Executives' beliefs about fraudulent financial reporting and education

The objective of this researcher was to determine executives' opinions on the causal factors that lead to unethical behavior resulting in fraudulent financial reporting. Executives of Fortune 500 companies were surveyed about certain factors related to fraudulent financial reporting and what should be done to mitigate the problem. The survey also contained statements to which the executives responded on their beliefs about the relative importance of company culture, financial incentives, and moral attitude in fraudulent financial reporting. The survey's statements solicited the executives' opinions as to how education should address unethical behavior---what should be the format and content of courses addressing ethics. The main categories of the survey included: (1) how the respondent defined fraudulent financial reporting; (2) the factors that contribute to fraudulent financial reporting; (3) how the respondent ranked those factors in terms of relative importance; and (4) how education in ethics can address unethical behavior resulting in fraudulent financial reporting This is an exploratory descriptive study employing a non-experimental, cross sectional survey design.