An Examination Of Accounting Majors Ethical Decisions Before And After An Ethics Course Requirement

Abstract

The increased focus on ethical decision making in the accounting profession has resulted in greater attention being paid to the education of future accountants. Texas is one of the states that requires a State Board approved university course in Accounting Ethics to be on the transcript of prospective CPA candidates. This study reports on research using senior/graduate level accounting majors at a Texas state university before the university course requirement and after the requirement. The survey presented four vignettes for the students to consider (i.e., 2 describe an ethical decision and 2 describe an unethical decision). Students were requested to indicate (1) how ethical/unethical they believed the actions described were and (2) the probability that they would take the same action as the actor. The results of the analysis indicate no significant differences in the responses of the students whenever the vignette describes a situation in which the accountant makes an ethical decision. However, significant differences were indicated in both decisions whenever the students were dealing with a vignette describing an accountant making an unethical decision.