ABSTRACT
Public administrators, including public financial managers, operate within the context of the politics–administration dichotomy. For example, public financial managers may be influenced by elected officials to systematically bias revenue forecasts to present a more optimistic fiscal picture to external stakeholders. Moreover, public financial managers may not equitably allocate community development and infrastructure funds given pressure from elected officials or retain years of fiscal reserves that could instead be used for operating activities. Collectively, these hypothetical examples reflect that public financial managers face many potential political pressures. The potential for both generalist and specialist ethical codes to inform their decisions in this context, however, is largely unexplored. Overall, this chapter will provide a more nuanced perspective on how current and future practitioners may learn about ethics from one or more professional member associations.
