Balancing the books and values: the interplay of ethics in tertiary accounting education

Abstract

The study explored students’ perception regarding how ethical considerations are integrated into accounting curricula at the tertiary level in Ghana, guided by both the International Education Standards (IES) and the CIPP model. It questions the effectiveness of accounting education in adequately preparing students to face ethical challenges, with a specific focus on tertiary institutions in Ghana. Using a positivist paradigm and a cross-sectional survey methodology, the study targeted final-year undergraduate accounting students in public tertiary institutions. Multiple sampling techniques, including proportionate, stratified, and simple sampling, were utilized to select 307 students for the study. The collected data underwent analysis using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multiple linear regression). The study found a significant 70% alignment between the curricula of the sampled universities and the requirements of IES 4. Moreover, it revealed a limited use of participative teaching approaches in ethics within accounting lessons. Additionally, the findings revealed that students have a low perception of the effectiveness of accounting curricula in addressing their professional ethical needs. This perception was influenced by factors such as age, religiosity and, to a lesser extent, gender.

Keywords

• Accounting curricula
• ethics coverage
• International Education Standards (IES)
• professional values and ethics
• usage frequency of participative approaches
• I21