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

• In Event: Public Interest & Social Responsibility

Abstract

Accounting professionals have long played a crucial role in unethical business decisions, which
have often led to business failures. While many studies show that college ethics courses can help
develop students’ ethical skills, few have explored how to extend ethics education to professional
accountants. Despite the prominence and pervasiveness of ethics requirements for accountants in
the US (state boards who regulate CPAs, the IIA, and the IMA all require ethics training); ethics
programs often focus on rules and regulations, rather than on processes for solving ethical
dilemmas. To improve accountants’ ethical awareness and behavior, those who train and educate
them should discuss business as a moral activity, emphasizing the consideration of its effects on
community and human relationships. We propose that ethics CPE should include two concepts
common to three major Western religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism): interpersonal
relationships and integrity.

Author

• Alan Reinstein, Wayne State University