Abstract Ethical concerns continue to shape the accounting profession and motivate academic research. We explore ethics in a new context, the recruiting process. Specifically, we examine the perceptions of accounting majors about to enter the job market when faced with selected ethical dilemmas typical of the search for professional employment. In addition, we comparatively examine the perceptions of recruiters at national public accounting firms. Our analyses reveal that, on average, neither students nor recruiters display an inclination to take (students) or recommend taking (recruiters) actions that might be regarded as questionable. However, differences are observed in three of the six scenarios we pose, with the students exhibiting less certainty about refraining from specific actions than the recruiters do about not recommending them. Additional analysis indicates that both students and recruiters view the relative severity of the ethical dilemmas presented in much the same way. Collectively, these results suggest that although the two groups share similar perceptions about whether situations represent ethical pitfalls, accounting students may not choose to respond in ways consistent with recruiters' recommendations. Findings in further tests for alternative explanations reveal evidence of possible age and experience effects, suggesting that the students' responses may reflect a relative ethical ‘immaturity’ rather than an intrinsic inclination toward unprincipled behavior.
Turpen et al. (Sun,) studied this question.