An Empirical Analysis of the Positive Impact of Ethics Teaching on Accounting Students

Abstract

Recent releases from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) highlight the importance of ethics education. Academic institutions employ varying methods and place varying levels of emphasis on ethics teaching during a business/accounting degree. This paper attempts to evaluate whether teaching ethics to final year accounting students is beneficial. At the commencement of a semester, one class of 155 students was given five ethical scenarios on which to make an ethical decision. All students were then subject to three different methods of ethical instruction. Several weeks later, the class was again given the original five ethical scenarios and asked to re-complete. In all five instances, the mean responses were more ethical after the instruction methodologies. The subjects also verified that the combined effect of the methodologies had impacted positively on hypothetical ethical decision-making. Hence, it appears that ethics education is beneficial, and the challenge is to find the optimal method(s).Teaching, ethics,

How South African societal and circumstantial influences affect the ethical standards of prospective South African Chartered Accountants

“…This potential 29% is considered to be a qualitatively significant deviation and thought-provoking finding in view of the fact that this immoral mind-set represents the views of some future South African Chartered Accountants who have very strong demands for ethical behaviour in their professional future. This finding is consistent with the literature (O'Leary, 2009;Ghaffari et al, 2008;Guffey & McCartney, 2008;Jackling et al, 2007;Bucar et al, 2003) which identifies the effects of negative social surroundings and ethical culture influencing the ethical standards held by some individuals.…”

“…In addition, neutrality has been identified for a further 9.5% and 4.7% respectively, representing a fair number of respondents refraining from taking a strong stance, thus displaying concerning unethical standards at the outset of their professional careers. These findings are in line with the literature (O'Leary & Cotter, 2000;Guffey & McCartney, 2007;O'Leary, 2009) citing evidence suggesting that higher levels of moral reasoning will be employed when the resultant consequences appear high and thus the consequences of an action is often the ethics determinant for some, not the actual immorality of the decision. Considering that South Africa's current environment often displays evidence of a lack of (sufficient) consequences for perpetrators of questionable actions, this area of weakness is thus an area of concern since it will act as a determinant of ethical standards for some individuals, as the current study's findings confirm.…”

“…This is in line with previous findings such as Bateman and Valentine (2010) who find that women place more importance on an overall moral philosophy than do men, and that women have higher intentions to behave ethically. Other research (Haswell & Jubb, 1995;O'Leary, 2009) finds differences in ethical standards between the sexes, with male students appearing more prepared to act unethically than females.…”

“…Firstly, in terms of the responses, whether they are true reflections of what the participants would actually do in a practical real-life situations is a factor which will remain unknown. This is a limitation applicable to most studies of this kind (O'Leary, 2009). Secondly, due to the sample used to conduct the analysis, being drawn from only one specific location, the validity of the findings may be uncertain for the purpose of making inference about the perspectives of the general population.…”

Ethics of Undergraduate Students: A Study in Malaysian Public Universities

“…In Malaysia, a former manager of Syarikat Safire Pharmaceuticals (M) Sdn Bhd had been charged in court of money laundering for receiving RM41.3 million [1], while Ex-Sime Darby was found guilty for corruption involving over RM180, 000 [2]. All these scandals demonstrate that unethical behaviour is performed by professional groups and managers worldwide, and therefore it is important for society to be nurtured and taught with ethical values and integrity since childhood [3]. [4] supported the notion where ethical awareness should be taught in early age by providing continuous education, especially to students in higher education.…”