI outputs, lack of appropriate governance and unclear accountability.
Despite the more complex ethical landscape, professional accountants are confident that they have the skills to navigate the challenges. Nearly 90% say that they have the skills they need to manage ethical threats (although this is slightly less than the 94% that said the same in 2024) but agree on the importance of continuous ethical learning and development. One in five (21%), though, say that they do not receive appropriate learning and development from their own organisation to ensure their ethical skills are maintained.
The survey shows evidence of a shift in preferences around learning and development; 62% (up from 56% in 2024) now say that practical experience is the best learning resource, followed by CPD and courses, which was cited by 56% of respondents.
A question of trust
This year’s survey looks at trust in detail for the first time and concludes that trust in the profession is not only based on technical competence, but in the way individual accountants demonstrate their professional values. At the roundtable discussions, trust was described as something that is earned through conduct, judgment and accountability in practice, and sustained when professionals act visibly in the public interest.
The report concludes that ‘professional accountants remain central to trust, accountability and sound decision-making in a changing world’ – but that they are working in conditions that are becoming more pressured, complex and difficult to navigate in practice.
Ethical capability depends on continuous development, it adds, and there is evidence that professional accountants need strong support in applying the fundamental ethical principles consistently in practice.
Collective action
The report, which includes a toolkit offering checklists to support members in approaching ethical challenges, calls for collective action where policymakers, standard setters and organisations work together to support professionals and shape an environment that encourages ethical behaviour. It puts forward a practical agenda for action, centred around building ethical capability for technology-enabled work, strengthening trust through transparency and accountability, practical guidance and creating safer conditions for speaking up.
It also stresses the importance of leadership and culture. ‘Enabling ethical behaviour is a shared responsibility,’ it notes, ‘with ethical culture and leadership acting as core conditions for ethical action. When leadership behaviour matches stated values, ethics is more likely to be understood and applied in day-to-day decisions across the organisation.’
Finance professionals do not need more rules, the report concludes. What they need is the tools, support and governance needed to apply existing ethical principles well in an increasingly complex world.
More information
The issues discussed in this report will be explored at ACCA’s Accounting for the Future conference in November in the session ‘Navigating ethics for trust’.
See also ACCA’s Ethics and Professional Skills module and ACCA’s report from the AI monitor series, Shining a light on ethical threats
