Running head: ETHICS IN ACCOUNTING 1 ETHICS IN ACCOUNTING 2 Ethics in Accounting Literature Review Bobek, D., Hageman, A., & Radtke, R. (2015). The Effects of Professional Role, Decision Context, and Gender on the Ethical Decision Making of Public Accounting Professionals. Behavioral Research In Accounting, 27(1), 55-78. doi: 10.2308/bria-51090 In this article, the applied study investigates the scale to which professional roles, decision perspectives, and gender affect ethical decision making of governmental accountants. Considering they are in the same profession as other financiers and accountants; the outcomes of the study can still be implemented in the paper. Nevertheless, the study consisted of over 130 public accountants and concluded that the accountants had a lower probability of conceding with clients in an antagonistic situation. Moreover, they were also less likely to recommend yielding when they were auditing as compared to calculating taxes. It was also identified that, in the context of auditing, public accountants were less likely to yield to clients. When the data was broken down to their basic gender-based analysis, women seemed to demonstrate better decision-making abilities. Overall, the study was designed to estimate the likelihood of public accountants compromising their ethics and conducting activities that can be deemed illegal. By understanding the dynamics that result in unethical behaviors, policies could be developed to curb the probability of unethical professional conduct taking place. When evaluating the ethical framework or the ethical training needs in the accounting department, managers should break down the entire process in terms of; the professional role of the accountants, the different contexts in which the accountant’s practice and type of gender involved in the accounting situations. Secondly, the management should consider whether the accountant is either an auditor or a tax professional, male or female and whether they operate in the audit or tax environment. Burcham, J. (2015, August 06). Business Ethics From the Top Down Can Prevent Fraud. Retrieved from http://www.fightingidentitycrimes.com/business-ethics-from-the-top-down-can-prevent-fraud/ This article will provide information on why some individuals turn to fraud. It will provide insight on how certain situations push other employees to fraudulent activities. This reference revolves around the idea of “Tone at the Top”. Burcham’s article suggests that fraud can be caused by the actions of the higher executives in a company. The way executives portray ethical behavior manifests how the rest of the employees behave. Understandably, most people would agree on the importance of a job and career. Individuals work hard to keep their position once they are hired in position, they feel is suitable. When the executives are doing unethical tasks, it ends up trickling down to the rest of the employees as they are afraid t.

1. Running head: ETHICS IN ACCOUNTING
1
ETHICS IN ACCOUNTING
2
Ethics in Accounting
Literature Review
Bobek, D., Hageman, A., & Radtke, R. (2015). The Effects of
Professional Role, Decision Context, and Gender on the Ethical
Decision Making of Public Accounting Professionals.
Behavioral Research In Accounting, 27(1), 55-78. doi:
10.2308/bria-51090
In this article, the applied study investigates the scale to
which professional roles, decision perspectives, and gender
affect ethical decision making of governmental accountants.
Considering they are in the same profession as other financiers
and accountants; the outcomes of the study can still be
implemented in the paper. Nevertheless, the study consisted of
over 130 public accountants and concluded that the accountants
had a lower probability of conceding with clients in an
antagonistic situation. Moreover, they were also less likely to
recommend yielding when they were auditing as compared to
calculating taxes. It was also identified that, in the context of
auditing, public accountants were less likely to yield to clients.
When the data was broken down to their basic gender-based
analysis, women seemed to demonstrate better decision-making

2. abilities. Overall, the study was designed to estimate the
likelihood of public accountants compromising their ethics and
conducting activities that can be deemed illegal. By
understanding the dynamics that result in unethical behaviors,
policies could be developed to curb the probability of unethical
professional conduct taking place.
When evaluating the ethical framework or the ethical training
needs in the accounting department, managers should break
down the entire process in terms of; the professional role of the
accountants, the different contexts in which the accountant’s
practice and type of gender involved in the accounting
situations. Secondly, the management should consider whether
the accountant is either an auditor or a tax professional, male or
female and whether they operate in the audit or tax
environment.
Burcham, J. (2015, August 06). Business Ethics From the Top
Down Can Prevent Fraud. Retrieved from
http://www.fightingidentitycrimes.com/business-ethics-from-
the-top-down-can-prevent-fraud/
This article will provide information on why some individuals
turn to fraud. It will provide insight on how certain situations
push other employees to fraudulent activities. This reference
revolves around the idea of “Tone at the Top”. Burcham’s
article suggests that fraud can be caused by the actions of the
higher executives in a company. The way executives portray
ethical behavior manifests how the rest of the employees
behave. Understandably, most people would agree on the
importance of a job and career. Individuals work hard to keep
their position once they are hired in position, they feel is
suitable. When the executives are doing unethical tasks, it ends
up trickling down to the rest of the employees as they are afraid
to do something about it, for fear of losing their jobs. Everyone
fears the thought of standing up to the CFO or even trying to
tell someone about what is happening. The article goes on to list

