An Entropy/TOPSIS based Model for Financial prioritization of professional ethics teaching methods in accounting

Abstract

The collapse of large corporations such as Enron and WorldCom caused much concern about the ethical behavior of accountants among users of accounting service. Ethical behavior in accounting is one of the distinguishing features of accountants, which enable them to make the best decisions for stakeholders. Professional ethics learning plays a major role in the development of ethical behavior. Also, TOPSIS method is a well-known methodology that is applied in a various decision making problems. On the other hand, in order to determine the importance of criteria, the Entropy method is known as a powerful tools. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ethics teaching methods on the development of ethical behavior in accounting. This is done by means of an integrated Entropy/TOPSIS based Model for Financial prioritization of professional ethics teaching methods in accounting. The findings of the study showed that the variables of ethics education, style of teaching ethics and ethics textbook content respectively had a 1, 24 and 55 percent impact on the development of ethical behavior in accounting. The results of this study indicate that an ethical training program in accounting is needed to provide accountants with guidance on ethical issues and the importance of ethical standards.