The perception of the subject of “ethics” by students of accountancy in universities in the southern region of Brazil

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to highlight the perception of the subject of ethics for students in their final year of accountancy at universities in southern Brazil. This study has a descriptive characteristic with a quantitative approach. The data was collected by applying a survey; across the board and ex post facto. The interpretation of the data came from the analysis between two clusters, differentiated by level of agreement; general (higher agreement with the ethical principles) and partial (agreement to a lesser degree of ethics), in relation to investigative proposals. From the perspective of ethics being able to be taught; normative, questioned, and dependant on culture, there were no signicant differences in the student’s perception.  The importance, which has been acknowledged, of the Code of Ethics of the Accounting Profession to guide professional conduct, was stressed. However, among respondents in the general level, 55.56% said they had not even read the code prior to this investigation.