Abstract: Ethical behaviors spring from individuals identification of ethical issues. By taking auditors from Liaoning Institute of Certified Public Accountant as the research sample and adopting such research methods as questionnaire survey and scenario simulation， the relationships between accountability， moral intensity and ethical identification were tested empirically based on Rests ethical decision making theory. It was found that accountability significantly improves auditors ability of ethical identification; meanwhile， auditors are more likely to identify problems with high moral intensity. Accordingly， it was proposed that quality control should be added to the key procedures to strengthen the internal office affairs by exerting higher accountability， and auditors ethical awareness should be raised by providing relevant training and educating programs.

Key words: auditor, ethical identification, accountability, moral intensity, ethical decision making