Abstract
This study aims to evaluate how accounting students perceive professional ethics considering variables linked to individual factors. In terms of methodology, this was a quantitative and exploratory study, and included a cross-sectional questionnaire. The sample represented 455 students at an IES in the southern region of Brazil. Data were analysed with non-parametric Spearman, Kruskal-Wallis and post hoc Dunn-Bonferroni tests. The results show non-religious, under 25-year-old female students working in the financial/accountant field, academically mature and who have studied ethics have individual factors towards more ethic significant attitudes. Furthermore, the professional law and ethics course in the accounting programme affected future professionals’ ethic conduct. Therefore, the individual factors analysed in this study, and the ethic education, significantly influence accounting students’ ethical attitudes. However, this assumption refers solely to this study analysis, because the literature review shows multiple results in other regions.
Palavras-chave:
Professional ethics; Accounting; Ethics; Education.
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Source: Elaborated by the authors. Key: * 8. Does the course Ethics and Professional Legislation contribute to your professional training?; 9. Analyze the following problem: Does the accountant, in a situation in which customers do not pay the fees, can retain the books and documents as security for payment ?; 10. Analyze the following problem: If the customer, a friend of the accounting professional, asked to change the company’s billing for the purpose of forwarding a loan to a financial institution, can this accounting professional increase the company’s sales by 50% to help the friend? ; 11. Is it necessary for the accounting professional to keep confidential all information related to the operational activities of a company?; 12. Analyze the following problem: Knowing that a colleague of profession is having unethical attitudes, would the right thing be to only alert him to the consequences of his / her actions ?; 13. Consider the following problem: Would the superior or employer be able to ask the accounting professional to commit acts contrary to the law, and if he / she did not, could he / she be fired ?; 14. Consider the following problem: Should professionals who commit infractions for their own or for others’ benefits be punished by the CRCRS / CFC (Regional Accounting Council of Rio Grande do Sul / Federal Accounting Council)?; 15. Does the content of the Professional Accounting Ethics Code provide sufficient, clear and accurate information regarding the ethical conduct of this professional? 16. Is the professional’s code of ethics important in ethical professional conduct? ** Correspond to the category “other” in the questionnaire, in which the respondent describes their ethnicity
Source: Elaborated by the authors
Source: Elaborated by the authors.