Ethical and ethical perception in accounting education: An application example

In recent years, situations such as the different accounting records of large enterprises, accounting frauds, bad management and accounting scandals are among the issues that have attracted the attention of the public. The majority of events occurred in the USA, which is accepted as an example with capital markets and accounting systems. Especially with the Enron and WorldCom scandals that took place in the USA in the 2000s, trust in financial reports, capital organizations, independent audit institutions and company management was damaged. While this situation affected the American economy, it also affected the developing countries negatively. For all these reasons, ethics has been one of the most discussed topics in accounting and finance. Those who perform the accounting profession have more responsibilities to society than other professional groups. For this reason, gaining the trust of society is important for the accounting profession. As in every profession, dilemmas are experienced in the accountancy profession. How these dilemmas can be resolved is among the problems faced by members of the profession. Professional organizations have established ethical rules to be followed regarding how to follow these dilemmas. Although the studies of the professional organizations on the adoption of ethical rules to the members of the profession are positive, training in accounting professional ethics should first be given in higher education institutions. For the professional competence of the professional accountant to be trained, taking the accounting professional ethics education within the framework of the accounting education he received will be a guide in resolving the uncertainties he may encounter in the future. In the main purpose, the study is to examine the ethical perceptions and ethical intentions candidate students who are considering pursuing the accounting profession within the framework of such as age, gender, education level, take an ethics course and to determine whether there is a significant difference between them. In the study, a total three-dimensional questionnaire measuring the perception of ethics and the intention to act ethically was used. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed and evaluated and necessary explanations were made. Keywords: Ethics, Ethics in Accounting Education, Ethics Education, Perception of Ethics