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Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education

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  • Robyn Ann Cameron
  • Conor O'Leary

Abstract

Ethical instruction is critical in accounting education. However, does accounting ethics teaching actually instil core ethical values or simply catalogue how students should act when confronted with typical accounting ethical dilemmas? This study extends current literature by distinguishing between moral/ethical and legal/ethical matters and then re-evaluating the effectiveness of ethics training. A cohort of final-year accounting students with significant ethical training evaluated ethical scenarios. Half were moral (non-legal) and half contained legal as well as moral components. After further ethical instruction they re-evaluated the scenarios. Ethical attitudes towards legal/moral issues improved, but attitudes towards moral-only issues did not. This questions previous studies which purport to demonstrate the effectiveness of ethical instruction and queries the benefits of accounting ethics education. Are fundamental ethical principles being ignored in an effort to prevent more obvious accounting wrongdoings? Accounting ethics training needs to be reassessed if true ethical improvement is to be achieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Robyn Ann Cameron & Conor O'Leary, 2015. "Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 275-290, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:24:y:2015:i:4:p:275-290
    DOI: 10.1080/09639284.2015.1036893
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bailey, Charles D. & Soileau, Jared S., 2011. "Q-analytics: An ethics case on unlicensed software usage," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 50-59.
    2. Barry Cooper & Philomena Leung & Steven Dellaportas & Beverley Jackling & Grace Wong, 2008. "Ethics Education for Accounting Students—a Toolkit Approach," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 405-430.
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    4. Lisa Christensen & Ellen Peirce & Laura Hartman & W. Hoffman & Jamie Carrier, 2007. "Ethics, CSR, and Sustainability Education in the Financial Times Top 50 Global Business Schools: Baseline Data and Future Research Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 347-368, July.
    5. Alan Graham, 2012. "The Teaching of Ethics in Undergraduate Accounting Programmes: The Students' Perspective," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 599-613, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Rebele, James E., 2016. "Accounting education literature review (2015)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 20-55.
    2. Luis M. Arciniega & Laura J. Stanley & Diana Puga-Méndez & Dalia Obregón-Schael & Isaac Politi-Salame, 2019. "The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1133-1148, September.
    3. Gabriel Sam Ahinful & Sheila Addo & Felix Obeng Boateng & Jeff Danquah Boakye, 2017. "Accounting Ethics and the Professional Accountant: The Case of Ghana," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 1(1), pages 30-36.
    4. Tamara Poje & Maja Zaman Groff, 2022. "Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 451-472, August.
    5. Berk, Cem & Gundogmus, Fatih, 2018. "The Effect of Work-life Balance on Accounting Ethics," 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disruptive Change (Dubrovnik, 2018), in: 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disrupt, pages 289-302, Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU), Zagreb.
    6. Janie Bérubé & Yves Gendron, 2023. "Developing Ethical Sensitivity in Future Accounting Practitioners: The Case of a Dialogic Learning for Final-Year Undergraduates," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 763-781, March.
    7. Pruijssers, Jorien Louise & Singer, Gallia & Singer, Zvi & Tsang, Desmond, 2023. "Social influence pressures and the risk preferences of aspiring financial market professionals," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

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