Business Ethics and Corporate Governance

Business Ethics and Corporate Governance is a course designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of ethical principles in business and professional practice, with particular relevance to the accounting profession. The course develops students’ ability to identify, analyze, evaluate, and respond to ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in business and professional decision-making.

The course begins with the fundamental concepts of ethics, human beings and the environment, philosophy, religion, values, law, and major ethical theories as foundations for understanding moral behavior and ethical judgment. Students then examine the relationship between ethics, economics, and business, including Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), ethical principles and codes of conduct, environmental ethics, and the Indonesian Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.

A major component of the course focuses on Corporate Governance, enabling students to understand how ethical principles are translated into systems of corporate direction, control, accountability, and oversight. Topics include agency theory, ownership and control structures, investor protection, executive compensation, performance and incentive systems, bonuses and managerial behavior, as well as corporate governance practices in the United States, Asia, and Indonesia.

The course emphasizes that business ethics and corporate governance are closely interconnected. Ethical principles provide the moral foundation for responsible decision-making, while corporate governance provides the structures and mechanisms through which accountability, transparency, fairness, responsibility, and stakeholder protection are implemented within organizations. Students are therefore encouraged to evaluate business decisions not only in terms of profitability and legal compliance, but also in terms of their consequences for shareholders, employees, customers, investors, society, the environment, and long-term business sustainability.

Learning is conducted through lectures, discussions, practical exercises, presentations, case analysis, and project-based learning. Students are expected not only to understand ethical and governance theories, but also to apply them to real-world business cases, construct logical and evidence-based arguments, evaluate alternative courses of action, and make decisions that can be professionally and ethically justified.

By the end of the course, students are expected to demonstrate the ability to integrate ethical reasoning, professional responsibility, corporate governance principles, and business considerations in evaluating complex organizational issues and contributing to responsible and sustainable business practices.

Core Focus:
Ethical Decision-Making • Professional Ethics • Corporate Governance • Accountability • Transparency • Fairness • Responsibility • CSR • Stakeholder Protection • Sustainable Business