ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND ETHICAL-REASONING ABILITIES OF FUTURE ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS

This paper was aimed at examining the associations between the ethical-reasoning abilities and religious beliefs of accounting students. The accounting-specific Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979) was used to assess participants' ethical reasoning abilities. Results revealed significant associations between religious beliefs and ethical reasoning abilities. Accounting students with religious beliefs revealed higher levels of ethical reasoning abilities than their counterparts who did not hold religious beliefs. However, no significant difference in ethical-reasoning abilities was found among respondents with different religions overall.