Abstract This article focuses on the need for and implications of ethics and professionalism in accounting education, referencing an article by Steve Loeb, contained in this issue. In his article, Loeb suggested that companies and certified public accounting firms should consider establishing ethics committees to provide an escape value for those employees who are pressured by their business environment. It is suggested that any organization which puts pressure on its people for results has an obligation to itself and its people to create a countervailing mechanism that provides an outlet for the times when that pressure pushes people to the edge. Ethical business practice comes down to people and the values which they have developed. Educators, suggestively, have an important leadership role. It is exercised both in and out of the classroom in contact with the minds of the young. Educators must provide a sensitivity on the part of students to the forces and opportunities which threaten a breakdown in values. According to the authors, academic leaders must be willing to allow the study of values and responsibility to be seen as a legitimate area for research.
Burton et al. (Fri,) studied this question.