Accounting Ethics Courses: A Professional Necessity

Abstract

The fraudulent activities at Enron, WorldCom, and HealthSouth had devastating effects on the financial markets in general and individuals in particular. Many senior citizens, who were looking forward to their retirement years, have found their assets and dreams decimated by financial frauds. Many ask “where were the auditors and accountants who were supposedly protecting our interests?” When upper management “plays with the numbers’, the public often assumes that the accountants and auditors act as enablers, who are often willing and proactive participants in the process. Whether or not practicing accountants believe this is a fair assessment is irrelevant. The public’s perceived lack of ethics in the accounting profession is a severe and potentially fatal threat to the profession.