Ethical behaviour is a critical component of the accountancy/auditing profession. This study examines ethical attitudes of final year accountancy students in Ireland and Australia. Students were surveyed as to whether they would accept a bribe and/or cheat in an exam. Their attitudes towards whistleblowing – if they became aware of improprieties such as bribery and cheating – were also reviewed. Of the students, 58 per cent of Irish and 23 per cent of Australian appeared willing to participate in fraud. These percentages plummeted when the risk of being caught was introduced. Males appeared between two and four times more likely than females to act unethically. A total of 56 per cent of Irish and 28 per cent of Australians appeared willing to cheat in an exam with the difference between male and female students being significantly reduced. Again the risk of being caught drastically reduced these figures. Just greater than 50 per cent of Australian and just under 50 per cent of Irish students appeared willing to be whistleblowers. It appears as if educators still have a long way to go as regards providing effective ethical education for trainee accountants/auditors.
Whistleblowing involves employees reporting upon wrongdoing occurring in their organisation. Traditional views of whistleblowing (a disloyal act) are evolving towards a more modern view (sympathetic). This study evaluates attitudes towards whistleblowing in Ireland. Corporate employees reviewed business scenarios, evaluated whether they were prepared to become whistleblowers or not and gave their reasons. They also evaluated their organisation’s attitude towards whistleblowing. The findings suggest many employees (particularly males) are still reluctant to report wrongdoings in their workplace and would rather report internally than externally. Also, employees who do whistle-blow are motivated more by feelings of loyalty than self-interest. Finally employees do not consider their organization particularly supportive of whistleblowing. Results suggest organisations must do more to promote whistleblowing if employees are to be encouraged to do so appropriately.
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