All firms subject to the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 must establish a code of ethics.
A surveys taken by Deloitte & Touche LLP and the corporate Board Member magazine in 2003 revealed that 83 percent of the corporations surveyed had established formal codes of ethics, 98 percent agreed that an ethics and compliance program is an essential part of corporate governance, and 75 percent of those with codes of ethics were actively monitoring compliance.
The Institute of management Accountants (IMA) has established ethical standards for management accountants. Management accountants are subject to this professional code and have been advised that, “they shall not commit acts contrary to these standards nor shall they condone the commission of such acts by others in their organizations.” The standards and the recommended resolution of ethical conflict are presented in Exhibit 1-3. The code has five major division: competence, confidentiality, integrity, credibility, and resolution of ethical conflict.