Does accounting education develop ethical maturity? Evidence from Indonesia

Irsyadillah Irsyadillah, Alhashmi Lasyoud

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence in relation
    to the ethical development of students studying accounting in Indonesia. To
    understand the development of these students’ ethical maturity, we examine their
    perspectives about the purpose of accounting and the objective of business. The
    paper reports on the results of four focus groups of accounting students who just
    completed an introductory financial accounting course. The Indonesian context is
    then used to frame the analysis of the focus groups. Insights from the focus groups
    reveal a strong notion that the perspectives of students studying accounting in
    Indonesia were solely influenced by ethical values of Anglo-American capitalism.
    The ethical values of prioritising shareholder interests over other stakeholders are
    generally accepted by these students as the nature of accounting and business. The
    finding suggests that accounting education does not only change the cultural values
    of students studying abroad in western countries as highlighted by previous studies,
    it also shapes the ethical values of accounting students educated at home. Thus, this
    paper concludes that accounting education in Indonesia does not develop students’
    ethical maturity because they were only inculcated with a single perspective.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)462-483
    Number of pages22
    JournalJournal of Accounting and Management Information Systems
    Volume17
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 30 Sept 2018

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