Advances in Accounting Education

Teaching and Curriculum Innovations

Timothy J. Rupert, Beth B. Kern, Timothy J. Rupert, Beth B. Kern

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781787143074
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Accounting
• Index: Business

All articles in this book explain how teaching methods or curricula/programs can be improved. Non-empirical papers are academically rigorous, and specifically discuss the institutional context of a course or program, as well as any relevant tradeoffs or policy issues. Empirical reports exhibit sound research design and execution, and develop a thorough motivation and literature review, including references from outside the accounting field, where appropriate. Volume 20 includes papers that examine topics: assisting students with career selection via personality assessments to enhance students' comprehension of the accounting cycle, incorporating exercises in an auditing course to help students better understand analytical procedures and developing journal lists to assist with departmental decisions. This also includes a special section that examines efforts to integrate accounting with other core business disciplines in the curriculum. This section includes two papers from instructors who have developed theme-based accounting ethics courses. In these cases the instructor focuses the course on developing wisdom in accounting decisions and development with a leadership focus.

SPECIAL SECTION ON
ACCOUNTING ETHICS COURSES

DESIGNING A THEME-BASED ETHICS COURSE IN ACCOUNTING

Cynthia Blanthorne

ABSTRACT

Accounting educators and practitioners believe that ethics instruction should be incorporated into the accounting curriculum. Methods of incorporation include integrating ethics into existing accounting courses or offering a stand-alone ethics course. There are, however, obstacles to meaningful implementation. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how the two featured chapters in this special section provide examples of two intriguing accounting ethics courses. This chapter outlines the “who” (i.e., who should teach ethics), “what,” and “how” of teaching ethics gleaned from prior literature to lay the foundation for the current chapters and future research. Ultimately, the chapter summarizes “best practice” articles about designing a theme-based ethics course in accounting. Each course: (1) is taught by accounting faculty (i.e., who); (2) includes topics and material likely to resonate with students (i.e., what); (3) is a unique stand-alone course structured in a meaningful manner (i.e., how). Faculty and administrators should find this chapter helpful as it provides materials and guidance that speak directly to the obstacles of ethics course implementation.

Keywords: Ethics in accounting; accounting education; accounting curriculum

Accounting educators and practitioners are in agreement that ethical instruction is important and that there should be an increased emphasis on ethics in accounting curricula (Abdolmohammadi & Reinstein, 2012; Blanthorne, Kovar, & Fisher, 2007; Rezaee, Szendi, Elmore, & Zhang, 2012). The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy requires a three-hour course in accounting or business ethics, or the integration equivalent (NASBA, 2008). In terms of state-regulated professional licensure, increased emphasis is evidenced by the expansion of state requirements for a mandatory: (1) ethics component of the state CPA exam; (2) ethics course for initial CPA licensure; and/or (3) ethics CPE for license renewal.

Following the NASBA requirements, models of how to incorporate ethics in accounting curricula include integration and/or offering a stand-alone ethics course.¹ The primary impediments to ethics instruction are limited materials, faculty time, knowledge and ability to incorporate ethics as well as curricular space limitations. This special section of AIAE includes two very different and intriguing models of successful ethics accounting course implementation that speak directly to these impediments. Each provides materials and guidance to improve faculty knowledge and ability to facilitate implementation of a meaningful ethics accounting course.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF PRIOR DISCUSSION

This introduction to Advances in Accounting Education’s special section – Designing a Theme-Based Ethics Course in Accounting – is organized in a journalistic manner. That is, by answering the “who, what, why, and how” questions about ethics instruction (e.g., who should teach ethics) to ultimately describe how the papers in the special section contribute to the topic.

To motivate any discussion on ethical training in the accounting curriculum the most basic question is:

Should Accounting Students Receive Ethics Training?

The answer is a resounding yes! Virtually all prior ethics education literature either specifically states or is premised upon the belief that ethics is of value and should be incorporated into the accounting student experience. Ninety-five percent of faculty surveyed by Blanthorne et al. (2007) thought that accounting students should receive ethical training. In addition, faculty and practitioners agree that ethical development is crucial to the profession and that trust, in the profession, needs to be reestablished due to public scandals (Blanthorne et al., 2007; Rezaee et al., 2012).

Why Aren’t We Doing It (More)?

The sentiment from accounting faculty and practitioners is that there should be an increased emphasis on ethics in the accounting curriculum. In terms of impediments, however, faculty report a lack of time and extant teaching materials. In addition, faculty are hesitant to teach ethics due to perceived limited ability or knowledge about how and what to teach. Finally, there is the pragmatic issue of the lack of space in the curriculum (Blanthorne et al., 2007; Massey & Van Hise, 2009).

Who Should Teach Ethics?

Faculty believe that the instruction of ethics content to accounting students should be provided by accounting faculty, either individually or in teams with nonaccounting faculty (Blanthorne et al., 2007).

What Should Be Taught?

