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Developing Ethical Sensitivity in Future Accounting Practitioners: The Case of a Dialogic Learning for Final-Year Undergraduates

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Abstract

For many years questions have been posed about the way ethics is taught in accounting education. The teaching of ethics is often criticized for emphasizing the legal dimension to the detriment of the moral one, among other reasons. This case study focuses on an accounting course intended to develop and stimulate students’ critical thinking on accounting and its role in daily life. The investigation is based on an empirical study that took place in the 2015–2016 academic year, when the first author undertook non-participant observation and examined the final term assignment (a short essay) of the great majority of the 120 students enrolled in this course. One of the course’s main features was to expose the students to critical thinking, through analyses and discussions of the roles of accounting and accountants in organizations and society—using research articles as a backdrop to stimulate analysis and discussion. Our investigation suggests that the course is able to sensitize students to professional ethics and responsibilities. Our argument, broadly supported by an empirical case analysis, is that a course centered on a dialogical approach and critical thinking on the role of accounting and accountants in society may impact the development of ethical sensitivity in future accounting practitioners.

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Notes

  1. Whereas Rest (1982) uses the term “moral sensitivity”, we prefer to talk about “ethical sensitivity”. As maintained by Weaver (2007), “ethics” is a much more widely used term today than “morality”. Also, there is no consensus that a theoretical or practical distinction should be made between the two concepts (Harper, 2009).

  2. Ellertson et al. (2016) present a critique of Rest’s approach. In their view, Rest’s model implies that universal moral standards can be established by examining a person’s feelings, motivations, and character traits. According to Ellertson et al. (2016), Rest’s model neglects the question of how universal standards are incorporated into the “self” to produce a moral personality. Their own ontological position, instead, is that the core manifestation of an individual’s moral personality is her/his sense of moral obligation, which they name the “call to the Other” (p. 154). As Ellertson et al. write (2016, p. 157), “it must be remembered that most times we do not experience a principle, a structure, or a system. Instead, we experience obligation at a deep level”. It seems to us that our emphasis on the notion of ethical sensitivity applies with both approaches. It is not so much how to evaluate and measure ethical sensitivity that is important to us, but rather how an individual’s experiences (related to a course) may be conducive (or not) to the development of ethical sensitivity.

  3. The list may vary, depending on the aspects of the profession the instructor wishes to cover during the term.

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Acknowledgements

We thank students who participated in this study as well as the instructor for making this study possible. We also thank Claire-France Picard and Henri Guénin for their constructive comments on drafts of this paper. We benefited from the comments made by participants at the 2020 doctoral accounting seminar held at Université Laval (Québec, Canada). The first author gratefully acknowledges the scholarship provided by the Foundation of Québec Chartered Professional Accountants.

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Correspondence to Janie Bérubé.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Overview of the 12 classes (including evaluation procedures).

Class #

Content

Course evaluation procedures

Individual work

Team work

1

Introduction and foundations of the course

Conceptual map—beginning of term

X

 

2

Economic perspective—theory

   

3

Economic perspective—illustration

Reading summaries

Oral presentation

 

X

X

4

Ethics perspective—theory

   

5

Ethics perspective—illustration

Reading summaries

Oral presentation

 

X

X

6

Organizational perspective—theory

   

7

Organizational perspective—illustration

Reading summaries

Oral presentation

 

X

X

  

Mid-term exam

X

 

8

Sociological perspective—theory

   

9

Sociological perspective—illustration

Reading summaries

Oral presentation

 

X

X

10

Critical perspective—theory

   

11

Critical perspective—illustration

Reading summaries

Oral presentation

 

X

X

12

Integration

   
  

Conceptual map—end of term

X

 
  

Short essay (1200 words)

X

 
  

Final exam

X

 

Additional information:

Team sizes: Two or three students.

Reading summary: Teams had to produce a reading summary for each article discussed in the illustration classes (15 summaries in total—see Appendix 2). Reading summaries had to be submitted before the illustration class in which the corresponding research article was discussed.

Oral presentation: One oral presentation per team during the semester. Each team presented one article covered in the illustration classes and moderated discussion on it (see Appendix 2).

Mid-term and final examinations: Individual reflection on situation-based questions that require students to incorporate the different perspectives addressed in the course.

Final term assignment (short essay): Individual reflection on changes in the student’s conceptual maps (produced at beginning and end of term) pertaining to their perception of the role of accounting and accountants in organizations and society.

Appendix 2

Research articles used in the accounting course in the 2015–2016 academic year.Footnote 3

Economic perspective

 Burgstahler D., & I. Dichev. (1997). Earnings management to avoid earning decreases and losses. Journal of Accounting & Economics, 24(1), 99–126

 Lie, E. (2005). On the timing of CEO stock option awards. Management Science, 51(5), 802–812

 Knechel, W. R., G. V. Krishnan, M. Pevzner, L. B. Shefchik, & U. K Velury. (2013). Audit quality: Insights from the academic literature. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32(1), 385–421

Ethical perspective

 Moore, D., L. Tanlu, & M. Bazerman. (2010). Conflict of interest and the intrusion of bias. Judgment and Decision-Making, 5(1), 37–53

 Doyle, E., J. Frecknall-Hughes, & B. Summers. (2013). An empirical analysis of the ethical reasoning of tax practitioners. Journal of Business Ethics, 114 (2), 325–339

 Jensen, M. C. (2003). Paying people to lie. The truth about the budgeting process. European Financial Management, 9(3), 379–406

Organizational perspective

 Batac, J., & D. Catasus. (2009). Interaction between control and organizational learning in the case of a municipality. Management Accounting Research, 20(2), 102–116

 Widener, S. K. (2004). An empirical investigation of the relation between the use of strategic human capital and the design of the management control system. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29(3), 377–399

 Henri, J.-F. (2006). Management control systems and strategy: A resource-based perspective. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31(6), 529–558

Sociological perspective

 Mäkelä, H., & S. Näsi. (2010). Social responsibilities of MNCs in downsizing operations. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 23(2), 149–174

 Samuel, S., M. W. Dirsmith, & B. McElroy. (2005). Monetized medicine: From the physical to the fiscal. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 30(3), 249–278

 Gabbioneta, C., R. Greenwood, P. Mazzola, & M. Minoja. (2013). The influence of the institutional context on corporate illegality. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 38(6–7), 484–504

Critical perspective

 Herrback, O. (2005). The art of compromise? The individual and organizational legitimacy of irregular auditing. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 18(3), 390–409

 Picard, C.-F., S. Durocher, & Y. Gendron. (2014). From meticulous professionals to superheroes of the business world: A historical portrait of a cultural change in the field of accountancy. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(1), 73–118

 Kornberger, M., C. Carter, & A. Ross-Smith. (2010). Changing gender domination in a Big Four accounting firm: Flexibility, performance and client service in practice. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(8), 775–791

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Bérubé, J., Gendron, Y. Developing Ethical Sensitivity in Future Accounting Practitioners: The Case of a Dialogic Learning for Final-Year Undergraduates. J Bus Ethics 183, 763–781 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04947-5

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