The effects of ethics course exposure: a comparative study between Japan and Australia

The International Education Standards for Professional Accountants (IES), as issued by the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), prescribes a minimum set of requirements in accounting education for professional accountants (IFAC, 2003; IAESB, 2008). Among the IESs, IES 4 “Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes” is the standard aimed at ensuring candidates seeking membership to an IFAC member body are equipped with the appropriate professional values, ethics and attitudes to function as a professional accountant. The fundamental aims of the IESs, including IES 4, are to ensure high quality practices are provided by accounting professionals throughout the world. In view of this, all IFAC member bodies and their individual members are required to comply with or assist in the implemention of all the IESs (IFAC Board, 2006) in terms of accounting ethics education. In fact, this call for the global harmonisation of accounting ethics education relies heavily on IES 4 as the benchmarking tool that will hopefully narrow the gap in ethical abilities among accounting professionals and potential candidates across various cultures.