By Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Inspiration Architect, Center for Accounting Transformation
Ethical behavior is not enforced through policies alone, but sustained through trust, transparency, and example.
For all the disruption facing the accounting profession—technology shifts, talent shortages, regulatory complexity, etc.—one thing hasn’t changed: trust remains our most valuable asset.
Clients trust us with their financial realities and future plans. Regulators trust us to uphold standards and hold clients to those standards. Public accounting firms trust their leaders to make decisions that protect both the public and the profession. And yet, many firms are quietly grappling with issues that I would translate to be ethics fatigue.
This isn’t about headline-grabbing scandals or deliberate misconduct. It’s about the slow erosion that happens when pressure mounts, margins tighten, technology accelerates, and professionals are asked to do more and more—again and again.
The Quiet Risk of Ethics Fatigue
Ethics fatigue shows up in subtle ways. It’s the rationalization of shortcuts because “everyone’s exhausted” or “there’s not enough time.” It’s the hesitation to raise concerns because the team is already overwhelmed or over-budget. It’s the quiet acceptance of behavior that doesn’t feel right, but doesn’t feel worth fighting—at least not today.
Over time, those moments add up.
The profession has invested heavily in compliance frameworks, standards, and controls—and rightly so. But compliance alone cannot carry the weight of ethical decision-making in a high-pressure environment. Rules define the floor, not the optimal behavior. And because of the criticality of our duty to the public, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than any other profession.
Culture determines what people do when no one is watching—or when everyone is too busy to notice.
Why Trust Starts Inside the Firm
We often talk about trust as something firms earn externally: with clients, investors, and the public. But trust is built internally first.
When professionals trust their leaders and believe their leaders to hold a high ethical standard, they’re more likely to speak up early. When teams trust each other, they’re more likely to ask questions instead of covering up uncertainty. When leaders trust their people, they’re less likely to rely solely on rules and rigid oversight, and more likely to encourage professional judgment and accountability.
Without internal trust, even the strongest compliance systems are simply detective controls, rather than the preventive controls that are embodied by trust and high ethical standards.
And in today’s environment—where AI tools accelerate work, decisions happen faster, and professional judgment is still required at critical points—trust isn’t a “soft” concept. It’s a core risk management issue.
The Limits of Compliance-First Thinking
Most firms are very good at documenting policies. Fewer are intentional about modeling ethical decision-making in real time.
Compliance answers the question: Is this allowed?
Ethical leadership asks: Is this aligned with our values, our responsibilities, and the long-term trust our profession depends on both internally and from the public?
When those conversations don’t happen, people fill the gaps themselves—often under stress, with incomplete information, and with an eye toward survival rather than stewardship.
That’s when ethics fatigue turns into something more dangerous: disengagement.
Disengaged professionals don’t necessarily break rules. They stop caring whether the rules and their actions serve a larger purpose.
Leadership’s Role in Restoring Ethical Energy
Ethical cultures don’t emerge from memos or annual training. They are reinforced through everyday leadership behavior and peers holding each other accountable.
That includes:
- Making space for questions, especially when timelines are tight.
- Responding constructively to concerns, even when they’re inconvenient.
- Acknowledging gray areas, rather than pretending every decision is clear-cut.
- Modeling boundaries, so giving in to pressure doesn’t become the default excuse.
Leaders set the tone not by declaring values, but by demonstrating how those values guide decisions under pressure.
When professionals see leaders ignore discomfort in favor of efficiency, trust erodes—quietly, but consistently. When they see leaders prioritize integrity over short-term wins, trust deepens and ethical energy flows.
Ethics in an AI-Assisted World
As firms adopt more advanced technology, ethical responsibility doesn’t disappear—it shifts.
AI and automation can improve consistency and reduce certain risks, but they don’t eliminate professional judgment. Someone still decides how tools are configured, when outputs are accepted, and when results are questioned.
That makes an ethical culture even more important.
In a firm where people feel safe challenging assumptions, technology becomes a safeguard. In a firm where people feel pressured to move fast and stay quiet, technology can amplify risk instead of reducing it.
A high ethical standard determines which outcome prevails.
Reframing Ethics as Professional Sustainability
Ethics isn’t just about avoiding failure; it’s about sustaining the profession.
Firms that actively invest in trust—through transparency, accountability, and human-centered leadership—are better positioned to retain talent, serve clients effectively, and adapt responsibly to change.
Ethical energy is finite. When professionals are constantly stretched, their ability to engage thoughtfully diminishes. Recognizing that reality isn’t weakness—it’s leadership.
Protecting trust means protecting the people who carry it.
The Question Leaders Should Be Asking
Instead of asking, “Are we compliant?”
Leaders might ask, “Are we creating conditions where people can do the right thing consistently?”
That question shifts the focus from control to culture, from fear to responsibility, and from short-term performance to long-term sustainability.
In a profession built on trust, that shift isn’t optional. It’s essential. (resilience), and protections (cyber), you produce fewer surprises, faster throughput, and a team that ends April tired—but intact.
Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is the founder and Inspiration Architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, which enables transformation by guiding professionals through the adoption and change required in order to step into the future of the accounting profession. He is also the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, a Hawaii-headquartered advisory-focused CPA firm dedicated to improving the world by helping small and mid-sized entities (SMEs) accelerate their business transformations through the application of Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) frameworks right-sized for smaller organizations.
