Teaching ethics in management and accounting
The importance of teaching ethics in management and accounting in the context of persisting cases of corporate misdemeanour and falling accounting standards.
Two articles by Seb Murray in the Business Education page of Financial Times dated 13 June 2022 (Asian Edition, page 6) made me advance what I might have otherwise postponed writing for long. These were titled ‘Course leaders want more time to fight crime,’ and ‘Teaching virtues and values to accountants.’
Starting in the 1980s, the involvement of MBAs and accountants, even with an Ivy League background, in many cases of corporate misdemeanour and accounting sleight of hand, have made people rethink management education and training of accountants. Now that we have an MBA Oath and a Book of Ethics in accounting is the corporate world a better place? Murray has his doubts. Me too, though for different reasons. Can ethics be taught? How can we go ahead?