Journal of Business Ethics Education

Volume 14, 2017

Ethics in the Accounting Curriculum
A Model for an Enhanced Accounting Ethics Course

Academic accrediting/standard-setting bodies and the accounting profession view the continued emergence of reputation-damaging ethical transgressions within the accounting profession as a failure of accounting education to effectively implement necessary reforms (AACSB 2004, IESBA 2014, PwC 2003). Although accounting educators have proposed various frameworks and instructional methods for improving ethics education, accounting still lags behind other professions in the moral development of aspiring professionals (Liu et al. 2012). The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for an enhanced ethics course developed for an accounting curriculum. The model course was designed to respond to identified deficiencies in accounting ethics education and improve the moral development of accounting students. The paper discusses course design, delivery methods, educational goals, topical coverage and assessment of learning. Assessment data indicated that accounting students’ levels of moral development improved to a level consistent with other professions upon successful completion of the course.