title: Ethical Educational Interventions: Perceptions of Accounting Students and Graduates and the Legitimation of 'Ethical' Actions

authors: Low, Mary

subjects: ethical educational interventions

abstract: The issue of ethical educational interventions in the accounting classroom is not new. As far back as 1967, the  Horizon for a Profession: The common body of knowledge for certified public accountants  study indicated that if  [t]here were no ethical foundation to the profession then there would in fact be no profession  (p. 14). The 1984 Bedford Report identified the need for higher education to develop the entering accountant's ability to think, to communicate, and to understand the nature and role of ethics. The Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) both cited the need for young professionals to be able to make ethical and value-based judgements. The 2004 Ethics Education Task Force Report to the AACSB stated that business schools must encourage students to develop a deep understanding of the myriad challenges surrounding corporate responsibility and corporate governance and provide them with tools for recognizing and responding to ethical issues, both personally and organisationally. The 2006  Information Paper: Approaches to the development and maintenance of professional values, ethics and attitudes in accounting education programs  commissioned by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) found that, while there was overall  growing interest in professional and business programs responding to the call for greater ethics coverage in the curricula  (p. 13), the conclusion was  that overall ethics coverage in accounting programs appears minimal  (p. 13).

These international research studies demonstrate that there have been ongoing requests for ethical educational interventions at the tertiary level of education. However, in New Zealand little research has been done on this issue. This research on the issue of ethical educational interventions in the New Zealand accounting tertiary level curriculum therefore will contribute significantly to knowledge in this area. Furthermore, this study makes another significant contribution to studies on ethical educational interventions because it attempted to find out the perceptions and beliefs held by important but seemingly forgotten stakeholders: accounting students and graduates on the importance of having ethical educational interventions in the accounting curriculum. This approach was taken because it was important to find out directly from the individuals in whom accounting educators are trying to develop important competencies and skills through their university studies, whether or not they perceived that such interventions would have any influence in their ethical decision-making behaviour. Therefore a comparative and longitudinal study using questionnaire survey instruments and semi-structured interviews was conducted with accounting students and graduates. A mixed methods methodology approach was taken to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data subsequently collected from the respondents.
What makes this study particularly important is that accounting students and graduates are directly being asked what they think about the issue of ethical educational interventions in the classroom. Do they believe that such interventions would help them become more ethical accountants (individuals) in the real world? Do they believe that such interventions would influence their ethical decision-making behaviour for the better? In addition, they were also asked about the factors they saw as being the most influential on their behaviour and ethical decision-making. This study is therefore important because, from these very important groups of individuals (stakeholders), the benefits of ethical educational interventions in the classroom and whether they would help to develop a better understanding of ethical reasoning and ethics education issues could be explored. After all, the participants of this study are the individuals aspiring to become future chartered accountants of accounting firms and/or future financial controllers and chief executives of businesses. 
This study makes a further contribution to the knowledge and theory on accounting and ethics education research because it also looked at the legitimation of 'ethical' actions (legitimacy theory) by exploring ethical theories initially and then using these triangulated theories to interpret accounting students' and graduates' responses to hypothetical situations in an attempt to understand their ethical reasoning. The continuing accounting scandals and corporate crises mean that accounting educators and professional practicing accountants (which accounting students and graduates will aspire to when they commence their accounting careers) all have to cringe when their professional ethics are questioned after each accounting debacle. This is because both accounting educators and practitioners have to read about their members falling from grace through inappropriate ethical behaviour. The question of whether or not these members received appropriate instruction through their learning at university always becomes a prominent issue and there is increasing research to suggest that what accounting educators have been teaching has been woefully inadequate in addressing the ethical stances of accounting students and graduates.
The questionnaire findings from Section II: Hypothetical Ethical Cases raise some concern. The inability of a significant percentage of accounting students and graduates to identify correctly whether an action was ethical or unethical is quite concerning as the three hypothetical ethical cases were not so complex that the respondents were unable to distinguish between the two conditions. The question arises as to whether these respondents were less sure because they saw such actions as being 'acceptable' to society and therefore, in their minds, legitimate 'ethical' actions to take in the situation. The findings of Section III: Hypothetical Ethical Situations are also of concern in that significant percentages of accounting students and graduates showed themselves as potentially willing participants in unethical and, in some instances, illegal behaviour. The implications of these two findings suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the type of ethical educational interventions that accounting students receive so that the ethical reasoning of individuals can be improved and they understand better what appropriate legitimate ethical actions for society really are. Without this understanding, it can be argued that accounting students and graduates will find it difficult to withstand the legitimacy whirlpool that will draw them straight into the midst of unethical behaviour that seems 'acceptable' to society because it is legal but nevertheless raises questions about the true integrity and professionalism of accountants in practice.
The overall findings from this research study indicate that accounting students and graduates perceived ethics education to have only a moderate influence on their ethical behaviour. The majority of accounting students and graduates believed that by the time they reached university studies, their personal values and behaviour had become entrenched and therefore would have more influence on the way they interacted in the corporate world. However, the majority of respondents in this study still believed that it was important to have ethics education in their degree programmes as they believed that this exposure would help them learn how to resolve ethical situations more appropriately if they were ever to be confronted with such situations. This important finding suggests that the type of ethical educational interventions we expose students to will, therefore, have to be carefully thought out by education providers. The issue of legitimation in what might appear to be 'ethical' actions but are really questionable in terms of whether the 'social contract' between the individual (the focus being the accountant for this study) and society is honoured appropriately also becomes an important area to consider in ethics education. 
Accounting educators therefore need to look carefully at their goals for ethics education so that the curriculum they deliver will have more than a moderate influence on accounting students and graduates when they join the professional and corporate world. It cannot be stressed enough that accounting educators need to maximise the opportunity to influence their students' learning; so that these students leave university with a better mindset of ethical values and socially responsible business practices. A schematic encapsulation of this ethical educational intervention doctoral thesis is provided to summarise the important research directions and findings of this study. The encapsulation highlights the research contributions to knowledge that this study makes and provides a critical reflection on the issue of accounting ethics education.

