Accounting Ethics Course Research Articles

Impact of Teaching Accounting Ethics on the Ethical Decision-Making of Future Managers

This study aims to emphasize the necessity of dealing with cognitive moral development from the undergraduate level and contribute to the literature by testing two major ethical decision-making models considering perceived overall harm and perceived social pressure concepts that emerge from the literature with a combined approach. For this purpose, the ethical decision-making processes (Rest Model) and moral intensity components (Jones Model) are used to better understand individual factors as well as a standalone ethics course impact on the moral sensitivity and ethical decision-making process. So, the ethical differences between business undergraduate students who took the accounting ethics course, undergraduate students, and MBA students who did not take this course are compared. To do the research, the participants responded to scenario-based questions where an accounting officer is forced to capitalize expenses fraudulently. The analysis is realized using T-test, One-Way Anova and Two-Way Manova tests to shed light on the interaction and the differences between groups. Generation, work experience, and gender are other individual factors used for cross-group comparison. Overall, all hypotheses of the research are partially accepted. The results highlight that the students who do not take the ethics course are significantly negatively different from the MBA students and the students who take the ethics course in terms of overall harm. Other findings conclude that a student who has taken an ethics course is as aware of ethical decision-making processes and moral sensitivity as someone in professional life. Keywords: Accounting Ethics Course; Ethical Decision-Making; Moral Intensity; Individual Factors

Barking up the wrong tree: when you do not hire a business lawyer, reality bites

Research methodology This case was developed from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were interviews. The secondary sources include legal opinions and journal articles. Case overview/synopsis In 2012, Scot and his co-owner, both experienced groomers, planned to open their own grooming business. Scott talked with his accountant about the best legal entity for their situation, and the accountant advised Scott that a limited liability company (LLC) would be the best choice. The accountant steered Scott to Legal Zoom, an online legal resource that helps people form business entities, including LLCs. A few years after starting their business, Scott and his co-owner reached an impasse: Scott wanted to expand the business; his co-owner did not. Scott talked with an attorney and learned that the standard form LLC operating agreement from Legal Zoom did not cover this kind of situation. How is an LLC formed? What are the consequences of a flawed LLC formation? What kinds of duties do accountants owe business owners? Complexity academic level This case was written for use in an undergraduate introductory business law course, an introductory accounting course or an accounting ethics course. The focus of the case supports classroom discussion for online and face-to-face instruction regarding business entity formation and fiduciary duties. Educators who use critical thinking in lessons to apply information about the roles of accountants and attorneys working with business owners can use this case to explore and discuss the impact ethical decisions can have on business owner clients. Learning objectives Through evaluating and examining this case, students will be able to: • understand what an LLC is and explain how one is formed; • recognize the consequences of flawed LLC business entity formation; and • articulate the roles of accountants in the formation of an LLC.

Exploring the Construction of MPAcc Business Ethics and Accounting Ethics Case Library

It is difficult to support the needs of MPAcc teaching due to the insufficient number of case libraries for business ethics and accounting ethics courses. Therefore, this paper discusses the necessity of the case library from the current situation of case library construction, and analyzes the research and construction of the case library of business ethics and accounting ethics course, and proposes, some corresponding solutions to improve students’ classroom learning effect, so as to better cultivate high quality and high level applied talents, which has a certain reference role for universities to improve the subject case library.

Reflective practice and learning in accounting education

ABSTRACT This study explores the extent to which a unique and disruptive experience (a field trip to a prison) combined with reflective writing resulted in transformative learning by students enrolled in an accounting ethics course. Students were provided with clearly defined steps (‘prompts’) designed to encourage them to think logically and to reflect upon their experience, with student narratives collected before, and following the field trip. Analysis of these narratives reveals evidence of transformative learning in that students articulated not just the content of learning but changes in their perspectives of accounting practice, white-collar offenders and what it should mean to be a professional accountant.

Integrating faith into an accounting ethics class: A project illuminated by Bonhoeffer

Teaching accounting ethics at a faith-based university requires a balance between professional guidance and the special mission of these universities. This paper reimagines the objectives on an undergraduate accounting ethics course and uses them along with insights from integration literature to develop a project of faith integration. The project incorporates the life and selected writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The outline for the project, professor reflections, and student responses are included. In past years, this project has created a dynamic classroom, encouraged faith integration, and been well received by students. This paper contributes to the praxis of faith integration literature through an articulation of creative instruction.

