Zweifel 1
Brandon Zweifel
Foundations of Writing 1
Dr. Riley
April 4, 2013
Significance of Teaching Ethics in Accounting
Accounting plays an important role in society and the decisions that accountants make
impact people’s lives. It is very crucial for accounting professors to educate students about ethics
in accounting. “Accounting students need to understand that the profession they have chosen is
one in which the public’s trust must be considered and honored in all matters (Kidwell, Fisher,
Braun, Swanson, 2012, p. 10). This
will get the students to learn how to
do accounting in the most effective
way without breaking any rules. There
continues to be major accounting
Clockwork Acounting. (2011). Accounting Fraud.
fraud occurring due to poor ethics in
accounting. The accounting fraud destroys businesses and fraud hurts the economy. Some
professors do teach ethics to students, but the professors only cover a small part of ethics. C.
O’Leary (2008) of Queensland University of Technology thinks that one of the greatest
challenges facing the accounting profession today is maintaining exemplary accounting
standards (p. 3). There needs to be an increased amount of accounting ethics being taught to
students because it will decrease corporate scandals, accounting ethics is not being taught enough
in some universities, and it will impel the students to want to do things the most ethical way
possible.
Zweifel 2
Students learning an efficient amount of accounting ethics will help reduce corporate
scandals. The corporate accounting scandals are basically the main reason why accounting ethics
needs to be focused on more. “The relentless escalation of corporate accounting scandals has
spawned intensified concern for accounting ethics
issues” (Uysal, 2009, p. 1). There is so much
pressure being put on accountants because of
management’s expectations for the company. The
biggest corporate scandal in history is the scandal
involving Enron. Enron lied about their financial
Wordpress. (2010). Enron debacle
performance in order to get more investors and
this scandal cost investors billions of dollars. Management or the upper level staff of the
business would want their company to look like a very successful business and the upper level
staff can force the accountants to do their job unethically to make the company look better. The
accountants do not want to lose his or her job and he or she ends up doing unethical things. There
are very few moments where the accountants who are facing this issue will quit or report the
issue. The accountant could also be doing unethical accounting actions for their benefit by
stealing money from the business. Students need to learn that these behaviors are wrong and
should never be conducted. Consequences can be harsh and usually involves a long period of jail
time and fines. Knowing the consequences is what usually seems to prevent accountants from
committing fraud. Some accounting professors are not bothered by the accounting scandals.
According to O’ Leary, a survey of accounting academics found that accounting faculty were
relatively unmoved by recent corporate scandals, attributing them to management failure rather
than accounting failures (p. 4). Students that have efficient knowledge of accounting ethics will
Zweifel 3
not take part in accounting scandals because the students will know the consequences and ways
to avoid being a part of accounting scandals when he or she are accountants for a company. Not
having efficient knowledge of accounting ethics will lead to accounting scandals for a business.
There needs to be an increased amount of intensity when teaching accounting ethics so
accounting scandals will diminish.
Accounting ethics is not being taught enough in many universities. It seems as if
accounting ethics is not one of the main focuses for accounting departments in some universities.
Accounting ethics needs to be taught intensely and enough so that the student knows not to
commit fraud ever. Kidwell, Fisher, Braun, and Swanson (2012, p.5) had this to say about
accounting ethics being taught in the curriculum:
Educators should take the time to build the foundation for critical thinking on ethical
matters, rather than assuming all of the tools are present when students enter our classes.
If we fail to empower our students with these tools, but rather scatter a few moments of
ethics coverage across our technical courses to comply with accreditation standards or
public appearance, our efforts are unlikely to be beneficial and might actually be harmful.
Some professors talk about accounting ethics a little bit during their lectures, but that is not
enough. The professors need to have the students do problem solving or critical thinking for
accounting ethics issues. The person who is head of the accounting department at the universities
need to make sure that the accounting professors are teaching ethics intensely in their
classrooms. The more the professor stresses accounting ethics to the students, the more the
student will realize how important it is to be ethical in accounting and he or she will choose to do
the right thing.
Zweifel 4
An increased amount of accounting ethics being taught to students will help impel the
students to want to do the most ethical things possible in he or she’s accounting profession. If
accounting ethics is not being stressed in the classroom, then the students will not take ethics
seriously and the students will not implement ethics in their accounting career. Even if
accounting ethics is just mentioned a little bit in the classroom, it still will not be effective in
getting the students to understand ethics. People who commit accounting fraud will always get
caught eventually and the consequences can be harsh. Teaching the students about the
consequences of fraud will tend to scare them. Students will be too scared to ever try to steal
money from their employer. Teaching accounting ethics intensely does not prevent students from
doing unethical behavior 100 percent, but it helps motivate students to be ethical more.
Professors need to focus on teaching accounting ethics more because it will decrease
corporate scandals, accounting ethics is not being taught enough in some universities, and it will
impel the students to want to do things the right way. The knowledge of why committing fraud
will reduce scandals from happening in businesses. A very few universities teach a sufficient
amount of accounting ethics to their students. Professors need to stress accounting ethics and the
consequences so it will impel the students to want to the most ethical thing in the accounting
profession. Accounting professors will never know if the teaching of ethics will impact the
student positively, but it does help. It is hard to try to get some students to think that stealing
money is wrong. Students also need to be taught about ethics not just in the classroom, but
outside the classroom.
Zweifel 5
References
Clockwork Accounting. (2011). Accounting fraud picture. Retrieved from
http://clockworkaccounting.com/accounting-ethics/
Kidwell, L., Fisher, D., Braun, R., & Swanson, D. (2012). Developing learning objectives for
accounting ethics using bloom's taxonomy. Accounting Education: An International
Journal, Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09639284.2012.698478
O'Leary, C. (2008). An empirical analysis of the positive impact of ethics teaching accounting
students. Accounting Education: An International Journal, Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09639280802532158
Uysal, O. (2009). Business ethics research with an accounting focus: A bibliometric analysis
from 1988 to 2007. Journal of Business Ethics, Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-009-0187-9
Wordpess. (2010). Enron debacle picture. Retrieved from
http://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/toxic-corporate-cultures-lessons-from-the-enrondebacle/