text: Ethical Educational Interventions: Perceptions of Accounting Students and Graduates and the Legitimation of 'Ethical' Actions The issue of ethical educational interventions in the accounting classroom is not new. As far back as 1967, the  Horizon for a Profession: The common body of knowledge for certified public accountants  study indicated that if  [t]here were no ethical foundation to the profession then there would in fact be no profession  (p. 14). The 1984 Bedford Report identified the need for higher education to develop the entering accountant's ability to think, to communicate, and to understand the nature and role of ethics. The Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) both cited the need for young professionals to be able to make ethical and value-based judgements. The 2004 Ethics Education Task Force Report to the AACSB stated that business schools must encourage students to develop a deep understanding of the myriad challenges surrounding corporate responsibility and corporate governance and provide them with tools for recognizing and responding to ethical issues, both personally and organisationally. The 2006  Information Paper: Approaches to the development and maintenance of professional values, ethics and attitudes in accounting education programs  commissioned by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) found that, while there was overall  growing interest in professional and business programs responding to the call for greater ethics coverage in the curricula  (p. 13), the conclusion was  that overall ethics coverage in accounting programs appears minimal  (p. 13).

These international research studies demonstrate that there have been ongoing requests for ethical educational interventions at the tertiary level of education. However, in New Zealand little research has been done on this issue. This research on the issue of ethical educational interventions in the New Zealand accounting tertiary level curriculum therefore will contribute significantly to knowledge in this area. Furthermore, this study makes another significant contribution to studies on ethical educational interventions because it attempted to find out the perceptions and beliefs held by important but seemingly forgotten stakeholders: accounting students and graduates on the importance of having ethical educational interventions in the accounting curriculum. This approach was taken because it was important to find out directly from the individuals in whom accounting educators are trying to develop important competencies and skills through their university studies, whether or not they perceived that such interventions would have any influence in their ethical decision-making behaviour. Therefore a comparative and longitudinal study using questionnaire survey instruments and semi-structured interviews was conducted with accounting students and graduates. A mixed methods methodology approach was taken to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data subsequently collected from the respondents.
What makes this study particularly important is that accounting students and graduates are directly being asked what they think about the issue of ethical educational interventions in the classroom. Do they believe that such interventions would help them become more ethical accountants (individuals) in the real world? Do they believe that such interventions would influence their ethical decision-making behaviour for the better? In addition, they were also asked about the factors they saw as being the most influential on their behaviour and ethical decision-making. This study is therefore important because, from these very important groups of individuals (stakeholders), the benefits of ethical educational interventions in the classroom and whether they would help to develop a better understanding of ethical reasoning and ethics education issues could be explored. After all, the participants of this study are the individuals aspiring to become future chartered accountants of accounting firms and/or future financial controllers and chief executives of businesses. 
This study makes a further contribution to the knowledge and theory on accounting and ethics education research because it also looked at the legitimation of 'ethical' actions (legitimacy theory) by exploring ethical theories initially and then using these triangulated theories to interpret accounting students' and graduates' responses to hypothetical situations in an attempt to understand their ethical reasoning. The continuing accounting scandals and corporate crises mean that accounting educators and professional practicing accountants (which accounting students and graduates will aspire to when they commence their accounting careers) all have to cringe when their professional ethics are questioned after each accounting debacle. This is because both accounting educators and practitioners have to read about their members falling from grace through inappropriate ethical behaviour. The question of whether or not these members received appropriate instruction through their learning at university always becomes a prominent issue and there is increasing research to suggest that what accounting educators have been teaching has been woefully inadequate in addressing the ethical stances of accounting students and graduates.
