Impact of Accounting Ethics on the Practice of Accounting Profession In Nigeria.

Abstract

This study is an empirical investigation of the impact of ethical values on the practice of accounting profession in Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of this study, research questions were raised, hypotheses were formulated, and a review of related literature was made. The main objective of this study is to examine if accounting ethics have much impact on the practice of accounting profession in Nigeria, the factors that make the accountants breach accounting rules and if ethical codes of conduct address all the issues that border on ethical practices. The study employed a synthesis of descriptive and survey research methods. The major instrument used for generating the primary data was the questionnaire, which was designed in five-response option of likert-scale. Two hundred and fifty (250) questionnaires were administered, two hundred and nineteen (219) questionnaires were completed and returned. The data generated for this study were analysed through mean scores while the stated hypotheses were statistically tested with z-test. Our findings revealed that there are other major influence which accountants believe have impact on their professional conducts like policies and rules of companies where accountants work, religion were found not to have major influence in the professional conduct of accountants. The legal system and societal value systems also inter-played in the accountants' professional conduct. It was recommended among others that the accountant in practice needs to pay attention to good ethical conduct and there is the need to adhere strictly to the ethical code of conduct.