Has the AICPA changed the accounting profession for better or worse? : The case of educational change

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine students who have recently graduated from the standard 120 credit accountancy program and compare and contrast their ethical perceptions with students who have recently graduated from the AICPA-mandated 150 credit accountancy program which includes 30 extra credits with a focus on ethics. Design/methodology/approach – Recent graduated accounting students from selected Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business were asked to fill out a cross-sectional survey based on Victor and Cullen's Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ) to determine whether a difference exists between the two groups' ethical perceptions. The nine hypotheses derived from the ECQ were tested using an independent sample t -test and Levene's test for the homogeneity of the variances between the two groups. Findings – Compared with graduates of the 120 credit program, 150 credit program graduates scored significantly higher in ethical perceptions on five domains: Company Profit, Friendship, Team Interest, Personal Morality, and Rules, when testing at a confidence level of 95 percent. The two groups were not significantly different in the domains of Self-Interest, Efficiency, Social Responsibility, or Laws. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the need to encourage ethical intervention through education in the accounting curriculum. This study is part of a growing body of research for teaching ethics within the accounting profession. Originality/value – This paper fulfills an identified need to study business ethics. Corporate scandals in the late 1990s and early this century led to a decline in the public's trust of the accounting profession. Since that time, the government, companies, and universities have attempted to rebuild that trust through a number of methods, such as passing laws requiring better regulation and more disclosure as well as requiring improved ethics education for future accountants.