MA619 Accounting Research Report: Ethics, Fraud, and Professionals

This research report, prepared for the MA619 Accounting Research course, investigates the significance of ethics in the accounting profession, particularly in light of increasing globalization and recent accounting scandals. It emphasizes the need for ethical behavior among accounting professionals to provide accurate financial information and maintain stakeholder trust. The report explores the failure of accounting institutes to adequately prepare students for ethical dilemmas and proposes the integration of ethics into accounting curricula. The methodology involves an exploratory study using questionnaires and case studies, including examples like Enron and Arthur Andersen, to analyze the impact of unethical practices on businesses and society. The literature review covers topics such as independence, confidentiality, and employee commitment, highlighting their importance in maintaining ethical standards. The study aims to enhance understanding of ethical issues in accounting and contribute to the development of ethical codes, both nationally and internationally.

Accounting Research

Abstract
As there is increasing globalization of the accounting professionals there exist the recent
accounting scandals which have to bring interest in the growing research on ethics for the
accounting professionals. There must be an inculcation of ethics in the accounting so that the
professionals that are engaged in the accounting provide the best possible solution to the firms
and the individuals that are working with them. The accounting professional must do the job in
the best manner as they are disclosing the true and fair attribute about the firm to the
stakeholders of the company. this is seen that unless there is a change in the corporate values the
accounting professionals would be considered and would be confronted with a variety of
dilemmas to work ethically. hence to develop the ethical behaviour in the individuals of the
country to provide the best in class service in the accounting industry. It has been founded that
there is an evidence where it is seen that the accounting institutes failed in providing the
information and development of the students for ethical and intellectual maturity in the
accounting professionals hence through this report this is seen that the institutions that are
working in the higher education would be applying its functions so that they are able to
incorporate the learning in the company. hence in this study, it would be analysed that the
lecturers in the country would be considered to make them aware of the accounting ethics and
the necessity to make accounting ethics more preferable. Hence through this, the professionals
and the values in the ethics would be considered to be embedded in all the courses that are
presented by the lecturers to the students. Finally, in this research, the assessment techniques
were taken to provide accounting ethics. Here this is seen that exploratory study is done to
explore the questionnaires and provide the conclusion for the same. Here it is considered that
around 20 case studies have been taken into consideration.

Contents
Accounting Research.......................................................................................................................1
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................6
Research methodology...................................................................................................................11
Research setting.........................................................................................................................11
Reason for choosing the setting.................................................................................................12
The ethical issue covered and raised in the study......................................................................12
Participants................................................................................................................................13
Number of participants..............................................................................................................13
Selecting the participants...........................................................................................................13
Participants characteristic..........................................................................................................14
Tools for data collection............................................................................................................14
An instrument to complete research effectively........................................................................14
Data Analysis.................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23

Introduction
The financial report is considered to provide the user of the report an actual picture of the firm's
value and the profits. here this is seen that accounting fraud is considered to be the fraud where
the financial statement is provided in a manner that misleads the users of the financial statement.
This is seen from the recent collapses of Enron, HIH and other related international businesses
where they have resulted in making the legislation of the country tighter through which they can
provide the reform in corporate governance and accounting ethics. It is seen that the
misstatement of the financial information is related to synonyms of accounting fraud and hence
this is important for the people of the country and the accounting professionals to determine the
ethics in the working of the company (Bamber & McMeeking, 2016).
The media in the current world is littered with the accounts where the unethical behaviour of the
business enterprise is considered. As this is seen that global financial crises are following hot on
the heels and the major firms are being collapsed as a result of accountants being unethical in
showing the company’s financial results. Therefore, to make the students learn and experience
the ethical standard it must be considered by the professors at the universities so that best
accounting professionals can be procured for the country. this is seen that the issue of accounting
fraud is considered to be tackled from the root hence the students must be taught of the
accounting fraud that exists in an organization and the implication of joining the accounting
fraud. Generally, the detection of accounting fraud does not only matter that would solve
accounting professionals not to work in an unethical manner. It should be levied in the syllabus
of the accounting students as through this the dilemma of fraud can be controlled from the
starting to the end. It is considered to be important to have ethics in the education system so that
it is taught in the initial stage and through this, they can mould the accounting professionals in
the way that is best desired by the accounting analysts and the accounting team standards board.
The prevention of the accounting must go hand in hand so that the nation must have tighter and
more specific rules and regulations for this purpose. Hence this study is related to the importance
of teaching ethics to the accounting professionals with the evidence of various accounting fraud
cases that are observed in the country (Benson, et.al., 2015).
The result that is derived from the study would help in enhancing the knowledge of the reader of
the research on whether the business ethics must be implemented in the accounting professionals
and how important is this about the nation and the public interest. Also, the findings of the

