The failure of accountants to maintain ethical behaviour while performing professional services has become an issue that has been discussed over the years. Ethics education and the environment has been proven to assist to shape the ethical behaviour of accounting students. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine whether accounting ethics courses, teaching styles, and ethical culture influence the ethical behaviour of accounting graduates in Malaysia. E-survey questionnaires were distributed to accounting graduates who graduated in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with less than three years of working experience in accounting/auditing-related fields. A total of 344 usable responses were received and it was analysed using PLS-SEM. The study found that teaching delivery and culture, had a positive and significant relationship with ethical behavior but ethics courses were found to have a positive but not significant relationship with ethical behaviour. The accounting industry should foster a positive ethical culture at work by providing ethics training and holding seminars to address ethical issues in the field in order to raise awareness and understanding of ethics. Accounting professional bodies and educational institutions should use ethics cases, short videos and role play in their teaching of ethics.

The rising corporate scandals caused by unethical accountants have concerned various parties, especially the stakeholders. These scandals, whether in public or private sectors, will impact the economy and reputation of a country. Therefore, the role of ethical accountants in providing reliable information for decision-making is a very crucial and should be addressed seriously. Thus, the education sector is believed to be one of the ways to produce graduates with good technical skills, knowledge, and high morality to make the best judgement for society. The research is conducted to assess the influence of accounting ethics education (ethics courses and teaching styles) on the ethical behaviour of accounting graduates in Malaysia. This study uses questionnaire which distributed to accounting graduates from MIA-accredited universities. 70 usable responses were received and PLS-SEM is used to analyse the data. This study found that teaching styles used in teaching ethics courses have a positive and significant relationship on the ethical behaviour of accounting graduates in Malaysia. However, ethics courses offered in the accounting program at the university was found not be significant. thus, it is suggested that lecturers need to use various methods of teaching in delivering ethics courses to enhance the ethical behaviour of accounting graduates in Malaysia.

The capability of accountants/ or auditors to furnish false financial statements intentionally shows that they are well equipped with the technical skills and knowledge in accounting but lack ethical values. Thus, it is important that accountants uphold high values in guiding them to behave ethically. As accounting graduates are future accountants, thus the role of the educational institution in producing ethical accounting graduates is crucial to ensure that the graduates are imbued with high ethical values. The paper aims to examine whether ethics courses, teaching styles, and culture at the workplace would influence the values of accounting graduates in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to accounting graduates with less than three years of working experience in finance, accounting, auditing/ or related fields. A total of 344 usable responses were analysed using SmartPLS version 4.0. The research model explains 47.5%, and the study found a positive and significant relationship between the ethics courses taken in the university, teaching styles, and culture at the workplace with the values of accounting graduates. It is also proven that the culture at the workplace plays a crucial role in influencing the personal-professional values of accounting graduates. It is recommended that more ethics courses with various teaching styles should be offered in the accounting curriculum, thereby producing ethical accounting graduates. This will then result in producing accountants with good values who can offer a true and fair view of the financial statements, which will aid organisations to become more accountable and transparent in their business activities.

The rising cases of unethical scandal, especially in accounting, have been a hot topic for a long time. It calls for various professional organisations for a greater emphasis on ethics education. The topic of accounting ethics has been discussed in numerous articles and journals. In the business world, ethics deals with whether a decision made in specific business practice is acceptable or not. This paper examines the perception of ethical behaviour of accounting graduates, whether ethics can be taught, and the best approach to teaching ethics to accounting students. Interviews were conducted with two academicians and two practitioners and analysed using thematic analysis. The finding reveals that there is a slight improvement in the behaviour of accounting graduates. However, in the opinion of the participants of the study, ethical behaviour can be influenced by environmental factors. Participants of the study also believe that ethics education can be taught. However, they suggested that a standard course on ethics should be offered to all students. The participants believe that ethics could be embedded in accounting subjects according to their category. It is suggested that good ethics should be continuously nurtured as environmental factors do play a role in influencing one's good ethics; ethics can be taught, and that ethics should be taught through active learning approaches such as debate, discussion and sharing sessions, local case studies, videos, or inviting guest speakers from the industry.