3. what steps should be taken in a workplace to create an ethical
environment.
Crutchley, C., Jensen, M., & Marshall, B. (2007). Climate for
Scandal: Corporate Environments that Contribute to Accounting
Fraud. The Financial Review, 42(1), 53-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-
6288.2007.00161.x
The authors of this article examined multiple factors in 97 firms
that were under investigation for corporate accounting scandals,
to determine the characteristics of the corporate environment
that is most likely to support accounting fraud. The firms
selected for this research had active investigations ongoing for
accounting scandals. The authors found that in most cases, the
corporate environment that supports fraud is characterized by
speedy growth where extreme earnings appear to be smoothing.
In addition, the firms are likely to have very few outsiders on
the audit committee while there is some degree of over-
commitment by outside directors.
The findings of this study suggest that firms that have a good
ethical rating on their accounting practices have a definable
corporate environment. This means that by monitoring the
environment, managers can predict the likelihood of whether
their accountants will engage in corporate fraud. These
characteristics can be used as indicators of fraud and could
therefore be useful in ensuring that accounting ethics are
observed.
Kirsch, L. C. (2018). Why Good People Do Bad Things: How
Fraud Can Happen to Any of Us. Benefits Magazine, 55(2), 24.
Retrieved from
http://proxy.devry.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/lo
gin.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid&db=f5h&AN
=127638556&site=eds-live
In this article, Leslie Kirsch does an excellent job of explaining

4. everything accountants and business leaders need to know about
fraud. This article includes statistics of fraud and it goes into
detail of why people commit fraud. The topic of fraud
prevention is covered as well. Leslie Kirsch makes you
understand that there is not one perfect way to prevent fraud.
On the other hand, it is crucial to prevent fraud and take the
proper steps in the direction of fraud prevention. Leslie
Kirsch’s article provides insight geared to answering how
ethical standards and other preventative measures reduce fraud.
Kirsch’s article will lead us to an answer or several resolutions
to the statement we have at hand.
Melé, D., Rosanas, J., & Fontrodona, J. (2016). Ethics in
Finance and Accounting: Editorial Introduction. Journal Of
Business Ethics, 140(4), 609-613. doi: 10.1007/s10551-016-
3328-y
The author of the article evaluates the recent financial
crisis the nation, as well as the globe experienced in 2007-2008
and states that it is vital for the relationship between finance
and accounting to be reflected upon as well as their ethics and
efficiencies. Moreover, in order to apply proper ethics and
efficiencies, they have to both motivate and empower
practitioners in the financial industry. As a result, the
practitioners will commit their activities to adhere to the law,
fairness, and enhancement of understanding and improvement of
personal veracity. The author of the article further introduces
works that can be used by various financial and accounting
companies to control and measure ethical behaviors and
misconduct in the financial sector and overall professional. This
is without excluding ethical investments and coverage. This
article performs an analysis on the essentials of ethics and
partisanship in the financial sector and demonstrates, through
examples, how those factors can affect the domestic fiscal
environment as well as external economies. Ethics is a necessity
when it comes to professional conduct, such as the handling of

5. monetary assets. By understanding how professional conduct
and other dependent systems relate, the article identifies the
importance of ethics in accounting and finance.
In order to enhance ethics in the contemporary accounting
environment, the technical aspects of accounting and finance
should be integrated into the actual business activity. This
implies that ethics should not only be limited to the accounting
rules but also extend to an interdependent system of values that
ought to be observed. The accounting and finance departments
must promote the ethical values that define the practice of
accounting to discourage fraud.
Metzger, L. (2011). The Keys to Integrity and a Sense of Well-
being for Accounting Professionals. CPA Journal, 81(3), 10–12.
Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu:5050/login.aspx?di
rect=true&db=bth&AN=65030829&site=ehost-live
In the article, Keys to Integrity and a Sense of Well-being
for Accounting Professionals, the author defines integrity and
discusses briefly the barriers and stumbling blocks that place an
accountant’s independence, objectivity and integrity in danger.
More importantly, the author defines integrity and observes that
a person who chooses to act with integrity, in situations which
demands a choice, will create a “sense” of well-being. This
sense of well-being is instrumental to an accountant’s
professional conduct and overall sense of satisfaction in oneself
and one’s profession. The key ingredient, of course, is integrity
and the key areas of professional wellness are: sense of agency,
sense of the appropriate, sense of wholeness, sense of positive
influence, sense of creativity, sense of purpose, sense of
character, sense of trust, sense of self and sense of happiness.
The intent of this reference is to examine how a deeper
understanding of personal and professional integrity will
influence and guide the accounting professional through critical

