Student and Practitioner Cheating: A Crisis for the Accounting Profession

Donald L. Ariail, Lawrence Murphy Smith and Amine Khayati ()
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Donald L. Ariail: Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA
Lawrence Murphy Smith: College of Business, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA
Amine Khayati: Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA

JRFM, 2025, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: In this essay, we propose that the prevalence of cheating by accounting students and serial cheating by accounting practitioners at Big-4 accounting firms is related. Our model of this problem suggests that students who cheat in school become practitioners who cheat in practice, and practitioners, in turn, model dishonest behavior for students. We propose that this vicious cycle of dishonesty poses a threat to the public’s trust in the accounting profession, and this crisis calls for drastic measures, both in academia and in practice, akin to measures like the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. As an honorable profession, dishonesty cannot be tolerated. Brief overviews of the prevalence of cheating, both by students and by Big-4 accounting practitioners are presented. Suggestions are included for a three-prong approach by accounting stakeholders to reduce this egregious ethical problem—a problem that, we suggest, is causing a new crisis in confidence for the accounting profession.

Keywords: cheating; ethical behavior; dishonesty; integrity; ethics codes; social learning theory; Rokeach value theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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