What is being done to stop the increase of accounting scandals and frauds? This study focuses on ethics teaching for accounting students at the undergraduate level. This study asks the question, "have students increased in their use of professional judgement as defined by the AICPA code of Professional Conduct?"

This study examines the impact of knowledge, experience, goal orientation, ethical orientation, and personality traits on managers' and accountants' abilities to recognize misappropriation of assets. Participants included students and professionals. The student group included upper-level accounting majors and upper-level management majors. The professional group included students enrolled in an introductory accounting course for their MBA program and internal auditors from a variety of organizations. Findings in the study show that accounting students assessed the possibility that fraud was in progress at a higher level than the management students, suggesting that the accounting students acquire basic knowledge about fraud from the accounting curriculum, which improves performance. The effect of reading articles was marginally significant for assessing the possibility of fraud, showing that students who have read or who are required to read articles better identify the clues associated with employee theft. For the professional group, the effects of academic major and fraud specific training led to identifying the possibility of employee theft at a higher level. It appears that training sessions help professionals in identifying the risk factors associated with fraudulent activity, producing benefits to organizations that far outweigh the costs. Full-time work experience was marginally significant (p Several findings of the additional analysis using structural equation modeling extend the audit decision making literature by showing certain factors that enhance knowledge and improve decision making as experience increases. Higher learning goal orientation scores, mediated by experience and ethical position, should lead to more accurate identification of risk factors that are commonly associated with fraudulent activity. These findings should encourage firms to draw upon the knowledge of experts as they develop expert decision aids and training sessions for internal audit departments. Organizations should also integrate actual instances of misappropriation of assets into training sessions on fraud prevention and detection while developing and improving models of training sessions and expert decision aids for unstructured, complex tasks.

Interpretation 101-3 of the AICPA Code of Professional Ethics provides four independence requirements for certified public accountants performing bookkeeping services. As such, these requirements are largely thought of as rules requiring compliance. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence related to the question, "Can the guidelines in Interpretation 101-3 be effectively interpreted?" Accordingly, the research objectives were twofold: (1) to make an estimate of the effectiveness of independence discrimination resulting from the use of Interpretation 101-3 , and (2) to identify variables related to differences in CPAs' judgements of impairment and non-impairment of CPA independence in situations covered by Interpretation 101-3. The research methodology for this study was based on a case approach. Twelve situations developed from analysis of Interpretation 101-3 and discussions with practitioners were organized into twenty-four cases in which a CPA firm provided a variety of accounting services. These twenty-four cases were divided into two case sets of twelve cases each and then combined with two cases from a previous study by David Lavin. These cases were submitted to an expert panel for validation as to their relationship to Interpretation 101-3, and a predetermined "correct" judgement was established for use in analysis. A mail survey of the licensees of the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy was used for collecting data. The CPAs were provided with a copy of Interpretation 101-3 and asked to base their judgements exclusively on the standard. Hypothesis testing was used to determine the effectiveness of the independence discrimination resulting from the use of Interpretation 101-3. Statistical models were developed for evaluating differences in the effectiveness of independence discrimination and differences in the CPAs' judgements themselves.

I investigated whether implementing SOP 97-2, the revenue-recognition standard for the software industry, reduces earnings informativeness. This standard is particularly important for two reasons: First, its provisions coincide with provisions of SAB 101, the current general revenue-recognition standard. Second, the software industry provides a laboratory setting for examining multiple-element firms, whose revenue-recognition challenges keep mounting as more and more firms bundle multiple products and services. I found that implementing SOP 97-2 leads to additional revenue deferrals and a decline in earnings informativeness. However, the market prices these deferrals as revenues, as if these amounts had not been deferred. Moreover, the proforma earnings, which I calculated by undoing the revenue deferrals, more strongly correspond with market returns than do the reported earnings. My findings indicate that the accounting numbers calculated using the pre-SOP 97-2 revenue-recognition rules more strongly correspond with market returns than do those calculated using SOP 97-2. My findings should interest FASB in its project on developing a new revenue-recognition standard.

The thesis deals with an ethical behavior of professional accountants and their respective codes of ethics. The first part focuses on ethics in a broader sense, influences that could explain unethical behavior, and the core philosophies of ethics. The Importance of the Codes of Ethics is the introduction to presenting several important regulatory bodies for professional accountants - the authors of the codes of ethics. The next part of the thesis analyzes two of the most important codes - the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants by International Federation of Accountants and the Code of Professional Conduct by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The goal of this thesis is their comparison, while highlighting some of the differences.

