Research Design - Assignment Example

Problem Statement For this research paper, I am focusing on accounting ethics amongst different business institutions. The focus is on accounting ethics because I need the reader to figure out the current extent of the vice amongst accounting professions and the level of efforts made in order to offset the vice in accounting training institutions. Literature Review Onyebuchi (2011) notes that accounting professions in the modern business environment continue to face complex issues relating to intensive pressures on the need for developing more ethical behaviours, which is a result of the misfortunate events that happened in the last decade or so. He further posits that the pressure for accounting ethics continue to pile since the overall accounting profession is regarded as serving the public interest hence accountants need to comprehend that which is expected from them so that they can respond in a more effective and efficient manner in the near future. Zeff (2003) identifies a great number of scandals that had resulted to the need for current ethical morality amongst the public accounting professionals. He notes that the overall magnitude of the past high- profile business scandals is unprecedented in historical perspective. He identifies these scandals as; Enron ($74B shareholder loss); WorldCom ($11B accounting fraud); AIG ($1.7B in improper accounting methodology); Waste Management ($2B in fake earnings); as well as Satyam ($1B in accounting fraud-related activities). A most recent case given is that of Lehman Brothers, which was a result of improper accounting transactions in the period after the company had declared bankruptcy; management used Repo 105 to eliminate at least $40B of securities off its 2007 statement of financial position. Pava (2010) determines that there is a great need for teaching upcoming accountants on the need for ensuring to uphold integrity whenever conducting accounting-related activities in the future. At least 95% of the participants in his study research indicated that there was indeed a need to teach ethics in one way or another. These participants indicated that teaching ethics amongst young and upcoming accounting professionals was indeed proper because it would help re-establish the lost level of public trust especially in the period after a series of accounting scandals and, also because the inclusion of ethics in the curriculum would ensure that the accounting profession does not lose its capacity to self-regulate. Okpara and Koumbiadia(2008) establishes that the well-known accounting scandals in the past decade amongst the most notable accounting entities especially in the US as well as the recent allegations of unethical acts by auditing firms like Arthur Andersen have provoked the public and stakeholders mentality in the wrong way given the moral decline and unethical practices of public accountants. He further notes that the underlying result of the unethical conduct amongst the many public accounting professions has called for change in the way of accountability for improving the overall quality of in the entire accounting curriculum. It is argued that the onset of the current century will experience an enormous level of challenge to the continuance of accounting as a profession. The underlying challenge rests on the accounting profession’s need to strengthen overall public and stakeholder confidence in its ethics. Uyar and Gungormus (2013) concur that the aspect of accounting education has, for a long period, been determined to be technical in nature. In fact, with the recently witnessed emergence of corporate scandals there have been efforts made to understand the degree of ethical issues that have been included in accounting education. Despite the fact that there have been efforts by professional bodies, business organisations that focus on formulating codes of ethical behaviour to guide and support personnel in ethical decision-making, the codes fail to trigger moral and ethical decision behaviours amongst the professions. It is for this reason that Uyar and Gungormus (2013) calls for the formulation of accounting courses that will help enhance moral reasoning is deemed relevant in overall ethics training and knowledge. Kannaiah and Kumar(2009) notes that in the modern operational environment; accounting professions cannot only depend on technical accounting knowledge alone given that it is expected that they apply the education in a framework that promotes professional values, ethics and integrity. In fact, he further posits that the aspects related to ethics, values and principles are the only appropriate benchmark of the entire accounting profession since they help establish that is which is considered right or wrong, proper and improper, on a global perspective. From the analysis above, the literature review seems to provide a clear synopsis of the recent and past events that helped shaped the need for accounting ethics in the modern operational environment. Despite the fact that the literature proposes the importance of equipping accountants with professional values and ethics, still, there exists insufficient information on how this can be done. Concepts/Theory The entire research paper will focus on normative ethical theories of utilitarianism, which ascertains that an ethical alternative should be the one that focuses on maximising the good consequences over any negative ones. It is established on happiness principles; theory of rights, which is based on the respect of human beings hence a good decision is one that respects rights of others; theory of justice, which is based on ascertaining how one’s decisions would be either benefit or burden individual or groups (Sigalit, 2000). The proposed research will ascertain how accounting professions opt to utilise these theories while still ensuring to maintain professional values and ethics. Research Methodology This proposed research paper will adopt a descriptive qualitative research model. It will use information from different secondary academic literatures to gather gain an understanding of the reasons and thoughts of accounting ethics as perceived by different accounting bodies. It will also adopt primary data whereby a focus group of 10 participants will be interviewed using a close-ended set of questions in order to gather their opinions and motivations towards professional values. The participation will fairly focus both male and female students in the final years as accounting students. Focus groups will be used because it is easier to supervise in the course of conducting the study and also provides different sets of perceptions. References Kannaiah, D & Kumar, N, S. (2009). An Urgent need for Ethics Education for Accountants, Issues in Social & Environmental Accounting, 3(1), 88-94 Koumbiadis, N & Okpara, J, O. (2008). Ethics and Accounting Profession: An Exploratory Study of Accounting Students in Post Secondary Institutions, International Review of Business Research Papers, 4 (5), 147-156. Onyebuchi, V, N. (2011). Ethics in Accounting, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(10), 275-276. Pava, M, L. (2010). Teaching Accounting Ethics: A thought Experiment. Working Paper-Sy Syms School of Business Yeshiva University, NYC, NY. 1-23. Sigalit P. (2000). The role of ethical theories in ethical reasoning and behavior within organizations - Research proposal, The Faculty of Management -Tel Aviv University Uyar, A & Gungormus, A, H. (2013). Accounting Professionals’ Perceptions of Ethics Education: Evidence from Turkey, Accounting and Management Information Systems, 12(1), 61-75. Zeff, S, A. (2003), “How the US accounting profession got where it is today: Part II,” Accounting Horizons, 17(4), 267 Read More