Role of ethics education in accounting fraud prevention

Dr. Katie Matt and Dr. Lisa Berardino, faculty members from SUNY Polytechnic Institute's College of Business, are investigating the incorporation of ethics and values into accounting and business education to enhance students' ability to detect and prevent fraud. In their paper, "An Integrated Approach to Developing Students' Ethical Values for Accounting Fraud Prevention: Aligning Course Learning Objectives with the Elements of Fraud," published in the Business Education Innovation Journal, the researchers argue that embedding ethics-based learning objectives throughout a student's program of study can better equip future professionals to recognize fraud risks and make ethical decisions.

The study employs the Fraud Triangle - a framework that considers pressure, opportunity, and rationalization as key factors in fraudulent behavior - as a basis for their recommendations. Rather than confining ethics education to separate courses, the authors propose integrating these objectives across various disciplines within an accounting and business curriculum, including strategic management, organizational behavior, human resource management, and even humanities.

Through curriculum mapping, Matt and Berardino suggest that courses can help students evaluate real-world fraud cases, identify common fraud risk indicators, understand how workplace culture influences decision-making, and recognize the potential for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to introduce new fraud risks.

By developing students' ethical values and professional integrity throughout their education, the researchers believe that accounting and business professionals will be better prepared to navigate complex workplace situations, identify fraud risks, and make sound ethical decisions in their careers.