Comparing the Christian Worldview to the Secular Worldview of Accounting - Essay Example

Comparing the Christian worldview to the secular worldview of accounting

Introduction

The notion of being a Christian entails leading a good life and doing good things in the world. Christians should try to be like Christ, follow His commandments and impress others. Being a Christian should be shown not only in our words, but should also be seen through our actions. This entails all deeds from personal endeavors to our actions in business dealings. A Christian should adopt all elements of a Christian worldview of accounting principles to ensure that the accounting methods used do not clash with one’s personal practices and feelings. Secular worldview of accountingdoes not imply that the actions of person are ill but it implies that these actions are not rooted in God’s way

Accounting in the Bible

Accounting is the process of justification of events on economic entities like corporations and businesses. Accounting offers a means of accountancy for incidents that take place within a business venture’s life cycle.A key aim of accounting is to monitoring performance of the management and ensuring that a business entity is not swindled. According to Anderson (2001), the Bible discusses the issue of accounting in 2 kings 12:16 which talks about building of the temple, where no accounts were kept with men who were given the money for workmen because they were authentic in their dealings. Each man was paid according to his labor and men were held accountable to God. Thus, they were expected to portray a virtue of honesty and being trustworthy.

The Bible also offers the motive for monitoring of stewards. In the parable about a steward, the steward was not supposed to waste money and when the owner heard that his agent was wasting money, he called him and told him to offer an account of his stewardship for he was no longer to be a steward(Luke 16:2). God created people to be act on the behalf of others, to be agents or stewards. God commands people to steward His Creation and grace (1 Peter 4:10). The parable of the talents by Jesus is an illustration that people are His stewards and will be accountable for doing as he would expect us to (Matthew 25:14-30). Accounting is dependent on individuals acting as stewards or agents on behalf of others. Accountability for finance or other resources can exist since God created humans with the capability to act on behalf of one another. Everything belongs to God and his people only act as stewards. Accountability to God is emphasized through the use of various parables in the bible (Anderson, 2001).

Christian worldview versus secular worldview of accounting

A Christian worldview of accounting entails undertaking business dealings in accordance to biblical teachings. The bible emphasizes on good morals in any business dealings. However, conflicts of opinion always rise depending on where one’s loyalty lies, but as we move towards the individual we would like to become, a choice must thus be made. A Christian would do business differently from a nonbeliever. A follower of God’s command puts God’s first in everything he or she does. God gave Christians a purpose in life and therefore thus Christ should be at the core of their businesses and lives. Having a secular worldview of accounting does not imply that a person practices ill deeds, but it simply implies that the practices aren’t rooted in God’s ways (Grudem, 2012).

The Christian worldview teaches that God is always watching all human activities and will hold everyone accountable in this life or in the next life. In Colossians 3:23-34, Paul tells employees to work heartily for the Lord and not for fellow man since they will receive an inheritance as their reward from the Lord. Paul goes ahead to say that there are particular consequences to evil and good deeds for wrongdoers will get pack the wrongs they have committed with no partiality (Col 3:25) and tells masters to treat their slaves justly and fairly since they also have a heavenly Master. James gives a warning that employers who do not pay their servants are accountable to God (James 5:4). Jeremiah states that the Lord is mighty in deed and great in counsel, His eyes are open to all ways of the man, rewarding everyone in accordance to the fruit of his actions (Jeremiah 32:19).

With no this sense of answerability to God, life does not have meaning and people cannot undertake business activities in morally upright ways. According to Grudem, (2012God sees business activity as a morally good thing. In Lev 25:14, God told Israelites that if they made a sale to their neighbor or purchase from their neighbor, they shall not do wrong to one another. This is an implication that ordinarily selling and buying could be undertaken without wronging one another. A Christian perspective identifies that business activities are ethically good and should be give praise and approval.

A Christian worldviews sees both evil and good tendencies in the heart of every individual, and that individuals are morally answerable for their choices. The tendency towards doing the right thing comes from the common grace of God, through which God inscribes the work of the law in the heart of every individual and also offers them a sense of wrong of right (conscience) that bears witness (Romans 2:15). Such a Christian viewpoint of moral answerability to God results to great personal uprightness in business since individuals recognize that God is always watching their conduct and will thus be held accountable. Such a viewpoint will make people to be reliable, honest and care for themselves and for others, all which are important in the world of business.

