Two ethical surveys conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia have shown that ethics is high on the agenda for both accounting students and accounting practitioners.  
 
The first survey canvassed the views of 743 students majoring in accounting and commerce and the second surveyed 95 accounting practitioners.  
 
Nearly 70 per cent of students and 94 per cent of practitioners felt that acting ethically in the workplace was very important. Working for an ethical business was also identified as a key requirement with both students and practitioners with nearly 60 per cent of students and nearly 80 percent of practitioners stating it was very important for them to work for an ethical business. 
 
When asked about the definition of ethics, the majority of both students and practitioners understood the definition of ethics as “obeying the law, acting truthfully and courageously – even if it resulted in loss of employment”.  
 
Finally, the vast majority of students and practitioners agreed that the workplace, profession and legal system shared the responsibility of addressing unethical behaviour.