Accounting Ethics Education on Ethical Behaviour of Accounting Graduates in Malaysia

Abstract

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.