Rethinking the accounting ethics education research in the post- COVID-19 context

Now more than ever before, studies of accounting ethics should be at the front of every research that is commenced throughout and following COVID-19 to protect students, academics, professionals, and broader communities. Accounting Ethics Education Research is traditionally linked to the global crisis. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to map the knowledge of accounting ethics education literature and to pay closer inception in facing the waves of destressing and the repeated financial scandals in the Covid-19 context. A systematic literature review was performed on 31 empirical research published on the Scopus database for 1993 to 2020. This study also suggests new avenues and insights for future research by analysing the articles into three primary levels according to the scope (environmental, university, and individual), which would help to find the main focus of researchers and draw a clear picture of literature gap. Moreover, this study is the first by far to provide and discuss the key variables (gender, age, accounting ethics course) used by previous studies. The study findings help provide an overarching picture of the accounting ethics education patterns and trends to avoid falling into the same mistakes. In addition, these results draw potential future avenues to bridge the current literature void by presenting fruitful and indispensable directions for future research in the post-pandemic world. It also suggests multidimensional and in-depth insights for reforming the accounting ethics education pedagogy.

Determinants of the Attitudes of Portuguese Accounting Students and Professionals Towards Earnings Management

We revisit religiosity, gender, age, ethics education and experience as drivers of ethicality, while expanding prior research from Anglo-Saxon and Asiatic/Euro-Asiatic countries to a Latin European country, Portugal. We apply the Merchant (1989) instrument of attitudes towards earnings management, in a sample of Portuguese accounting students and alumni. We find no significant evidence of a positive association between religiosity and accountants’ judgments on earnings management. However, gender, age, education (and accounting ethics education) and experience are significant predictors of accountants’ judgments. The results are unchanged when we control for the intent (selfish benefit) of earnings management. Females, older individuals and alumni judge accounting earnings management more harshly than males, younger individuals, and students (who have not yet completed an accounting ethics course). A higher level of accounting work experience induces accountants to judge accounting earnings management as a less ethically questionable practice. This finding is theoretically relevant because it underscores the necessity of taking people’s constraints in the workplace into consideration when studying ethical behavior in business contexts. The results are also practically relevant, as they highlight the importance of a systematic ethics education throughout the accountant’s life.

Measuring the value of integrating GVV into a standalone accounting ethics course

This paper empirically assesses the efficacy of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curricular offering. GVV training purports to increase both a person’s confidence level in dealing with ethical issues and his or her likelihood to try to resolve and actually report an ethical issue when encountered. While the GVV curriculum has been piloted in nearly 1000 schools, companies, and other organizations on all seven continents, very little empirical research has been conducted to assess its efficacy, especially in accounting education. We integrated the GVV offering utilizing an ethical decision-making framework developed by Mintz and Morris (2014), based on Rest (1986) model of ethical action, into a semester-long accounting ethics class. We extend the existing literature in the field by developing an important theoretical link between Rest (1986) four-stage model of moral action and GVV. When using ANOVA to analyze the treatment and control groups separately, we find significant increases in all four stages of Rest’s model for the treatment group. When applying multivariate analysis to the incremental change between the treatment and the control groups, we find significant increases in both students’ confidence and their intent to confront ethical issues. Additionally, we find similar increases in students’ ethical sensitivity (ability to recognize ethical issues), ethical judgment (determining the best course of action), and their intent to try to resolve and report them between our treatment and control groups for certain vignettes. Student comments suggest the GVV material to be more enjoyable, and faculty believe the depth of the analysis utilizing GVV is better. Faculty also suggest that student engagement is higher with GVV. Our findings suggest that integrating GVV into the curriculum of an accounting ethics course is of value and worth pursuing. Given the ease with which the offering can be implemented, our study may encourage accounting academics to include GVV coverage in other accounting courses as well.

