Abstract
This paper advocates inclusion of a wider set of ethical theories into the accounting canon. We find that the mainstream accounting curriculum does not adequately engage with non-Western ethical theories or contemporary Western ethical thought, as evidenced by the ethics content of core accounting texts and the International Federation of Accountants’ ethics publications. We suggest adopting a ‘thematic’ approach to teaching ethics as an integrated part of accounting curricula. This approach addresses two competing principles implicit in International Education Standard 4: (i) that all accountants need to be educated to meet global ethical standards, and (ii) that teaching ethics should accommodate ethical traditions and practices that could vary between nations and cultures. The thematic approach we propose requires less additional space within existing accounting curricula and less additional preparation by accounting educators than the alternative approach of teaching substantive ethical theories from a sufficiently diverse range of cultures and traditions. The paper also provides exemplars of this thematic approach to teaching ethics in accounting.
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Notes
The member bodies in Australia are CPA Australia, Institute of Public Accountants and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
A broadly comparable project, the convergence of national accounting standards with International Financial Reporting Standards, has been beset with a similar challenge. One of the rationales for the push for convergence of accounting standards is the contention that measurement and reporting problems faced by accountants are the same throughout the world (Aitken and Islam 1984). A counter argument is to acknowledge that ‘differences in tradition, history, religion and culture between countries and the effects of these differences in opinions, rules and business accountability are not sensibly reflected in harmonised international accounting standards’ (Rodrigues and Craig 2007).
For a list of texts reviewed, see Appendix 1.
While there is a growing selection of accounting-specific ethics textbooks (e.g. Cheffers and Pakaluk 2007; Dellaportas et al. 2005; Brooks and Dunn 2010), it is notable that no ethics-specific texts feature amongst the best-selling titles, which suggests that instructors and students are not using these ethics-specific texts in large numbers across their accounting programs. This finding is also supported by IFAC’s (2006a, pp. 51–52) own review of the (small) number of ethics courses available to accounting students.
While independence in audit is a legal requirement, material on independence was also included as ethics content on the grounds that independence is also clearly stated as a moral obligation in Australian and International accounting codes.
Note that this is also a generous measure: the pages that contained ethics-related content needed not consist of an entire page of ethics content—many pages consisted of ethics text-boxes or a single ethics example.
In some cases the minimal ethics content of introductory accounting texts may be supplemented by a stand-alone accounting ethics unit, as indeed recommended by IFAC’s preferred ‘sandwich’ model of ethics education (IFAC 2006a, pp. 72, 100). However, as noted above, evidence suggests that this is the exception rather than the rule, so that most students’ introduction to accounting will fall well short of cultivating the commitment to ethical accounting that IES4 requires.
Providing teaching resources for tutors is a particular important and under-discussed aspect of accounting ethics education, since tutors have a critical role in teaching subjects like ethics which are heavily discursive. However, in Australia at least, many tutors are not full-time staff, and so are unlikely to have the time or resources to devote to learning ethical frameworks from other sources. Hence, it is especially important that tutors are presented with clear and easily applicable guidance on how ethics questions and cases can best be discussed in the classroom.
Broadly speaking, moral relativism is the view that there are no universal ethical standards. For a succinct discussion of the different types of relativism, see for instance Wong (1993).
This leaves to one side the question of whether this framework is desirable, especially given the link of the IFAC model to Kohlberg’s problematic model of ethical development via Rest’s (1979) framework of ethical behaviour.
Indeed, consistent with this finding, the authors of IFAC’s ethic resources explicitly acknowledge that the IFAC ethics toolkit may not be relevant to all cultures (Cooper et al. 2008, p. 416).
One problem with this consensus is that the main test of students’ ethical development—James Rest’s Defining Issue Test—is an application of Kohlberg’s model of ethical development, and so susceptible to particular Western biases as noted above.
A recent OECD report notes that 3.9 million students studied internationally in 2009, significantly higher than the figure of 800,000 in 1975 (OECD 2011).
The ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ terminology is loosely borrowed from sociological debates using these terms; see for instance (Merton 1972).
Note that there have already been some documented attempts to incorporate non-Western ethical theories into ethics courses, both theoretically (Chan 2008; Nuyen 1999; Ruhe and Lee 2008) and practically (Leung and Cooper 1994; Waldmann 2000). The point of this paper is to consider how such efforts might be realistically expanded.
In this passage Kant discusses the case of a murderer asking for one’s friend, but the same principle would apply to a parent.
i.e. An appropriate sense of duty or respect towards one’s parents.
This is not to say that Confucian ethics does not also entail ethical obligations to the community as a whole, although Wang (1999, p. 421) argues that interpersonal relationships of care and love are more primary.
