Professional Accounting Case Study

The role of ethics to professional alumni/postgraduate students in the workplace from the Centre of Accounting: University of the Free State case study

Background

The field of accounting as a profession has over the past decade come under scrutiny in terms of its standards of ethics and professionalism. The morality of businessman and their confidence in the accounting profession has become questionable due to the reported decline of public confidence in financial reporting. On the contrary, the accounting profession is a growing field of interest in higher education as it draws on various interests largely because it is considered the language and basic tool of business.

The ethical conduct in the accounting profession has become a topical issue. Based on this context it has led to the growth and confidence margins in the profession in its entirety. The profession has the responsibility to ensure that financial statement appliance present information that is relevant, reliable and useful to the benefit of the client. Although qualification in the profession is regulated by professional bodies, it is essential to understand the outlined principles in the code of ethics for professional accountants.

Bailey (1995), suggests that professional ethics and values are the products of the “golden age” of professionalism and the key ethical standards in the profession have not been successfully translated in higher education and the accountancy world of world.

The economic dictionary defines ethics holistically and its importance to professionals as it provides the grounding principles and values which allow orienting professional practice in variance of the specific context.

Problem statement

Rodger Smith, former Chairmen of GM motors ...

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... sample students

Week 5 Collection and sorting of data

Week 6 Data analysis

Ethical considerations

Data collected will be entirely confidential, both during data collection phase and presentation. Participants will beforehand complete a consent form detailing the purpose of the study and will be completed on a voluntary basis. The results and personal information of the student will be used entirely for research and research alone.

Demarcation of field study

Data will be collected from alumni and postgraduate students to understand their experience and also from the staff to understand their teaching experience around ethical dilemmas. The student will take place at the University of the Free State for students previously registered in the Centre for Accounting. The data collected will be via and Evasys survey prepared as a hardcopy as well as an electronic copy.