research would help in developing both the national and the international code that is related to
ethics in accounting professionals.

Literature review
The accounting fraud is considered to be harming the society and this is considered to be
important that the damage that is caused due to the accounting fraud can be harmful to the
nation. This is seen where the major corporate collapse occurs in the different parts of the world,
the seriousness of the ethics in the accounting sector is questioned every time. In the word of
Reitsma, et. al., 2014, through these actions, the seriousness of the accounting profession gets
mitigated and the reliability of the accounting information is once again questioned. there are
various problems which are related to the teaching of accounting education to the students of the
country, the discussion which is often held at the philosophical level affects the accounting
students so that they practice accounting in their real-world implication. The students need to
think about the practical implication of the ethical issue and how they would tackle the ethical
issues that are confronted in front of them while practising the accounting profession. Hence
there are various needs to integrate the ethics with the accounting profession so that they can do
the auditing in the best possible manner.
As per the views of Bracci, et. al., 2015 Various institutes are working in the manner that
through this they can make the best accounting professionals who work ethically. as through the
various accounting profession, this is seen that there is a various public organization that publish
their own ethical rules and guidelines. These are specified by the association of certified public
accountants, the institute of internal auditors and many more. these are specified at the different
circumstances and the accounting professionals should abide through this as through this they
can maximize their performance and work under the accounting. There are various codes of
professional ethics that are specified by the country which includes examination to ensure that
the candidates that have passed the accounting course are practising their degree fairly and
truthfully to enhance the skills that are specified by the boards of the country.
According to Bhasin, 2015, accountants that are working in the society deals with the intimate
financial details that are captured from the individuals and the organization as a whole. There are
various types of services that are provided by the accounting professionals where they provide
the service to execute the million-dollar transactions and sometimes they assist the people with
safeguarding the retirement funds that are given to the cab drivers and social workers. It is seen
that the ethical codes are the fundamental principles that are used by the accounting professionals
through which they enhance their performance and maintain the public interest and trust all

along. Here they do the transactions where they demonstrate honesty fairness. This is seen that
professionals who join the organizations and secure the companies credential must work in a
manner that they can maximize the ethical consideration and can demonstrate the accounting
ethics in their work that they perform as per the words of Braun, et. al., 2014. It is a matter of
fact that there is a problem in the accounting field that it is seen that accountants are not
considered to be always trustworthy. There is a violation of the public and private trust regarding
the accounting disclosures. Hence to make the ethics in the accounting sector various areas
should be taken into consideration for this purpose. These include the following:
 Independence and objectivity: It are seen that independence and objectivity must go hand
in hand so that they can achieve the objective of making the accounting services more
secure. here this is seen that trust is considered to be one of the main and important
matter to provide the recommendation regarding the client benefit. As per the views of
Cameron, 2015 this is seen that there is a conflict of interest between the accountants and
other professionals as this is seen that where there can be a difference between the sale of
one financial product over and above the other that could skew the financial interest and
advice to the client (Rasche, & Gilbert, 2015). Hence to remain independent the
accounting professional must ensure that the recommendation that is provided by them
are not subject to any outside influence. It is advised the judgments that are made by
them are their own and all the accounting principles and information are taken into
consideration for this process.
 Confidentiality: the disclosures that are done by the accounting professionals must be
confidential and trustworthy. It should be taken into consideration that none of the
accounting information has been relieved before to any of the other person or
organization. the accounting information is always released to the stakeholders at first so
that the integrity in accounting can be maintained (Peters, et. al., 2014). In the present
scenario, most of the organizations are performing their operations at the global level.
Therefore, they must manage financial information confidentiality for ensuring that no
fraud will be done with the organization and its stakeholders. Another point which is
favourable for customers and organization is that they exchange the services or products
with each in a confidential way.

