Ethics and Accounting Education

Abstract

The current study investigates how a university accounting education affects the rationales used by accounting and first-year business students in making ethical decisions, the level of deliberative reasoning they employ, and their ethical decisions. Senior accounting students (with approximately four accounting courses to complete) were found to exhibit higher deliberative reasoning, make more frequent use of post-conventional modes of deliberative reasoning, and make more ethical decisions than first-year accounting students. These results suggest that a university accounting education has a positive effect on deliberative reasoning, on the use of post-conventional modes of deliberative reasoning, and on ethical decisions. There was no difference between the level of deliberative reasoning and ethical decisions of first-year accounting and first-year business students, but there were differences in their modes of deliberative reasoning. These results suggest that first-year accounting and first-year business students may make ethical decisions differently, implying the need for a different emphasis when teaching ethics to these two groups of students.

Ethics training for accountants: does it add up?

“…As trong research body exists for the moral judgement component (Thomas, 2012;Dellaportas, 2006;Shaub, 1994;Armstrong, 1993;Welton et al,1 994); however, there seemst ob eagap in the other three processes. The construct of ethical sensitivity, specifically, seemst oh avebeenneglected.…”

Preparing accounting students for ethical decision making: Developing individual codes of conduct based on personal values

“…This is consistent with what scholars have identified as deliberative ethical reasoning -defined as the "actual level of ethical reasoning that an individual is using in a particular context" (Thomas, 2012, 400) -which is distinct from cognitive moral capability, or "the level of ethical reasoning that an individual is capable of in general contexts" (Thomas, 2012, p. 400). Because deliberative reasoning is normally applied within specific contexts and domains of knowledge, it is thought to be more proximally associated with ethical action than cognitive moral capability (Thorne, Massey, & Magnan, 2003), and it can be developed in undergraduate business students (Thomas, 2012).…”

“…Although there is still some debate regarding the efficacy of ethics training (e.g., Lund Dean & Beggs, 2006;Taft & White, 2007), recent evidence is encouraging. For example, studies by Lau (2010), Klimek and Wenell (2011), and Thomas (2012) found significant differences in the ethical reasoning abilities of undergraduate business students exposed to ethical training.…”

Los valores en el título de administración y dirección de empresas: un análisis de su importancia para estudiantes y egresados

“…Hombres (222) Mujeres (207 Las puntuaciones medias asignadas por los alumnos de último curso son mayores que las puntuaciones medias de los alumnos de primero, estos resultados coincidirían con las conclusiones del trabajo de Thomas (2012). A su vez, las puntuaciones medias de los egresados son superiores a las puntuaciones de los alumnos de último curso, con la excepción de "Solidaridad" e "Internacionalización".…”