ABE College Manila.

2578 Legarda Avenue Sampaloc, Manila

Viable Techniques Used as a Part of Teaching Ethics to University

Students Majoring in Accounting

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

SUBJECT OF FUNDAMENTALS OF ACCOUNTING

Submitted by:

LEAH SARAH R. MULI

Submitted to:

MR. JONATHAN BENDICO

I. INTRODUCTION

Accounting education can be considered as experience, as practice in

learning to learn, and as part of education for business. Accounting techniques are
important as parts of a data-processing apparatus, providing deeply significant data
regarding enterprise prior experience. The objective of accounting is to provide
insight into the results of management decisions. The aim of accounting education
is to help students learn to learn to become professional accountants.

Stakeholders all over the world strive for quality education of children. First of all,
there is a need to define quality education so that one can differentiate it from less-
preferred education. Similarly, there are many educators and researchers who have
debated that there are some school variables which influence the students’
achievement in particular. According to Coleman (2003), minimal role is played by the
schools as far as the students’ achievement is concerned because it is independent of
their background as well as societal factors. On the other hand, a few researchers
suggest that factors like class size and space (Glass 2001), the teachers’ qualification
(Ferguson, 2004), the school’s size and space (Haller, 1993), and a few more variables
play a vital role in what the students learn in general.
II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Accounting is one of the top 20 industries in the Metro area and is expected to
have continued job growth over the next 15 years. In the current era of global
competition, the management of costs is vital to ensuring organizations’ and
corporations’ financial viability and profitability. Accounting professionals are therefore
sought after to implement effective cost control measures across all sectors of the
economy.

Our accounting program provides students with in-depth coursework and clinical
opportunities in regulatory and ethical issues. Furthermore, our majors meet the
undergraduate degree requirements for the Certified Public Accountant (C.P.A.) exam
for both D.C. and Maryland. (Graduates need to accrue 150 college credit hours,
however, before sitting for the exam.) Beyond the program’s strong foundation in ethics,
business law, and regulatory knowledge, our students also cover forensic accounting,
which helps prepare students to become Certified Fraud Examiners (C.F.E.s).
III. DISCUSSION

Money is a great motivator of human behavior, which is why financial reports

must contain truthful and unbiased information. Accountants must prepare unbiased,
truthful and accurate financial reports for use by people in various sectors of society to
form decisions that will guide their actions or behavior. Upholding principles, standards
and laws of accounting is a primary responsibility of an accountant to companies,
stockholders, creditors and the general public.

Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting is devoted to publishing high-

quality research and cases that focus on the professional responsibilities of accountants
and how they deal with the ethical issues they face. The series features articles on a
broad range of important and timely topics, including professionalism, social
responsibility, corporate responsibility, ethical judgments, and accountability. The
professional responsibilities of accountants are broad-based; they must serve clients
and user groups whose needs, incentives, and goals may be in conflict. Further,
accountants must interpret and apply codes of conduct, accounting and auditing
principles, and securities regulations. Compliance with professional guidelines is
judgment-based, and characteristics of the individual, the culture, and situation affect
how these guidelines are interpreted and applied, as well as when they might be
violated. Interactions between accountants, regulators, standard setters, and industries
also have ethical components.

Accountants deal with the intimate financial details of individuals and organizations.
Some have the ability to execute million-dollar transactions, and others assist with
safeguarding retirement funds of cab drivers and social workers.

Ethical codes are the fundamental principles that accounting professionals choose to
abide by to enhance their profession, maintain public trust, and demonstrate honesty
and fairness. People who join organizations and secure the credentials to present
themselves to the public as CPAs or IIAs strive to protect the reputation of the
profession.
Sadly, not everyone who works in the accounting field is trustworthy. Daily violations of
public and private trust occur, and resolving ethical dilemmas doesn’t always end
favorably. The following are five areas that deserve the attention of anyone considering
working in the accounting profession.

1. Independence and Objectivity

Ethics and independence go hand in hand in the accounting profession. A critical

component of trust is making unbiased decisions and recommendations that benefit the
client. Conflicts of interest, for example, demand exposure under independence
guidelines. Benefiting from the sale of one financial product over another could lead to a
bias that skews financial advice to a client.

To remain objective and independent, it is also necessary to ensure that

recommendations are not subject to outside influence. An accountant’s professional
judgment is compromised if they subordinate their judgment to someone else’s.

2. Integrity

Demonstrating integrity means being straightforward and honest in all business

and professional relationships. Upholding integrity requires that accountants do not
associate themselves with information that they suspect is materially false or misleading
— or that misleads by omission.

3. Confidentiality

Disclosure of financial information or revealing the disposition of a potential

merger by an accounting professional without express permission violates the trust that
is the foundation of a professional relationship — unless there is a legal or professional
reason to do so.

4. Professional Competence

As technology, legislation and best practices change, a professional accountant

must remain up to date. To exercise sound judgment, an accountant must stay abreast
of developments that could affect a decision’s outcome.
 Practicing due care means recognizing your skill level and not suggesting that
you have expertise in an area where you do not. Consulting with other professionals is a
standard practice that helps to bond a network of individuals and generate respect.

