The influence of personal attributes and organizational ethics position on accountants' judgments: Malaysian scenario
Purpose – The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of personal attributes, organizational ethics position and other factors which are rules conformance, active participation in profession activities, ethics instructions received and understanding of the professional code of conduct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2013
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/30463/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/30463/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/30463/1/ethics_published.pdf |
| Summary: | Purpose – The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of personal attributes, organizational
ethics position and other factors which are rules conformance, active participation in profession
activities, ethics instructions received and understanding of the professional code of conduct on the
Malaysian accountants’ judgment on questionable ethical scenarios.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire is carried out to elicit opinions of Malaysian
accountants on factors influencing ethical judgments.
Findings – Adopting 15 vignettes used in Emerson et al. to assess ethical judgments, the main findings
revealed from the analysis are that older accountants, accountants attached to corporations with higher
ethics scale and accountants who understand the professional code of conduct are expected to be
stricter in judging questionable ethical situations.
Practical implications – The findings imply that perhaps one way to promote and preserve ethical
organizational decisions is by employing older and experienced individuals and perhaps retaining older
staff. The finding on age appears to suggest that wisdom comes with maturity.
Originality/value – This paper is one of the few studies which investigate factors influencing ethical
judgments of accountants in Malaysia. The research is timely given the growing importance of women in
decision-making levels, the expected rise in employment and the requirement to include the business
ethics course in the accounting programs in Malaysia.
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