Philmore Alleyne and Nadini Persaud
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there were differences in students' ethical perceptions based on gender, academic major and religiosity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there were differences in students' ethical perceptions based on gender, academic major and religiosity.
Design/methodology/approach
A self‐administered survey was conducted of 132 students at a university in Barbados, to determine ethical perceptions on five moral constructs: justice, relativism, utilitarianism, deontology and egoism.
Findings
The study found that females displayed higher ethical values compared to males, non‐accounting students (majoring in management and economics) were more ethical than accounting students, and students who perceived themselves as being religious were more ethical than non‐religious students. Both female accounting and non‐accounting students, as well as religious and non‐religious females, held higher ethical perceptions than their male counterparts.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was small, thus limiting the generalisability of the results to the wider student population.
Practical implications
The results should be useful for educational institutions to implement more ethical courses into the curriculum.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that ethical perceptions are important among undergraduate students, and that there needs to be remedies to improve the low ethical perceptions among accounting students. The paper also contributes to the sparse literature on ethics in the Caribbean.
Details
Keywords
Philmore Alleyne, Nadini Persaud, Peter Alleyne, Dion Greenidge and Peter Sealy
The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of fraud detection techniques in the stock and warehouse cycle in Barbados.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of fraud detection techniques in the stock and warehouse cycle in Barbados.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a self‐administered questionnaire, adapted and modified from Owusu‐Ansah et al. The sample is comprised of 64 auditors. The study examines the perceived effectiveness of audit procedures, the influence of size of the audit firm, and the level of audit experience in the choice of specific audit procedures.
Findings
The study indicates that there is a moderate to high perceived effectiveness of standard audit procedures in the detection of fraud in the stock and warehousing cycle in Barbados and that the majority of the “more effective” audit procedures can be classified as field research techniques that are more direct in obtaining evidence. It is found that auditors from larger firms reported higher means for audit procedures. There are mixed findings with respect to the significant relationship between level of auditing experience of auditors and perceived effectiveness of fraud detection techniques. The study also indicates that males consistently rated the level of effectiveness of audit procedures higher than females.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the relatively small sample size, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Nonetheless, the findings of this study do indicate that auditing procedures in this developing country are on par with those of developed countries.
Practical implications
This paper serves to inform audit‐related policies and regulation on the potential threats within the stock and warehouse cycle.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the limited body of research on fraud detection within the stock and warehouse cycle in small developing countries.