The questionnaire findings from Section II: Hypothetical Ethical Cases raise some concern. The inability of a significant percentage of accounting students and graduates to identify correctly whether an action was ethical or unethical is quite concerning as the three hypothetical ethical cases were not so complex that the respondents were unable to distinguish between the two conditions. The question arises as to whether these respondents were less sure because they saw such actions as being 'acceptable' to society and therefore, in their minds, legitimate 'ethical' actions to take in the situation. The findings of Section III: Hypothetical Ethical Situations are also of concern in that significant percentages of accounting students and graduates showed themselves as potentially willing participants in unethical and, in some instances, illegal behaviour. The implications of these two findings suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the type of ethical educational interventions that accounting students receive so that the ethical reasoning of individuals can be improved and they understand better what appropriate legitimate ethical actions for society really are. Without this understanding, it can be argued that accounting students and graduates will find it difficult to withstand the legitimacy whirlpool that will draw them straight into the midst of unethical behaviour that seems 'acceptable' to society because it is legal but nevertheless raises questions about the true integrity and professionalism of accountants in practice.
The overall findings from this research study indicate that accounting students and graduates perceived ethics education to have only a moderate influence on their ethical behaviour. The majority of accounting students and graduates believed that by the time they reached university studies, their personal values and behaviour had become entrenched and therefore would have more influence on the way they interacted in the corporate world. However, the majority of respondents in this study still believed that it was important to have ethics education in their degree programmes as they believed that this exposure would help them learn how to resolve ethical situations more appropriately if they were ever to be confronted with such situations. This important finding suggests that the type of ethical educational interventions we expose students to will, therefore, have to be carefully thought out by education providers. The issue of legitimation in what might appear to be 'ethical' actions but are really questionable in terms of whether the 'social contract' between the individual (the focus being the accountant for this study) and society is honoured appropriately also becomes an important area to consider in ethics education. 
Accounting educators therefore need to look carefully at their goals for ethics education so that the curriculum they deliver will have more than a moderate influence on accounting students and graduates when they join the professional and corporate world. It cannot be stressed enough that accounting educators need to maximise the opportunity to influence their students' learning; so that these students leave university with a better mindset of ethical values and socially responsible business practices. A schematic encapsulation of this ethical educational intervention doctoral thesis is provided to summarise the important research directions and findings of this study. The encapsulation highlights the research contributions to knowledge that this study makes and provides a critical reflection on the issue of accounting ethics education.

year: 2007

title: Evidence of bias in assessment of fisheries management impacts

authors: Slooten, Elizabeth

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Melnychuk et al.'s analysis (1) is not a trustworthy evaluation of the effectiveness of fisheries management. Given the strong bias in the NZ sample, it would be surprising if NZ was the only country for which there were problems with the selection of respondents. Instead of providing a robust analysis of the effectiveness of fisheries management, Melnychuk et al. (1) seem to be arguing for business-as-usual while ignoring broader issues, such as ecosystem impacts, environmental change, and social outcomes. Such an analysis does fisheries management no service.

text: Evidence of bias in assessment of fisheries management impacts Melnychuk et al.'s analysis (1) is not a trustworthy evaluation of the effectiveness of fisheries management. Given the strong bias in the NZ sample, it would be surprising if NZ was the only country for which there were problems with the selection of respondents. Instead of providing a robust analysis of the effectiveness of fisheries management, Melnychuk et al. (1) seem to be arguing for business-as-usual while ignoring broader issues, such as ecosystem impacts, environmental change, and social outcomes. Such an analysis does fisheries management no service.

year: 2017-06-20

title: Upsetting Geographies: Sacred Spaces of Matata

authors: Brown, Keri Aroha Michelle

subjects: sacred

abstract: My research focuses on the emotional experience of the unearthing of ancestral bones for local Māori of Matata. The coastal town of Matata in the Eastern Bay of Plenty provides a central case study location as it is a town that is facing the pressure of coastal residential development as well the added strain of dealing with the 2005 flood which has compounded issues over local waahi tapu.  Local iwi have continued to actively advocate for the protection of these sites especially with regard to the ongoing discovery of ancestral bones.

