Ethical decision-making and religious identity: A phenomenological study on the impact of religious identity on ethical decision-making in new and emerging accounting professionals

Ethical decision-making among accounting professionals continues as a topic of interest as accounting fraud never ceases to undermine the accounting profession. Existing literature in business ethics tends to point to religious affiliation as an indicator that one will exhibit ethical behavior in business decision-making. In this study, an initial sample of new and emerging accounting professionals in their senior year of accounting course work or their first 2 years of professional practice completed an online survey regarding their perceptions of accounting ethical behavior and religious affiliation. From the initial pool of 48, 8 participants volunteered to participate in an in-depth interview involving their thoughts on motivating factors for ethical behavior regarding an accounting ethics case. The findings indicate that the accountant's Code of Professional Conduct was a primary motivating factor for ethical decision-making among the new and emerging accounting professionals and that religious affiliation was not the most motivating factor. Other influences including family values and personal morals were also considered important factors. A common theme in the data suggests that both religious and nonreligious, new and emerging accounting professionals were motivated by accountability to a perceived group standard and concern for their reputation when they faced an ethical dilemma.