Final answer:
Company financial statements do not serve as a reference resource for guiding business ethics, unlike industry codes of conduct, legal statutes, and ethical guidelines from professional associations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reference resources used to guide the application of business ethics include industry codes of conduct, legal statutes, and ethical guidelines from professional associations, but not company financial statements.
Industry codes of conduct provide a shared understanding within a particular sector on appropriate business practices. Legal statutes are laws that govern how businesses should operate legally and ethically. Ethical guidelines from professional associations, such as those by the American Sociological Association or IEEE Computer Society, ensure that professionals adhere to shared ethical principles within their field.
Company financial statements, while important for understanding a business's fiscal health and for making informed financial decisions, do not typically guide professionals in their ethical conduct or business decisions and therefore do not qualify as a resource for business ethics.