Similar guidelines also apply to accounting professionals who supervise others.

These accountants must ensure that the subordinates receive proper training and
guidance as they carry out their responsibilities.

5. Professional Behavior

Ethics require accounting professionals to comply with the laws and regulations
that govern their jurisdictions and their bodies of work. Avoiding actions that could
negatively affect the reputation of the profession is a reasonable commitment that
business partners and others should expect.
 As part of ethics education and training, you must learn how to remain free from
conflicts of interest and other questionable business practices. Learning due care as a
professional accountant means learning to properly understand financial information, be
competent in your use of your knowledge, and diligent in following the best training of
your profession. Learning and practicing ethics by remaining free from conflicts of
interest, using diligence, and keeping accounting competence as a professional
accountant will mean success with your chosen work. These are the list of teaching
strategy to our future accountants:

Teaching Strategy Brief Description

Example

Enhanced (Modified) Traditional lecture modified to include active elements

including: pausing for discussion among students, including
Lecture immediate mastery tests/quizzes over lecture material, using
demonstrations, responding to pre-submitted student-
generated questions.

Questioning and Includes questioning students in a way that helps them

evaluate their own thought processes by probing the thinking
Discussion behind their statements and questions. Also includes asking
students different types of questions: knowledge questions,
comprehension questions, analysis questions, synthesis
questions, evaluation questions

Writing in Class Writing for the purpose of learning and thinking. Includes
journals, one-minute papers, responses to unstructured
problems or cases

Problem-Based Learning - Students use knowledge, concepts, and skills relevant to a

course to solve realistic business problems.
Cases

Problem-Based Learning- A student team attacks a problem by dividing it into a series of

prescribed steps (e.g. identify the problem, state the goal, list
Guided Design constraints, etc.) to be resolved in order; after each step,
instructor provides written "expert" analysis elaborating on the
various alternatives the students had available during the
previous step

Group Learning - Students work together in teams, collaborating to complete a

problem or project
Teamwork
Debates Students work together in teams, collaborating to complete a
problem or project

Technology - Visual and

Computer - Based Tutorials
Instruction

Technology- Based
Courses Delivered partially or wholly online
Delivery

Fieldwork - Service Accomplishment of tasks needed by the community combined

with intentional learning goals, conscious reflection, and
Learning critical analysis

Fieldwork - Accounting Students get academic credit and real-world experience

working in industry, government or public accounting
Internships

While there are several strategies for teaching accounting effectively, learning
accounting starts with desire and hard work. If your heart isn't in it, studying accounting
can be pure tedium. Once your heart is in it, and you're ready to give it your all, it's time
to learn how to make maximize your study time and learn how to learn accounting more
efficiently.
IV. CONCLUSION

Great emphasis has been laid on the teachers to use effective teaching
strategies and method for improved learning by many researchers and educationists but
on the other hand, one must also understand that the amount of students’ learning in a
class also depends on their native ability of cognition and as well as their prior
preparation. Teachers should prepare mental set through rapport with students before
they start teaching. With the passage of time, the importance of instructors’ teaching
style is being spread and the teachers are taking initiative to improve their teaching
strategies for students’ improved learning by getting enrolled in such programmes which
help them reflect upon their teaching practices and improving them as per requirement.
The teachers who are willing for professional development in this area are able to
deliver even complex and complicated content effectively, helping the students generate
their interest and eagerness for more opportunities of learning in a conducive
environment, making all the individuals feel that they are being taught in their own
unique way being unique themselves.
V. RECOMMENDATION

The challenge to the accounting professor is to integrate the teaching of ethics

and professionalism in accounting across a broad spectrum of courses, so that students
develop abilities related to moral reasoning and ethical decision making and safeguards
for preventing unethical behavior. Professors need to learn how to meet students’ needs
so that they, in turn, will later meet the accounting profession’s needs; see Karr,
“Accounting School Gets an Ethics Makeover,” Financial Executive (June 2004), goals
of ethics in an accounting course should be to:

1. Expose students to their personal responsibilities and the need for integrity.
2. Provide a philosophical framework for ethical analysis.

3. Review the ethical obligations of accountants as detailed in the profession’s code

of conduct.

4. Discuss situations that present ethical conflicts and determine how to resolve
them in a morally appropriate way.
VI. REFERENCES

(2016), The Purpose of Accounting Education ☆ , in  Martin E. Persson  (ed.) A. C.

Littleton’s Final Thoughts on Accounting: A Collection of Unpublished Essays (Studies

in the Development of Accounting Thought, Volume 20) Emerald Group Publishing

Limited, pp.47 – 55

Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, (1887)

AICPA The world’s largest member association representing the accounting profession

James D. Stice, , Kevin D. Stocks, (2000), EFFECTIVE TEACHING TECHNIQUES,

in Bill N. Schwartz, J. Edward Ketz (ed.) Advances in Accounting Education Teaching

and Curriculum Innovations (Advances in Accounting Education, Volume 2) Emerald

Group Publishing Limited, pp.179 – 191)

The Impact of Effective Teaching Strategies on the Students’ Academic Performance

and Learning Outcome