Applying Interpersonal Relationships and Integrity to Strengthen Accountants' Continuing Professional Ethics Education

• In Event: Breakfast with Research Roundtable Forum Session
  In Paper Session: Roundtable 5: Public Interest & Auditing

Abstract

Despite formal ethics education and ethics-related CPE requirements, professional accountants continue to play a central role in enabling corporations to make unethical business decisions and take unethical business actions. While many studies show that college ethics courses can help develop students’ ethical awareness, few studies have explored how to effectively extend ethics education to practicing professional accountants. While ethics requirements for licensure are common in the United States, ethics education programs often focus on memorizing rules and regulations, rather than on providing tools to improve the moral practice of the profession and to resolve ethical dilemmas. To improve accountants’ ethical awareness and behavior, CPE providers should discuss accounting for business transactions as a moral activity, emphasizing its effects on the community and human relationships. We suggest that effective ethics education and training should be based on the concepts of interpersonal relationships, as evidenced by major Western religions (e.g., the Golden Rule) and integrity, evidenced by a consistent positive approach in all aspects of one’s life. CPE providers can use such an approach to create ethics courses that resonate with professionals and build lifelong ethical awareness.

Authors

• Eileen Z Taylor, North Carolina State University

• Alan Reinstein, Wayne State University

• Natalie T Churyk, Northern Illinois University

• Paul F Williams, North Carolina State University