6. ethical decisions they may encounter. Furthermore, the author
reiterates that integrity is doing what it is right, even if it
results in “negative consequences” and acts of omission are just
as unethical as acts of commission. This is important when
discerning whether to investigate or report suspected fraud or
whether to willfully participate or ignore fraud. More
importantly, personal and professional integrity contributes to
the sustainability of the elite reputation the accounting
profession has strived to foster.
Shawver, T., & Miller, W. (2015). Moral Intensity Revisited:
Measuring the Benefit of Accounting Ethics Interventions.
Journal Of Business Ethics, 141(3), 587-603. doi:
10.1007/s10551-015-2711-4
The authors of this study were determined to understand
whether accounting students’ acuity of moral strength could be
improved with the aid of ethical interventions in one of their
advanced classes. This article plays a critical role in the overall
understanding of ethics in accounting as it determines if
students from school can perceive ethics and its importance.
Nonetheless, from the study, it was identified that ethical
decision-making is influenced heavily by the moral strength
problem. The controlled experiment measured the change in
perception of moral intensity utilizing pre and post-testing
instruments. The authors also appreciated the results of other
studies stating that they identified moral intensity determined
ethics, but the class experiment noted additional data.
Depending on the ethical content being presented to the
students, it affected their acuity of moral intensity. This
information is important as it could be utilized to create a trace
to the source of unethical conduct. In general, the study was set
to determine if unethical behaviors can be limited through
school education thereby having the overall effect of limited
unethical behaviors in the financial sector. The data from the
study provided the students with a learning opportunity to

7. understand how education can impact ethical professional
conduct.
The article suggests that an educational process that follows an
advanced accounting course can be used to enhance moral
intensity or ethical awareness. In contemporary organizations,
professional training can be modeled using such a course.
Accountants can be subjected to seminars and workshops where
the knowledge gained from the courses is used to solve
accounting case studies. This will improve decision making in
the context of accounting ethics.
Snyder, H. (2011). Client Confidentiality and Fraud. Fraud
Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.fraud-
magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294968847
“Client Confidentiality and Fraud” written by Herbert
Snyder is an article about confidentiality and the potential
conflict posed when fraud is detected. The article explored
whether the public interest take precedence over confidentiality
and looked at instances of other professions which require
confidentiality such as lawyers, and doctors. According to
AICPA Code of Ethics 1.700.001, Confidential Client
Information Rule prohibits the disclosure of any client
information without the expressed consent of the client
(Accountants, 2016). The exceptions which allow disclosure of
the client’s information are for peer review, summons, subpoena
and inquiry by AICPA or State Board of Accountancy.
During an audit engagement we should provide great care
to protect the client confidential information from being
exposed or easily accessed. According to Scott Hillson an audit
engagement is independent. The Auditor relationship with the
client to render an opinion on the financial statement is not
privileged. However, if fraud is discovered the client may want
to take steps to protect certain information from being divulge
during court proceeding. “A fraud examiner should consider
ways in which attorney-client privilege can be protected”
(Hillson, 2007).

8. · Not allowing attendance of a third person to a meeting.
· Not recording information which can destroy confidentiality.
· Limit copies of documents and mark do not duplicate
· Label documents – Privilege and Confidential
According to Snyder a conflict between following a professional
obligation to not divulge information or report the fraud when
discovered due to ethical values. Just as there is a conflict
between professional obligation and ethical values there is also
a delicate balance between client confidentiality and the
public’s trust. The balance should be on the side of the
public’s trust. The nature of accountant-client relationships and
the grievous harm when financial misconduct is allowed to
occurred makes it difficult to support the professional claim of
confidentiality in the face of fraud” (Snyder, 2011).
Stephens, W., Vance, C. A., & Pettegrew, L. S. (2012).
Embracing Ethics And Morality. CPA Journal, 82(1), 16–21.
Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu:5050/login.aspx?di
rect=true&db=bth&AN=73784983&site=ehost-live
In the article, Embracing Ethics and Morality; An Analytic
Essay for the Accounting Profession, the author looks beyond
the standards, principles and laws that were undoubtedly
disregarded in accounting scandals of yesterday; such as Enron,
WorldCom, AOL and Lehman Brothers and evaluates the failed
morality of the accounting profession and society as a whole.
In particular, it delves into the ethical behavior and ethical
readiness of the present and next generation of accounting
professionals. The author searches for reasons that explain why
moral values have declined and asserts the purpose of ethical
training should be about conduct and decision-making that seeks
the good of others and doing what is right because it is right.
He contrasts the decision for right behavior based on values and
virtue against morals that imposed by rules and behavior
modification based on fear of punishment of breaking said
rules. Accordingly, the article explores high-school students’

