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

• In Event: Auditing 2

Abstract

Despite a focus on ethics, accounting professionals’ actions continue to play a central role in unethical business decisions. While many studies show that college ethics courses can help develop students’ ethical skills, few have explored how to effectively extend ethics education to professional accountants. While ethics requirements for accountants in the US are prominent and pervasive, (state boards that regulate CPAs, the IIA, and the IMA all require ethics training); ethics education 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 suggest that effective ethics education and training should focus on concepts including interpersonal relationships (evidenced in major religions as the Golden Rule) and integrity (evidenced by a consistent approach in all aspects of one’s life). Focusing on concepts, rather than on rules and regulations, should help CPAs better recognize and address ethical dilemmas.

Authors

• Eileen Z Taylor, North Carolina State University

• Alan Reinstein, Wayne State University

• Natalie T Churyk, Northern Illinois University