Ethics Content in Introductory Accounting Textbooks: An Analysis and Review

Lessons to be Learned: An Examination of Canadian and U.S. Financial Accounting and Auditing Textbooks for Ethics/Governance Coverage

“…In a cross-sectional study, Bracken and Urbancic (1999) examined 24 introductory accounting texts in the financial (8), management (8), and combined financial-management (8) streams. These authors focused on the ethics content of the texts.…”

Analysis and comparison of the moral development of students required to graduate with an ethics course

“…However, a study of the coverage of ethics in these texts shows significant variation (Bracken and Urbancic, 1999). They reported that some texts had as much as 7.10% of the pages having a reference to ethics; while others had less than 1% of the pages referring to ethics.…”

Do Managerial Economics Textbooks Cover Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility?

“…Coverage of these topics is generally found to be limited or superficial (Bracken and Urbancic, 1999;Baetz and Sharp, 2004), but is found to be more extensive in marketing and management textbooks than in economics textbooks (Hoaas and Wilcox, 1995). In a review of 21 textbooks used in managerial economics classes and published between 1992 and 2004, Arce (2004) observed that 'substantive discussions of ethics are conspicuous by their absence' (p. 261).…”

“…Highly publicised ethical scandals at corporations such as Enron, Arthur Anderson, and Tyco International, along with public alarm in response to accounts of environmental degradation, child labour abuses, and financial inequities, have heightened awareness of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in all business contexts. Although many colleges and universities have stand-alone graduate and undergraduate level business ethics and CSR courses, business and economics faculty are increasingly encouraged to address topics of ethics and CSR in courses throughout the business curriculum (Baetz and Sharp, 2004;Bracken and Urbancic, 1999;Hoaas and Wilcox, 1995. ) For professors faced with this challenge, it is helpful if course textbooks cover these topics.This review addresses whether current managerial economics textbooks include discussion of ethics and CSR.…”