Content and skills required for success on the uniform CPA Examination focus on professional guidance in the areas of Audit and Regulation, such as the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (AICPA, 2013, 2016). Similarly, professional CPE requirements focus on the technical application of code(s) rather than on the professional development of accountants. Accounting faculty and practitioners, however, envision a focus on more robust topics with the potential to resonate with students (Abdolmohammadi & Reinstein, 2012; Blanthorne et al., 2007). Examples of these types of topics include ethical issues faced by the profession and contemplation and understanding of professional and moral obligations.

How Should Ethics Be Taught?

While interested parties continue to debate whether ethics should be taught in a stand-alone ethics course or integrated throughout the curriculum, both approaches have unique merits. Interestingly, practitioners more strongly believe that a stand-alone course is warranted as compared to academicians (Rezaee et al., 2012). Faculty preference for integration is likely tied to the impediments noted earlier. As stated by Armstrong (1993), framing the debate as an either/or proposition creates an unnecessary false dichotomy. Meaningful ethics tutelage is the common goal. Therefore, with an acknowledgment that integrating ethics throughout the curriculum is an acceptable approach, this special section of AIAE concentrates on designing an ethics accounting course.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIAL SECTION CHAPTERS

The two chapters featured in this special section communicate “best practices” based on lengthy (i.e., years of) course development. The chapters provide two very different and intriguing examples of creative ways for accounting faculty to teach an ethics course. Consistent with the “what should be taught” opinion of faculty and practitioners, each chapter describes a thought-provoking ethics course likely to resonate with students.

In the first chapter, Kelly (2017) presents ethics training in a leadership context, thereby intertwining leadership and ethics in a complimentary manner. He provides a detailed description of the course specifics (readings, assignments, etc.) which includes the integration of ethics and leadership on a week-by-week basis. Notably, accounting ethics courses, with detailed course guidance, are also described in the fairly recent prior literature by Massey and Van Hise (2009) and Langmead and Sedaghat (2007).

In a vastly different approach, the focus of the second chapter is described as a course on “how to live life” (Shaub, 2017). Fundamental to this course is a systematic reasoning process to emphasize long-term thinking, accountability, and the impact of ethics-related decisions on others. The goal is develop students’ wisdom so that young accounting professionals are less susceptible to fallacies of thinking that can undermine careers and personal lives. Prior literature by Mintz (2006) outlines a course that is similar in that it applies to student thought processes. Students apply reflective thinking, based on virtue theory, to evaluate conflicts faced by professionals.

These ethics course chapters address various impediments identified in the discussion of ethics education in accounting. Each manuscript provides teaching materials and guidance to improve knowledge and ability for successful course implementation. The work and, perhaps more importantly to colleagues, the sharing of their materials and experiences should facilitate efficient implementation by peers. While not specifically addressed in the chapters of this special section, limited curricula space is addressed by Massey and Van Hise (2009).

The mention of ethics courses from prior literature is not meant to minimize the contributions by Kelly (2017) and Shaub (2017). While the chapters may be related in limited ways, they are vastly different in most respects. Accounting ethics education lacks any agreed-upon topics or course material. Quite the contrary, there is tremendous discussion and debate about what should be taught. Therefore, each ethics course described in the special section, as well as the others noted, provides a unique contribution to the literature.

The continued dissemination of meaningful ethical course design or incorporation of ethics instruction in the accounting curriculum is valuable, enhancing our knowledge and ability to teach ethics. Because each course is unique, the opportunity for future research is vast as is the potential for results that are impactful.

NOTE

1. In this discussion, the term “ethics course” refers to the myriad of different types of courses of ethical training and instruction (e.g., professional conduct, social responsibility).

REFERENCES

Abdolmohammadi, M. J., & Reinstein, A. (2012). Practicing accountants’ views of the content of accounting ethics courses and course effects on attitudes and behavior. Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, 13, 213–236.

AICPA. (2013). Content and skill specifications for the uniform CPA examination. New York, NY: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc.

AICPA. (2016). Uniform CPA examination blueprints. New York, NY: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc.

Armstrong, M. B. (1993). Ethics and professionalism in accounting education: A sample course. Journal of Accounting Education, 11, 77–92.

Blanthorne, C., Kovar, S. E., & Fisher, D. G. (2007). Accounting educators’ opinions about ethics in the curriculum: An extensive view. Issues in Accounting Education, 22(3), 355–390.

Kelly, P. T. (2017). Integrating leadership topics into an accounting ethics course – Preparing students for a challenging profession. In T. J. Rupert & B. B. Kern (Eds.), Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations (Vol. 20, pp. 141–180). Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Langmead, J. M., & Sedaghat, A. M. (2007). Integrating professionalism in th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• An Empirical Investigation of Student Career Interests in Auditing Using the BIG FIVE Model of Personality
• The Efficacy of Using Monopoly to Improve Undergraduate Students’ Understanding of the Accounting Cycle
• Analytical Procedures: An In-Class Exercise
• Journal Lists and Steps to Develop Them
• Special Section on Accounting Ethics Courses
• Index