Gordon Woodbine

The effect of ethics courses on the ethical judgement‐making ability of Malaysian accounting students

Purpose - The paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ethics courses provided to Malaysian accounting students and their impact on ethical judgement-making ability. Design/methodology/approach - Third-year accounting students from six Malaysian universities participated in a pre- and post-ethics course study. The sample consisted of four universities which provide an ethics course (experiment group) and two universities which do not provide an ethics course (control group). Rests Defining Issues Test instrument was employed and the Findings - Students who attended an ethics course improved significantly in their ethical judgement-making ability compared to students who did not attend the course. Male students, non-Muslim students and students in private universities benefit more from attending an ethics course compared to their female and Muslim students and those students in public universities. Research limitations/implications - The findings indicate that providing ethics courses reshapes the ethical thinking of future accountants and thus are likely to improve the local ethical climate amongst professionals in the field. Results indicate significant improvements in cognitive moral development, although many students continue to apply conventional (Stage 4) reasoning skills when dealing with issues. The research provides a positive signal to the accounting faculties indicating that their effort in inculcating ethical values is worthwhile and this endeavour has to continue. Originality/value - This study involves a controlled field study of a unique group of Malaysian accounting students and applies Kohlbergs theory of moral development to demonstrate the effect of an ethics intervention. Particular attention was given to examining conventional (Stage 4) judgment-making processes and how this appears to be influenced by religious affiliation and university type. This adds value to the ethics literature as there are only a few studies examining the merits of Stage 4 reasoning. Most importantly, it helps to fill a gap in the literature by providing both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from multiple samples of ethics classes, using both experiment and control groups.

Accounting education in modern China: an analysis of conditions and observations

Purpose - The object of this paper is to analyze and discuss the form and substance of accounting education in the Peoples Republic of China during the period 1998-2003 as observed by an educator during his employment as a foreign expert with a major university in a Special Economic Zone. Design/methodology/approach - The paper discusses education policies in China and applies this knowledge in a descriptive fashion to an explanation of curriculum processes used in a modern regional university. Curriculum content is compared with equivalent Australian courses of study. Findings - Accounting education programs in China are highly regulated. Methods of teaching and assessment are also inadequate and rely on tried and trusted teacher-centred methods that encourage rote learning and plagiarism. Reforms in education are occurring at an incremental rate, but underlying administrative and curriculum management issues reflect mindsets that appear reticent to change in the short term. Originality/value - Chinas centrally managed business curricula for university studies provides substantial challenges which, when combined unique administrative practices and cultural differences, presents issues of concern for education researchers and practitioners.

Guanxi, a two-edged sword! How Australian accounting professionals view the process within a moral framework

Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to determine how Western business practitioners, specifically Australian accounting professionals, identify with the Chinese value concept of Design/methodology/approach - – A cross-sectional questionnaire based on a survey of 111 usable Australian accounting professionals was completed during 2012. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate each construct of Findings - – Australian accounting professionals associate well with the favour-seeking aspects of Originality/value - – The research provides evidence that Australian accounting professionals relate to favour-seeking