 Employee commitment- Finance department and employees can be considered as one of
the most important parts of the organization. All the functions that are performed by the
organization are due to the operations of employee's and management of funds by the
financial department. Therefore, with the implementation of ethics employee
commitment to complete their work results in increasing the productivity of the
organization (Perry, et. al., 2015). To implement employee commitment, management
must motivate their employees by using monetary or non-monetary factors. It is seen that
organization that motivated their employees to put more efforts to complete their task in
the best possible manner.
A case study that shows impacts of ethics in the accounting
This all is unfair decisions and ineffective decision making due to organization faces
complexities and dissolution of their business (Cameron, et. al., 2015). These scandals or
unethical events take place due to not executing the ethics in functions and operations of the
organization.
 Arthur Andersen- This is one of the largest audit organization in the world, this case in
popularising in accountant’s world. As the downfall of Enron's that generates due to not
follow of ethics by the firm. The security and exchange board announce that after
continue monitoring the account practices it is analysed that analysed and audit firms
raise several questions which are not authorized by the organization. it results in the
deployment of Arthur Andersen.
 Bernard Ebbers- Another issue raised due to accounting failure of an organization is due
to the merger decisions. This determines that an organization needs to monitor all aspects
of finance before deciding for accounts (Patel, et. al., 2016). WorldCom, that is the
largest telecommunication organization faces despoliation of organization because it is
not approved by accountants and auditors due to wrong information and interpretation of
their financial departments.
 Hollinger International- The CEO of Conrad Black introduces several aspects which lead
the organization as the international media group. In this, the major reason is seen that the
employee's fraud with the government by presenting wrong information about tax
evasion.

 Tyco- This is one of the leading organizations that is a massive organization in the
elections industry. They also caught red-handed due to the inefficiency of employees.
Top management is not bothered about the ethics, it results that they unfairly raised an
amount of $ 600 million from the market. Due to which the firm is declared bankrupt and
unauthorized by industry officials.
 Yahoo- one of the well-recognized organization faces the fraud due to which its
employees are demotivated. Yahoo, face the fraud as the ethics and bad intention of Scott
Thompson’s, it impacts on the career. Under this incident, the fraud takes place due to the
degree of computer science and accounting. Scoot holds the degree of accounting but due
to not following ethics career faces problems which result in misleading the Yahoo by
providing wrong information.
 Fred Stern & company- This is one of the traditional organizations that face difficulty due
to their complete their work. It is resulted due to the wrong audition of their work which
was not showing their proper management of accounts and results in the organizational
failure. This activity misleads its stakeholders that generates problems to make effective
accounting decisions (Omran, et. al., 2015).
 Continental Vending Machine group- They are performing their work with the motive of
wealth creation in the shorter-term period. Due to this activity, management loss their
interest to complete the work by implementing ethics in their function. Like they mislead
all the stakeholders of the organization by delaying the period of their salaries and saving
tax through misinterpreting the financial information to show minimum profits to
auditing firms (Carbery, et. al., 2014).
 Toshiba- Accounting is a traditional approach that helps the organization to complete its
work cost-effectively. In the context of Toshiba management take unfair decisions to
increase their profits. This scandal takes place as management implemented a strict
culture in which accountants and employees are forced to show the wrong information
such as preparing loss reports and moving showing high rates of purchasing raw
materials and resources.
The main reason for the failure of the firm was that the financial position of the firm did not
disclosed the true and accurate understanding of affairs of the company. by analysing all the
situation and the cases it can be seen that as the accountants in the company did not followed the

ethics and lack the ethical position in them, this was considered to be the reason for the failure
maximum company.
It was considered that the issues in the financial position of the company and the suspected
mergers that occurred between the company were for the accountant’s own benefit. It was also
seen that the accountants while making the financial reports of the company did not followed the
standards that are specified by the AASB. The non-fulfilment of the tax and various other legal
standard are not fulfilled by the accounting professionals while doing the audit of the firms or
while presenting their financial statements.

