Abstract

The dominant managerial discipline in U.K. companies is finance. Accountants are often viewed as being concerned with what is measurable, definite and controllable. The emphasis is on professional conduct, independence, objectivity, technical competence and confidentiality. This paper explores the concept that the growth of professionalism has created an environment in which functional specialists have different ethical perspectives. The pre‐eminence of accountants is now being challenged by the marketers, a profession that takes a much wider view of business ethics. This development is bound to have implications for corporate perspectives on business ethics. The paper gives the views of a focus group of managers from other disciplines on the relations between accountants and marketers, and analyses the potential for better understanding between the two groups and the implications of this for business ethics