For discussion of differences between Confucian and Kantian approaches to ethics see Chan (2008), especially pp. 352–353.
For a more general and comprehensive critique of decision-making models, see Boyce (2008).
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Appendix 1: List of Accounting Ethics Texts Reviewed
Appendix 1: List of Accounting Ethics Texts Reviewed
Introductory Accounting Texts
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1.
Atrill, P., McLaney, E., Harvey, D., Jenner, M.: 2009, Accounting: An Introduction, 4th edition (Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest).
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2.
Carlon, S., Mladenovic, R. Loftus, J., Palm, C., Kieso, Weygandt, J.: 2009, Accounting: Building Business Skills, 3rd edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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3.
Considine, B., Parkes, A., Oleson, K., Speer, D., Lee, M.: 2010, Accounting Information Systems: Understanding Business Processes, 3rd edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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4.
Hoggett, J., Edwards, L. Medlin, J., Tilling, M.: 2009, Accounting, 7th edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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5.
Horngren, C., Harrison, W., Best, P., Fraser, D., Willet, R.: 2009, Accounting, 6th edition (Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest).
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6.
Jackling, Raar, Wines, McDowall: 2011, Accounting: A Framework for Decision Making, 3rd edition (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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7.
Jenner, M., Silvester, M.: 2009, Workbook to Accompany Accounting: An Introduction (Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest).
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8.
Leo, K., Hoggett, J., Sweeting, J. Radford, J.: 2009, Company Accounting, 8th edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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9.
Marshall, D., McCartney, J., van Rhyn, D., McManus, W., Viele, D.: 2010, Accounting: What the Numbers Mean, 2nd edition (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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10.
Potter, B., Libby, R. Libby, P., Short, D.: 2009, Accounting in Context (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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11.
Weygandt, J., Chalmers, K., Mitrione, L., Yuen, S., Fyfe, M., Kieso, P., Kimmel, P.: 2010, Principles of Accounting, 2nd edition, (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
Financial Accounting Texts
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1.
Carlon, S., Mladenovic, R., Palm, C., Kimmel, P., Kieso, J., Weygandt, J.: 2009, Financial Accounting: Building Accounting Knowledge (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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2.
Deegan, C.: 2009, Australian Financial Accounting (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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3.
Deegan, C.: 2009, Financial Accounting Theory (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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4.
Hoggett, J. Edwards, L., Medlin, J., Tilling, M.: 2009, Financial Accounting, 7th edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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5.
Weygandt, J., Chalmers, K., Mitrione, L., Yuen, S., Fyfe, M., Kieso, P., Kimmel, P.: 2010, Principles of Financial Accounting, 2nd edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
Management Accounting Texts
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1.
Birt, J., Chalmers, K., Byrne, S., Brooks, A., Oliver, J.: 2010, Accounting: Business Reporting for Decision Making, 3rd edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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2.
Garrison, R., Noreen, E., Brewer, P.: 2010, Managerial Accounting, 13th edition (McGraw-Hill, New York).
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3.
Glynn, J., Murphy, M., Abraham, A., Wilkinson, B.: 2008, Accounting For Managers, 4th edition (Cengage Learning, Hampshire).
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4.
Hilton, R.: 2011, Managerial Accounting: Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment, 9th edition (McGraw-Hill, New York).
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5.
Horngren, C., Datar, S., Foster, G., Rajan, M., Ittner, C., Wynder, M., Macguire, W., Tan, R.: 2011, Cost Accounting—A Managerial Emphasis (Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest).
Audit and Assurance Texts
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1.
Arens, A., Best, P., Shailer, G., Fielder, B., Elder, R., Beasly, M.: 2010, Auditing, Assurance and Ethics in Australia: An Integrated Approach, 8th edition (Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest).
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2.
Cameron, R.: 2009, Modern Auditing and Assurance Services Study Guide, 4th edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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3.
Gay, G., Simnett, R.: 2010, Auditing and Assurance Services in Australia (McGraw-Hill, North Ryde).
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4.
Jubb, C., Topple, S., Schelluch, P., Rittenberg, L., Schwieger, B.: 2004, Assurance and Auditing—Concepts for a Changing Environment, 2nd edition (Cengage Learning, Melbourne).
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5.
Leung, P., Coram, P., Cooper, B., Richardson, P.: 2009, Modern Auditing and Assurance Services, 4th edition (John Wiley & Sons, Milton).
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Tweedie, D., Dyball, M.C., Hazelton, J. et al. Teaching Global Ethical Standards: A Case and Strategy for Broadening the Accounting Ethics Curriculum. J Bus Ethics 115, 1–15 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1364-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1364-9