Title: What about ethics? An empirical investigation of Romanian students' perception on earnings management

Authors: Alina Beattrice Vladu

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract: This paper assessed the knowledge structures underlying accounting representations, rarely investigated in accounting by examining the perceptions of master and last year students from an ex-communist country relative to the ethics of short-term earnings management. In this respect a survey was conducted during one month period in two of the largest public universities in Romania. The results document a differentiate acceptance of the types of earnings management (e.g., accrual-based versus real earnings management). Overall Romanian students seems to accept as less ethical the accrual-based earnings management and to have a high moral development and understanding of the consequences of both types of earnings management practices. Limits of the paper are presented and also the scope for future research.

Keywords: ethical judgments; ethics; accrual-based earnings management; real earnings management; short-term earnings management; emerging economies; Romania; student perceptions; university students.

DOI: 10.1504/AJAAF.2015.072221

African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, 2015 Vol.4 No.2, pp.121 - 138

Received: 30 May 2015
Accepted: 30 May 2015
Published online: 05 Oct 2015 *

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