Pioneering in ethics teaching: the case of management accounting in universities in the British Isles

Relatively little is currently known about the coverage of ethical issues in the accounting curriculum. This paper reports on the results of a questionnaire survey of university academics in the British Isles which found that a significant minority of management accounting lecturers do claim to address ethical issues in their teaching. In addition to reporting the extent of such provision, the paper explores the reasons for the coverage of ethics. Both personal interest and a belief in the importance of ethics are found to be significant, and lecturers who do address ethical issues tend to express stronger beliefs in the responsibility and ability of universities to improve the ethical attitudes and behaviour of their students. Some evidence is found that personal interest is positively related to number of years of practical experience, which would appear to be a topic worthy of future research in accounting and business ethics.