Ethics and accounting education: does teaching stand-alone religious courses affect accounting students’ ethical decisions?

Abstract

Purpose Undergraduate accounting program at Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia is a unique case. The program includes 147 credit hours of which 28 credit hours are religious courses. This study aims to examine the effect of teaching these religious courses on students’ ethical perceptions and decisions. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted for a sample of accounting students at Umm Al-Qura University. The sample was divided into two groups; the first group includes students who did not study religious courses, while the second group includes students who study religious courses. The questionnaire contained three groups of questions that aimed to explore students’ perceptions of ethics in general, students’ perceptions of business ethics and explored their ethical attitudes regarding some accounting decisions that involve ethical dilemmas. Independent two-sample t-test and multiple regression analysis were used to determine whether the responses of the two groups were significantly different. Findings The findings of the study revealed that teaching religious courses led to an improvement in students’ perception of business ethics and an improvement in students’ ethical decision-making. However, the results of the independent sample t-test showed that this improvement was not significant. The results of the study also revealed that male students tend to make less ethical decisions than female students. Research limitations/implications The findings offer an indication for those responsible for managing the accounting program at Umm Al-Qura University to start developing the program so that some of the general religious courses are replaced with specialized courses in accounting ethics that focus directly on ethical dilemmas faced by the accountant when practicing the accounting profession. Originality/value This study contributes to the current literature related to examining the effect of teaching ethics courses on the ethical perception of accounting students by focusing on accounting students in Saudi Arabia as a context that has not been examined before.

Determinants of Student’s Perceptions of Ethical Crises

“…al., 2020). This assertion is supported by Ebaid (2022), who found that teaching religious courses improved students' perceptions of business ethics and enhanced their ethical decision-making. Moreover, religion strongly influences an individual's attitudes, behaviors, and decisions (Khalil & Sidani, 2020), with higher levels of religiosity among students correlating with increased ethical perceptions regarding tax avoidance (Dewanta & Machmuddah, 2019).…”

“…Ethics are crucial in enhancing the profession's image and societal development. One profession highly reliant on professional image assessment during practice is accounting (Ebaid, 2022). The criteria proposed by Sugiyono (2019) were utilized to determine the sample size: 1) Research samples ranged from 30 to 500 participants; 2) If samples were categorized (Male and Female, Married and Unmarried), each category comprised twenty samples; 3) If multivariate analysis was employed, the sample size should be ten times the number of variables in the study; 4) Basic experiments with control and experimental groups ideally consisted of sample sizes ranging from 10 to 20.…”

“…Spirituality and faith values influence the thoughts and behaviors of society because religiosity is considered a multidimensional construct encompassing personal beliefs, commitments, practices, and behaviors (Russell, Yu, Thompson, Sussman, & Barry, 2020). Ebaid (2022) suggests that religious education can enhance students' perceptions of business ethics and ethical decisionmaking. In this regard, Jaya and Sukirno (2020) found that students with high religiosity had more ethical perceptions towards creative accounting.…”

“…Furthermore, Jaya and Sukirno (2020)elucidate that ethics reflect one's thought process in resolving issues and the impacts of decisions made. Ebaid (2022)asserts that integrating good ethics teaching into the accounting curriculum can influence the behavior and attitudes of accounting students, who are expected to become professional accountants.…”

Determinants of Whistleblowing on Academic Fraud of Accounting Students

“…A university education shapes part of the personality of an accountant. Universities are responsible for creating accountants with the skills and competencies needed to practice the accounting profession and equipping accounting students who become future accountants with the courage and values of honesty and ethics (Ebaid, 2022). As a result, students should participate in an ethics intervention before finishing their accounting course, as this will help them to better prepare for dealing with whistleblowing circumstances they might run into as future accountants and the need to overcome them and familiarize them with the ethical principles, goals, and mission of the accounting profession in society (Namazi et al, 2023).…”