9. tendency toward cheating, lying, and stealing, which paints a
bleak picture for the future of accounting professionals. More
specifically, it suggests that students believe there are not
absolute standards for moral and ethics, and have a disregard
for personal responsibility and accountability. It further gives
negative outlook on the effects of ethical education and
standards, as “most ethicists agree that an individual’s value
system is fully developed by the time he reaches college and
that further education can do little to change that” (Stephens,
2012). As such, the author analyzes the six stages of moral
reasoning and explains that most people fail to reach the last
two stages. Thus, the article exposes the desperate need for a
professional class of accountants that will exhibit a higher level
of integrity and higher moral reasoning, that moves beyond
being ethical because it’s the rule, regulation or law. The intent
of this reference is to further our underlying theory that
integrity and the careful development of said virtue is the
cornerstone of ethical accounting. Honesty, trustworthiness and
decision to do what is right are the super powers to win the
battle against fraud.
Tormo-Carbó, G., Seguí-Mas, E., & Oltra, V. (2014).
Accounting Ethics in Unfriendly Environments: The
Educational Challenge. Journal of Business Ethics, 135(1), 161-
175. doi: 10.1007/s10551-014-2455-6
The authors engaged 551 students at a Spanish University to
investigate the significance of accounting ethics. They
investigated how the students viewed the goals of accounting
ethics education in unfriendly environments. They also
investigated the role of gender, previous business ethics courses
and age in determining the students’ views and perceptions
about ethics’ courses. The authors found that Students who had
undertook previous business ethics courses were more interested
in introducing accounting ethics to the curriculum.
Additionally, female students and older ones were found to be

10. more inclined towards ethical courses.
Based on the results of this study, organizations may desire to
screen for previous enrollment in ethics courses when
introducing advanced accounting course. Accountants with
previous experience should be identified as advocates for the
new course. Similarly, female and older accountants may be
preferred to lead teams that are involved in ethics related
training.
References
Accountants, A.I. (2016). AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
AICPA.
Bobek, D., Hageman, A., & Radtke, R. (2015). The Effects of
Professional Role, Decision Context, and Gender on the Ethical
Decision Making of Public Accounting Professionals.
Behavioral Research In Accounting, 27(1), 55-78. doi:
10.2308/bria-51090
Burcham, John. “Business Ethics From the Top Down Can
Prevent Fraud.” Fighting Identity Crimes Powered by EZShield,
6 Aug. 2015, www.fightingidentitycrimes.com/business-ethics-
from-the-top-down-can-prevent-fraud/.
Crutchley, C., Jensen, M., & Marshall, B. (2007). Climate for
Scandal: Corporate Environments that Contribute to Accounting
Fraud. The Financial Review, 42(1), 53-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-
6288.2007.00161.x
Hillson, Scott P., J.D. MBA, C. (2007). Protecting Priveldge in
Fraud Examination. ACFE. Retrieved 03 15, 2019, from
https://www.acfe.com/article.aspx?id=511
Kirsch, L. C. (2018). Why Good People Do Bad Things: How
Fraud Can Happen to Any of Us. Benefits Magazine, 55(2), 24.
Retrieved from
http://proxy.devry.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/lo
gin.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid&db=f5h&AN
=127638556&site=eds-live
Melé, D., Rosanas, J., & Fontrodona, J. (2016). Ethics in
Finance and Accounting: Editorial Introduction. Journal Of
Business Ethics, 140(4), 609-613. doi: 10.1007/s10551-016-

11. 3328-y
Metzger, L. (2011). The Keys to Integrity and a Sense of Well-
being for Accounting Professionals. CPA Journal, 81(3), 10–12.
Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu:5050/login.aspx?di
rect=true&db=bth&AN=65030829&site=ehost-live
Shawver, T., & Miller, W. (2015). Moral Intensity Revisited:
Measuring the Benefit of Accounting Ethics Interventions.
Journal Of Business Ethics, 141(3), 587-603. doi:
10.1007/s10551-015-2711-4
Snyder, H. (2011). Client Confidentiality and Fraud. Fraud
Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.fraud-
magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294968847
Stephens, W., Vance, C. A., & Pettegrew, L. S. (2012).
Embracing Ethics and Morality; An Analytic Essay for the
Accounting Profession. CPA Journal, 82(1), 16–21. Retrieved
from
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu:5050/login.aspx?di
rect=true&db=bth&AN=73784983&site=ehost-live
Tormo-Carbó, G., Seguí-Mas, E., & Oltra, V. (2014).
Accounting Ethics in Unfriendly Environments: The
Educational Challenge. Journal of Business Ethics, 135(1), 161-
175. doi: 10.1007/s10551-014-2455-6