Nowadays, in civilized countries, legal businesses, their taxes, and relations with the government are completely regulated by law. The United Arabic Emirates is no exception to this rule. Due to the state’s scrupulous attitude to justice and the nation’s development, the country shows impressive results in its progress. Practicing social responsibility and applying ethical norms to every field guarantees success to any enterprise and the whole nation. After the last crisis, since 2010, many cities in the UAE (the most prominent example is Dubai) started a quick economic recovery (Hamid). The enterprises’ honesty and law-abidance contributed to it greatly.
In accounting, certain ethics needs to be followed as the accountant deals with the company’s finances. Moreover, he or she sees every violation and any attempt to conceal a part of the profits in order to avoid paying the necessary amount of taxes. In the case under consideration, the hypothetical conditions are the following: the size of the firm is too small for statutory auditing; there is cheating in the sales, and the company gets a part of its profit unaccounted; the illegal money is going to be spent on the needs of a party; an accountant is a person close to the management. For an honest accountant, in case of having learned about cheating, it is necessary to try to fix the situation.
Firstly, it is important to consider the essence of accounting ethics in the Emirates. According to Sidani, “accounting in the Islamic faith is based on the assumption that assets and possessions ultimately belong to God” (263). It means that in an Arabic country, God is the beginning and the end of everything, including property. The nation is also a creation of the Almighty, that is why, being a part of it, the enterprise should contribute to it.
One of the easiest and most natural things to do is to pay taxes. Moreover, it is obligatory, and disobedience is punished severely. It is possible to note that the UAE is the least corrupted country in the Middle East (“United Arab Emirates Corruption Report”). It means that the law works, and those who practice corruption and cheating are punished. According to Hamid, traditions and cultural specifics play a significant role in managing, auditing, and accounting in the country (3). It should be explained by the accountant to the managers who practice cheating.
Secondly, it is necessary to remind the management of the role of the accountant in the company. It should be stated that accounting ethics in the Emirates is a “social responsibility” (Sidani 267). This means that the accountant needs to be honest with society, the authorities, and God. Abdallah states that in the Emirates, the field of management and accounting is strongly influenced by the Islamic culture that teaches its adherents to be honest (3).
As the company is not audited, there is still a way to get rid of the problems: the money should be returned and documented, and then the taxes should be paid. As a result, the management will redeem their sin and may continue working with a clear conscience.
To conclude, the accountant’s role in the situation under consideration is to explain to the management that their actions are both illegal and immoral. Further on, the state of matters may be fixed. For this, the company needs to get the money back, document the profit, and pay the taxes. As for the party, money for it should be collected among those who want to take part in it.
Works Cited
Abdallah, Wagdy M. “Introduction.” Accounting, Finance, and Taxation in the Gulf Countries, edited by Abdallah, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 1-27.
Hamid, Firoz Abdul. “Ethics in Business: Soul of Ethics in the New Dubai.” Investvine. 2015. Web.
Sidani, Yusuf M. “The Ethics of Islamic Accounting.” Handbook of Research on Islamic Business Ethics, edited by Abbas J. Ali, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2015, pp. 259-274.
“United Arab Emirates Corruption Report.” GAN Business Anti-Corruption Portal, n. d.. Web.