An Overview of Accounting Ethics Course In Undergraduate Program Curriculum In Indonesia

This research describes the status of accounting ethics course in accounting undergraduate program curriculum in Indonesia, which is based on the data available from the National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education website. The sample consists of 60 programs which have an accreditation status of A and the status is not expired yet. The result suggests that the majority of the programs offer an accounting-specific course and only a few of them have two stand-alone course on ethics in their curriculum. Not much differences are found regarding the naming of the course. Variations are observed regarding the course placement, nature of the course and the required prerequisites. Suggestions given include covering accounting ethics topic in the curriculum, preferably in a stand-alone course, or integrating it into other courses if a stand-alone one is not feasible and making sure that the learning outcomes related to accounting ethics are actually covered.

Developing and Measuring the Impact of an Accounting Ethics Course that is Based on the Moral Philosophy of Adam Smith

Accounting ethics failures have seized headlines and cost investors billions of dollars. Improvement of the ethical reasoning and behavior of accountants has become a key concern for the accounting profession and for higher education in accounting. Researchers have asked a number of questions, including what type of accounting ethics education intervention would be most effective for accounting students. Some researchers have proposed virtue ethics as an appropriate moral framework for accounting. This research tested whether Smithian virtue ethics training, based on Adam Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” (1790/1976), is effective in improving accounting student’s cognitive moral development (CMD). This research used a pre-test, treatment, post-test, quasi-experimental design utilizing the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2) instrument to measure students’ CMD. Analysis of DIT-2 gain scores did show a significant improvement in subjects’ personal interest scores and a significant improvement in an overall measure of CMD, the DIT N2 index, whereas their DIT-2 post-conventional scores did not improve significantly. This research supports the proposition that the concepts contained in Smithian virtue ethics can contribute to an effective accounting ethics education intervention. However, further research is required to determine what concepts should be included to improve accounting students’ post-conventional moral reasoning.

Active Learning: An Advantageous Yet Challenging Approach to Accounting Ethics Instruction

In this paper I discuss the advantages and challenges of using active learning, when teaching an accounting ethics course offered in higher education (see Footnotes 1 and 6). The willingness of an instructor to use active learning in an accounting ethics course may be influenced at least in part by that instructor’s assessment of the advantages and challenges of using active learning. Consequently, my paper may be of assistance to instructors with experience in teaching an accounting ethics course and to instructors who are preparing to teach their initial accounting ethics course.

Applying the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm to the Creation of an Accounting Ethics Course

This article explains how and why the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP), a 450-year-old approach to education, can serve as a framework for a modern principles-based ethics course in accounting. The IPP takes a holistic view of the world, combining five elements: context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. We describe the components of the IPP and discuss how they align with suggestions from prior research for providing principles-based ethics instruction in accounting. We conclude by describing how we used the IPP as a framework to create a graduate-level accounting ethics course.

Walking the Walk: Integrating Lessons from Multiple Perspectives in the Development of an Accounting Ethics Course

ABSTRACT: The post-Enron era shares an important similarity with previous time periods following high-profile ethical lapses: post-Enron, there have been clear calls for educators to increase ethics instruction provided to students majoring in accounting (e.g., Mintz 2007; National Association of State Boards of Accountancy [NASBA] 2005, 2007). Educators' response to the calls—present and past—has been generally limited and has been attributed, in large measure, to three challenges accounting educators (including us) have faced: (1) a lack of space in the curriculum, (2) inadequate instructional resources, and (3) faculty members' discomfort in teaching ethics due to a lack of formal training (Blanthorne et al. 2007; Mintz 1990). In light of the calls for educators to increase ethics instruction provided to students majoring in accounting, it is incumbent on faculty to help each other overcome these hurdles. In this paper, we endeavor to do so by drawing upon insights gleaned from the philosophy, ethics, accounting ethics, and education literatures to describe not only why, but more importantly, how we designed an accounting ethics course. Additionally, we provide an overview of our course and append our syllabus to assist faculty members who are interested in adopting (or adapting) our course. Finally, we include assessment measures that evidence the success of our course and offer concluding comments.

10.5840/jbee200743

The article argues for a stand-alone ethics course in accounting and details the shortfalls and questionable approach of teaching ethics across the curriculum, especially for those preparing for professional careers in accounting. The need for a prerequisite course in the philosophy of ethics and moral reasoning is also addressed. A proposed semester listing of course topics for an accounting ethics course is presented, with supporting reasoning for their inclusion, and a detailed semester course syllabus is provided for consideration.