A great deal of attention has been paid in the last several decades to improving the ethical decisions of public accountants. A variety of approaches to meeting this goal have been advanced, from increasing the coverage of ethics in the classroom, to improving the effectiveness of regulatory responses to breaches in ethical conduct. Little attention has been paid to researching accounting ethics from the perspective of ethical theory. This thesis adds to the relatively thin body of research in that area. Chapter one briefly covers the history of accounting ethics in the United States, from the organization of the American Association of Public Accountants in the early 20th century, to the relatively recent scandals surrounding Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen. This brief history is followed by an overview of the regulatory approach to improving ethical conduct, which leads into a discussion of the study of professional ethics in accounting and the importance of professional codes of ethics in regulating behavior. The background of the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct and several criticisms of the Code are then discussed. Chapter two offers a rationale for applying a framework of ethical theory to the study of accounting ethics, and discusses an important limitation of that approach. Chapter three presents an overview of those ethical theories most directly applicable to the study of accounting ethics, which will serve as a foundation for the analysis presented in chapter four. Chapter four analyzes the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct from the perspective of the ethical theories presented in chapter three. Finally, chapter five offers several suggestions for enhancing the moral reasoning skills of public accountants and accounting students.

在１９８７年１１月，AICPA 會員表決通過重新制訂「職業行為規範」，代表會計專 業界對會計環境急速變遷的正面反應，新規範同時也為擴充專業服務，及針對在聚變 的競爭環境中所面臨之專業上的變動，提供指引的架構。本論文探討美國「職業行為 規範」發展的經過、修訂的原因，以及新規範是否可供國內借鏡之處，另一方面探討 我國會計師公會會員和財務主管對職業行為規範認知上之差異，以及國內目前職業道 德修訂之必要性及可行性。 本研究包括文獻資料之蒐集與分析，並以會計師公會會員（１９８８年會員名錄）及 公司財務主管為問卷調查對象，以單因子變異數分析及t 檢定進行分析。

本文係以審計人員的查核報告書為研究範圍，旨在追蹤查核報告書的發展程，討論大 眾對查核報告書內容的認知差距，介紹AICAP 為縮短此一差距所作的努力，以期尋求最適合我國情沿的查核告報書內容。 查核報告書乃會計師對公司財務報表之允當性表示其專業意見所簽發之報告書。社會 大眾在從事投資或授信決策時，常須藉助會計師的查核報告書，來判斷作為決策依據 之財務報表是否可靠。然而，查核報告書之內容篤措詞是否能夠有效地將資訊傳遞給 使用者，卻備受質疑。AICPA 針對此一情形，於１９８８年４月發佈了第５８號審計準則公報（SAS NO．５８）， 對自１９４８年沿用至今的查核報告書內容作了相當幅度修改。 本論文的第一部份，對查核報告書之發展歷程依年代作一有系統的整理，探討各時期 發生變革的原因。第二部份說明現行查核報告書所欲傳達的資訊內容，以及報告書使 用者對資訊內容的認知差距。第三部份介紹SAS NO．５８制定的背景以及修改重點。 本論文實證分成兩部份。第一部份採實驗室實驗，以學生做受試者，旨在探討不同用 語之查核報告書的溝通效果。第二部份採郵寄問卷調查，受試對象為會計師與銀行人 員，旨在了解此二團體對於修改現行查核報告書的意見。

會計師之簽證功能在經濟發達的社會中，扮演著一個極為重要的角色，會計師事務所 服務品質之良窳，對委托人及委托人以外之第三者（包括投資人、政府、債權人等） 的財務利益影響至為深遠。惟近年來會計師因疏於職守而被提起控訴之情事屢有所聞 ，外界對會計專業之風評日差，會計專業為挽回日漸下跌之聲譽, 遂提出「以提高服 務品質為鵠的，以實施事務所評鑑為方針」之自律運動，以期執業素質符合專業水準 ，重建社會對會計專業之信心。 本論文共計六章，凡一冊, 約六萬餘言，主要內容可分為下列兩大部分： （一）就個別事務所而言: 充研究各事務所之品質控制為重心，討論一個組織完善之 事務所，為確保其各項業務均遵守專業準則，所應實施之各項品質控制政策及程序、 各別差異性、有關之專業準則、及實施時應注意之事項等。 （二）就會計專業整體而言：以研究美國會計師公會（AICPA ）所實施之「同業評鑑 」計劃（Peer Review Program ）為主，除討論其由來、沿革及管理方法外，並詳加 說明遵行試驗之實施步驟、報告準則、及事務所品質控制之評估方法，以供國內有關 單位，在實施稅簽評鑑、財簽評鑑時之參考。