ABSTRACT
Accounting alumni frequently report that while they are well prepared to meet the technical challenges of the profession, they are less prepared to address the ethical challenges they face. In a profession that derives its reputation and success from its professional values, this lack of preparation presents a serious gap in our curriculum. Using the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) framework, we demonstrate the impact and personal growth that results from building into the curriculum the tools to address workplace ethical and values-based challenges. Specifically, we employ a multi-pronged approach. First, Beta Alpha Psi students created a service project where they teach the GVV approach to introductory accounting students. The peer to peer approach serves as an impactful mechanism to introduce the GVV tools. Building on this, we integrate the GVV approach throughout the accounting curriculum. In comparison with a traditional ethical framework curriculum, we demonstrate that students prepared with the GVV tools exhibit behavioral choices developed with more thoughtful concern for implications over the initial cohort that made more impulsive behavioral choices. Overall, our findings point to the importance of providing tools students can use to act on their values. Once they have the right tools, their confidence improves and they are prepared take positive action to resolve ethical and values-based conflicts.