Cultural and emotional geographies provide the theoretical framework for this research. This framework has been particularly useful as it encourages reflexive commentary and alternative ways of approaching and thinking about, and understanding knowledge. I have incorporated the research paradigm of kaupapa Māori which complements my theoretical framework by producing a research design that is organised and shaped according to tikanga Māori while (in) advertently critiquing and challenging traditional ways of conducting research. The overall aim is to explore the current issues surrounding the discovery of ancestral bones through korero with local iwi members. It is through their perspectives, stories, beliefs and opinions that provide a better understanding of the meanings attributed to waahi tapu and the influence of certain events such as the 2005 flood. I examine, critically the relationship between power, sacred sites, bones and the body. 

It is from these objectives that I contribute to an area of scholarship that has been largely left out from geographical enquiry. I suggest that the importance of sacredness and spirituality has been relatively overlooked as an influential factor in people's perceptions of the world around them. This thesis is intended to demonstrate the value of indigenous perspectives of bones, the body and sacredness as a way of better understanding some of the complexities that can arise when cross-cultural approaches collide in environmental planning.  

There are three main themes that have emerged from this research. The first theme has to do with competing knowledges. To Māori, the location and knowledge of ancestral bones is culturally important and is in its self sacred, therefore certain tikanga is applied as a means of a protection mechanism. However this ideologically clashes with traditional scientific western approaches which are privileged over other alternative ways of understanding knowledge, in this case Māori knowledge. The second related theme concerns the process of boundary making and cross-cultural ways of perceiving 'sacred' and 'everyday' spaces. To better understand these perspectives involves acknowledging the embodied and emotional experience of wāhi tapu to Māori, and the active role of kaitiaki in the protection and careful management of these culturally important spaces.

text: Upsetting Geographies: Sacred Spaces of Matata My research focuses on the emotional experience of the unearthing of ancestral bones for local Māori of Matata. The coastal town of Matata in the Eastern Bay of Plenty provides a central case study location as it is a town that is facing the pressure of coastal residential development as well the added strain of dealing with the 2005 flood which has compounded issues over local waahi tapu.  Local iwi have continued to actively advocate for the protection of these sites especially with regard to the ongoing discovery of ancestral bones.

Cultural and emotional geographies provide the theoretical framework for this research. This framework has been particularly useful as it encourages reflexive commentary and alternative ways of approaching and thinking about, and understanding knowledge. I have incorporated the research paradigm of kaupapa Māori which complements my theoretical framework by producing a research design that is organised and shaped according to tikanga Māori while (in) advertently critiquing and challenging traditional ways of conducting research. The overall aim is to explore the current issues surrounding the discovery of ancestral bones through korero with local iwi members. It is through their perspectives, stories, beliefs and opinions that provide a better understanding of the meanings attributed to waahi tapu and the influence of certain events such as the 2005 flood. I examine, critically the relationship between power, sacred sites, bones and the body. 

It is from these objectives that I contribute to an area of scholarship that has been largely left out from geographical enquiry. I suggest that the importance of sacredness and spirituality has been relatively overlooked as an influential factor in people's perceptions of the world around them. This thesis is intended to demonstrate the value of indigenous perspectives of bones, the body and sacredness as a way of better understanding some of the complexities that can arise when cross-cultural approaches collide in environmental planning.  

There are three main themes that have emerged from this research. The first theme has to do with competing knowledges. To Māori, the location and knowledge of ancestral bones is culturally important and is in its self sacred, therefore certain tikanga is applied as a means of a protection mechanism. However this ideologically clashes with traditional scientific western approaches which are privileged over other alternative ways of understanding knowledge, in this case Māori knowledge. The second related theme concerns the process of boundary making and cross-cultural ways of perceiving 'sacred' and 'everyday' spaces. To better understand these perspectives involves acknowledging the embodied and emotional experience of wāhi tapu to Māori, and the active role of kaitiaki in the protection and careful management of these culturally important spaces.

year: 2008