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Sources:
Dann Fisher, 785-532-6037, dfisher@k-state.edu;
and
Diane Swanson, 785-532-4352, swanson@k-state.edu.
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/fisherbio.html
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/dswansonbio.html
News release prepared by: Keener A. Tippin II, 785-532-6415,
media@k-state.edu
Monday,
October 16, 2006
K-STATE
PROFESSORS FIND THAT UNIVERSITIES LAG IN ACCOUNTING ETHICS REQUIREMENTS
MANHATTAN
-- The good news: In the wake of high profile corporate ethics scandals
such as Enron and Arthur Andersen, a majority of states are requiring
an ethics course as a condition for certified public accountant
license renewal.
The
bad news? The majority of business schools are not requiring such
stand-alone ethics courses as a condition of graduation.
In
fact, research by a team from Kansas State University's College
of Business Administration suggests that ethics courses in business
schools have declined during the past two or three decades, while
continuing education in accounting is showing the opposite trend,
especially in the wake of the accounting and corporate scandals.
To
K-State's Dann Fisher, associate professor of accounting and a Deloitte
and Touche Faculty Fellow, and Diane Swanson, associate professor
of management and von Waaden business administration professor,
this trend should be reversed.
"Presently,
continuing education is outstripping university requirements for
ethics courses in accounting degree programs," Swanson said.
The
findings by Fisher and Swanson will appear in an upcoming issue
of the international journal, Accounting Education. Fisher and Swanson
co-authored their article with Jaime Schmidt, who earned both a
bachelor's and a master's in accounting from K-State. Schmidt is
currently a doctoral student at Texas A&M University.
Fisher
and Swanson agree that one reason accounting degree programs lag
in ethics education is because innovative research and team teaching
across accounting and management departments are scarce nationally.
Since ethics courses have primarily been housed in the management
department at most business schools, the result is that they are
given short shrift in accounting programs. By working across these
disciplinary boundaries, the two scholars hope to offer a doable
blueprint for change, according to the researchers.
"Most
programs want to meet the accreditation standard for ethics with
the least amount of effort and disruption," Fisher said. "We
are fortunate at K-State to have a strong teaching and research
emphasis in ethics in the College of Business Administration, and
faculty who work well together and are willing to cooperate to develop
a course."
Fisher
said his chief concern is that the national discussion seems to
be mired in a meaningless debate about whether a stand-alone course
or integration across the curriculum is the best way to teach ethics.
"Despite
the efforts of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy
to require an ethics course as a condition of sitting for the certified
public accountant exam, I don't see this debate being resolved soon,
much to the detriment of the profession," Fisher said. "The
events of recent years lead us to question the status quo and to
think that a different model is in order. We believe that an ethics
course is necessary to create the fundamentals needed for ethics
coverage integrated across the remainder of the curriculum, and
for continuing professional education courses to be effective.
"While
we remain active in the national dialogue, I have little confidence
that the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy will
be effective in creating a standard for ethics education in accounting,"
he said.
Fisher
is nationally known for his research on ethics and accounting. He
has had articles published in a number of journals, including Research
on Accounting Ethics, Behavioral Research in Accounting and the
Journal of Business Ethics. Swanson, who is nationally known for
ethics research in management, spearheaded a national campaign that
called for required business ethics course work in the wake of corporate
scandals.
Swanson's
endeavor earned the endorsement of more than 200 professors, ethicists
and business professionals, as well as two conference boards. It
also gained national and international media coverage.
This
fall, Swanson is teaching a graduate-level professional ethics course.
A majority of the students are accounting majors. Fisher is helping
to team-teach part of the course as a prelude to the pair teaming
up to teach a new experimental ethics course for undergraduate accounting
students in spring 2007.
"This
kind of team teaching is in the minority in business schools, especially
given the weak performance of business schools in this area in the
wake of the corporate scandals," Swanson said.
Swanson
and Fisher also are co-editors of the book, "Advancing Business
Ethics Education," scheduled for publication in 2007.
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