Title:
PERCEIVED ETHICAL BEHAVIOR AMONG ACCOUNTING STUDENTS

Authors:
Dr. Chaiyaset Promsri ,Thailand

Abstract:
This objective of this present study was to scrutinize accounting students’ self-assessment on ethical behavior and their perception on the importance of ethics. An online questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. A total of 191 Students agreed to participate by completing the online questionnaire via Google platform. Results found that the overall ethical behavior of these students were in a high level (M = 3.27, S.D. = .507), which indicated that they rarely conducted an unethical behavior. Nevertheless, copying someone else’s reports and assignments was reported as the most often unethical behavior conducted by this group of students. In addition, independent samples t-test revealed no significant difference in level of ethical behavior between ever-received training and never-received training groups (t = -1.291, Sig = .198). Similarly, when compared the difference in ethical behavior between participants’ who ever-discussed ethical issues in their family and those who did not, no significant difference was found (t = -.835, Sig = .405). Additionally, results indicated that their perception on the importance of ethics for their future career was at the highest level (M = 4.52, S.D. = .578) while they perceived that ethical issues were frequently included in any class in their study program at a high level (M = 3.73, S.D. = .744). Limitations and recommendations for further studies were also discussed.