Ethics and Accounting: An Emerging Profession

Due to innumerable instances of ethical lapses reported in the media recently, the accounting profession has come under close scrutiny. This study investigates if there are linkages between background characteristics and ethics among individuals who are on the verge of joining the accounting profession. An instrument is developed to measure ethical attitudes and administered to a sample population of college students majoring in accounting. Results show that i) ethics is inversely related to individual competitiveness, ii) personality types have no bearing on ethics, iii) ethics diminishes with age, and iv) women have higher ethics. The study also compares the ethics level of accounting majors with those in other business and non-business majors.


INTRODUCTION

Time has repeatedly proven that to err is human. Circumstances can sweep away even the best person's ethical principles. With the ever widening globalization and cut-throat competition, the pressure in the workplace is hi...