Ethics and Accounting Education in Nigeria: A Study of Selected Universities
Keywords:
Ethics, Accounting, Education, ScandalsAbstract
Despite the accounting standards and ethical codes guiding the accounting profession, morality and ethics has gone down the drain based on the occurrence of scandals in Enron, World Com, Nigerian Cadbury and similar scandals that have surfaced. In line with this, this study looked into the opinions of accounting lecturers in four Nigerian universities on whether the teaching of ethics among student accountants can facilitate in instilling ethical behaviour in future accountants. These opinions were later tested using the Chi- Square method of data analysis. Based on the analysis, for which all the calculated values are above the critical value, the alternate hypotheses which states that ethics should be taught as a separate course from principle of auditing and that teaching accounting ethics will help instil the culture of ethics in the student accountants were accepted. From the findings, the paper concludes that if ethics is taught well as an independent course in the accounting curriculum and not as part of auditing, the future accountant is bound to have instilled in him/ her, the required ethical culture.
References
Bean, D., and Bernardi, R. (December, 2005). Accounting Ethics Courses: A rofessional Necessity. (December 2005). The CPA Journal. Retrieved from http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/1205/essentia ls/p64.htm
Blanthorne, C., Kover, S. and Fisher, D. (2007). “Accounting Educators’ Opinions about Ethics in
Curriculum: An Extensive View”. Issues in
Accounting Education, Vol. 22, No.3 Pp. 355- 390
Brands, K (2010). A Framework for Teaching Ethics and Values in Accounting Courses. Retrieved from http://www.cjbe.org/resources on 6th of July 2010
David, E (1998), Ethics: The Classic Readings.
Blackwell Publishing, Australia. 1st edition
David, M (2002), Profession, Code and Ethics. Ashgate Publishing Company, England. 1st Edition.
Dellaportas, S. (2006), Making a Difference with a Discrete Course on Accounting Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 65(4),
Encarta (2007), Ethics in Discourse, World Dictionary, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Finn, D., Munter, P. and McCaslin. T (1994): Ethical perceptions of CPAs. Managerial Auditing Journal, MCB University Press, Vol. 9, No 1, pp 22-28.
Helps, Lynda. (2002, Should We Teach Ethics in Accounting Education? Management Accounting,
June, Vol. 72 No pp 46- 54
Jackling, B., Cooper, Leung, P., Dellaportas, S (2007), Professional Accounting Bodies’ Perceptions of Ethical Issues, Causes of Ethical Failures and Ethics
Education. Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 22. No 9 pp 56- 63
Jennings, M. (2004). Incorporating Ethics and Professionalism into Accounting Education and Research: A Discussion of the Voids and Advocacy for Training in Seminal Works in Business Ethics. Issues in Accounting Education, Vol. 19, No.1, Pp 7-26.
Lindstorm, D (2006), Enron Scandal. Microsoft student 2007 (DVD)
Lucey, T (1983), Management Accounting. DP
Publications, Hampshire. 1st edition
Robert, T.M (1990), Ethics and Professionalism: The CPA Industry. Retrieved from www.cpajournalonline.com on February 4, 2008.
Shawver, T.M. (1990), An Exploratory Study Assessing the Effectiveness of a Professional
Responsibility Course. Global Perspectives on Accounting Education. Vol. 3, No. 6 pp 49- 66.
Smith, T.K., & Smith, ML. (2003), Business and Accounting Ethics, retrieved from www.cpajournalonline.com on February 1 2008.
Verschoor, Curtis C. (2002), Accounting involves Ethics, not just Technical issues. Strategic Finance, Sept, Vol. 84 pp13 -28
Warth, Robert J. (2000), Ethics in the Accounting
Profession: A Study. Retrieved from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5346/is_200010
/ai_n21463248/
West, B.W (2003), Professionalism and Accounting Rules, Routledge, U.S.A, 1st edition.