Additionally, the notion of individual ethical accountability promotes an economic system within which individuals are justly rewarded for the work they do and individuals who make immoral choices are held liable and suffer consequences of their actions (Grudem, 2012).An economic system that is developed by man will perform well if it is supported by moral values like mutual honesty, love and respect. The wellbeing of a property or an individual are excellently safeguarded when other people show love towards their neighbors since love is a fulfillment of God’s law (Romans 13:10). When markets and morality strengthen each other the world becomes a better place for doing business.

Secular worldview of accountability

Secular worldview of accounting does not imply that the actions of a person are ill but it implies that these actions are not rooted in God’s way. Generally, accountability demonstrates a relationship amid two parties whereby one party is indirectly or directly accountable to the other party for an action, outcome or output. Secular worldview of accounting presents accountability as a holding organizations and individuals responsible for performance. Thus, accountability exists if there is a relationship amid two parties. This view presumes that some organizations or individuals have particular rights to monitor the conduct of another and to seek acts taken and the organization, or individual is accountable to a greater authority for the action taken as well as handling the resources (Walker, 2013).

However, accountability is also a moral order that entails a scheme of reciprocal obligations and rights. This implies that the concerned parties are bound narrow, quantifiable ways but must also meet the spiritual or moral goals of the organization. From this viewpoint individuals who are in custody of economic resources must provide justification of their stewardship. Therefore, accountability and stewardship are considered as identical and interchangeable (Walker, 2013).While Christian worldview demands people to be morally accountable to God, secular worldview demands individuals or organizations to be accountable to their parties.

When Christian worldview of accounting is lost, the sense of moral accountability to God is also lost. In secular viewpoint, when an individual is not watched, he may do shoddy work or become dishonest. Abandonment of a Christian perspective of accounting and adoption of a secular perspective of accounting will is likely to result to greed and selfishness other than sincere care for other people.When the notion of moral answerability to God is abandoned and moral accountability to an organization or individual adopted, it becomes hard for people to adopt ethical behavior.

Since punishing wrongdoers is the only mechanisms that can make people behave ethically, massive regulatory mechanisms are always imposed in an attempt to catch the transgressors. Also accounting reports must be continually submitted to the monitoring the individuals. However, these measures do not work well because individuals planning to commit an immoral thing smartly gauge their moves and thus may tell lies about their products or forge a report. Additionally, fabrication of reports and corrupt deals among business entities allow individuals to engage in immoral acts for their own benefits and the benefit of their businesses. Unless individuals truly hold the belief that God is watching all their deeds, the moral standards often disintegrate (Grudem, 2012).

When individuals lose belief in personal ethical accountability and adopt secular viewpoint of accounting, the notion that emerges is that people who make foolish choices shouldn’t be held liable, since they are viewed as simply victims of exterior influences from the societyWhile the Bible tells us that it is good to offer assistance to the poor. Matthew 19:21 says that people must also keep in mind that God expects them to care for their individual financial states, to strive to work with their own hands and not to be dependent on others (1 Thessalonians 4:12).

An economic system under the secular viewpoint that puts emphasis on personal obligation doesn’t equally distribute rewards to all people. Capitalism only offers rebuffs and frustration to people who want to receive without giving, who want to get profit without making sacrifices and people who want to laud themselves other than making themselves humble. The value of the goods of the society is in the end derived from its people values. Human beings were created to be social and coexist in a community (Grudem, 2012).

Conclusion

The Christian worldview of accounting recognizes that God is always watching all human activities and will hold everyone accountable. Thus people must make right choices and be morally responsible because they are accountable to God and are rewarded according to their deeds. On the other hand, secular worldview of accounting does not imply that the actions of an individual are not rooted in God’s command. In this perspective, the actions of individuals are bound to their accountability to another party and thus do the right thing because they will be answerable to a higher authority.