Academic Dishonesty of Accounting Students at Higher Learning Institutions

Academic dishonesty is a serious educational problem. One of the major consequences of academic dishonesty is the increasing cases of corporate scandals involving accountants. The integrity of accounting programs has been repeatedly questioned since the accounting profession is being entrusted with immense responsibility of preparing and communicating high quality information to a multitude of stakeholders for decision-making purposes. Considering that the accounting students are future business leaders, their academic integrity at the educational level should be given close attention. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a general discussion on an array of academic dishonesty committed by accounting students at higher learning institutions. The discussion also includes factors leading to academic dishonesty such as poor academic policy, the advent of advanced technology and the demographic profile of the students. The penultimate part of the discussion proposes several corrective measures that can be implemented in reducing cases of academic dishonesty. These measures, to be successful, require integrated efforts by many parties concerned. Overall, this paper offers some insights that can be useful in overcoming academic dishonesty from continually being an epidemic on campus. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p702