Accountants and business leaders in Scotland are to receive more ethics teaching from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland in an effort to improve public trust in financial reporting.

The institute also plans to introduce more ethics courses to its 'CA' qualification, The Scotsman reported.

The move comes in the wake of the Northern Rock debacle which has lowered confidence in financial services.

Anton Collela, chief executive of ICAS, said he hoped the focus on ethics would help to avoid future scenes such as where thousands of savers flocked to branches of Northern Rock to withdraw their money.

The ethics training is one part of a revised strategy to be launched by the institute this week, which will also see the introduction of more services for ICAS members south of the Border.

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