Integrating Ethics into an Undergraduate Tax Planning Course at a University in Hong Kong

Richard S. Simmons

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Integrating Ethics into an Undergraduate Tax Planning Course at a University in Hong Kong

Richard S. Simmons

Lingnan University, Hong Kong, PRC and Monash University, Australia

Volume 11: 2014, pp. 179-198: ABSTRACT

Recent scandals involving accounting firms raise serious concerns about ethical attitudes in the provision of professional tax services. Enhancing the ethics education of prospective tax professionals presents a means through which this situation can be improved. In order to promote such educational development, this study describes the infusion of an ethics intervention in a tax planning course at a university in Hong Kong. Also, the findings of an exploratory survey into the effect of the course on student attitudes towards the ethicality of tax avoidance and evasion are reported. The findings show that student attitudes towards the ethicality of tax avoidance, but not towards tax evasion, became more critical following the course. Several opportunities for future research are proposed.