Ethics! teaching ethics to accounting students

Abstract

Adhering to the highest standards of ethical behaviour is becoming increasingly more important in today’s business world. Hardly a day goes by without a newspaper report of unethical behaviour by someone somewhere. Many are questioning the ethical standards of business people the world over. Accounting academics are charged with the responsibility of educating accountants and managers of the future. To be not only good at technical accounting skills, but to be good corporate citizens is paramount to our responsibility. This paper describes how teaching ethics in a financial accounting course was examined and changes made to hopefully have a greater impact on students. Traditional lectures were replaced by activities and constant exposure to real-life ethical situations that graduate accountants could find themselves faced with. Students were surveyed at the completion of the course and the results indicate that this method of instruction had a positive effect on changing students’ attitudes about ethical behaviour.