Research methodology
The term research methodology refers to a specific technique that is used to identify, select and
analyse the data or information in context to study a specific area for a study. The methodology
of a research paper allows a reader to critically the overall study on a reliable basis for the
organization. This part of this study is more effective for providing accurate support to the
literature to complete their manner. The proper research of this suitable methodologies is
required by the researcher for monitoring that research is done properly and effectively (Cheng,
et. al., 2014). The main motive of an investigator to complete the research effectively is to
formulate an effective solution a meaningful solution from the overall research activities.
Moreover, methodology plays a crucial role for a researcher because they provide systematic
direction to the researcher for the appropriate execution of literature and all other activities
significantly in the organization. The methodology involves the study of research publication,
survey and conducting interviews by considering them the present as well as historical
information for the organization (Cieslewicz, 2014). To study the importance of accounting
ethics an organization needs to study multiple applications which support the study
appropriately. The research methodology is also useful for establishing the structure of research,
approach and research philosophy to complete the research methodology effectively. This
present research points out the aims and understanding of research relates to the accounting
standard of the organization.
Research setting
Accounting is used to define the set of particular goals to complete all financial transaction
effectively. A researchers or investigator conducts various area of research to complete their
work and to analyse primary and secondary objectives for accomplishing the research goals and
objectives. The main intention to study research methodology is to understand moral decisions to
manage and control the overall financial activities of the market by following proper goals and
objectives of the organization. It is related to accounting education and issue that impacts on
negative decision making related to accounting standard that is followed by the organization. To
generate a sense of morality related to accounting standard it is essential to develop the abilities
related to ethical conflicts that exist in the market (Cooper, et. al., 2014). In simple terms
research setting considers the physical, social, cultural and moral factors for the organization.

They all are related to a specific area of research, like in this research importance for
understanding the ethics in accounting standards is included. Particularly for this research, the
focus is to point out the fair implementation of ethics to set their natural setting and to identify
meaningful meaning or conclusion from the report (Ng, et. al., 2017). Therefore, qualitative
research is implemented particularly for this research. Qualitative research based on the
qualitative aspects, so in this research theoretical framework is included to complete the research
properly. On the other hand, numerical data is also undertaken in this research for a better
understanding of the accounting standard and ethics in the organization.
Reason for choosing the setting
Research selection is the major consideration for the researcher, thus right and appropriate
selection of the research helps to implement research activities efficiently. The present research
is based on analysing the importance of accounting standards and ethics in an organization.
Further in this, the selected qualitative method is selected as a research tool. This is more reliable
to complete their work in a minimum time period to manage and accomplishing their goals with
more reliable and suitable information for the specific area of study. The potential reason for this
study is to complete their work in a specific period (Dunbar, et. al., 2016). This is also more
favourable of the organization as it relates to views and perception of authors and writers. It also
provides an effective solution to deal with various problems by monitoring the perceptions of the
writers and authors. Moreover, this tool is used to conduct in-depth information about the
completion of their work with proper facts and figures. This tool provides detailed information
about the whole research which is based on facts and figures. With this, the proper insights for
developing ideas and hypotheses to complete qualitative research effectively.
The ethical issue covered and raised in the study
Research ethics undertakes the requirement need to conduct an investigation, protections which
is given to the dignity of respondents, publication, and subjects. For gathering the information,
all address needs to be included for collecting possible outcomes. Monetary or financial
transaction of an individual as well as for the organization performs a crucial part as they
consider confidential information. So, to implement this, the researcher needs to complete them
effectively with implement of ethics in the organization. The researcher faces various issues and
conflict while conducting the research project (Goodman & Arenas, 2015). This determines
ethics are a mandatory part for an individual to complete their work by overcoming various