That General Ed Philosophy Class You Took May Come In Handy

Ethics in accountancy is unlike any other accounting class you will take at Uni. There are no numbers, journal entries, or financial statement preparation. Instead you are considering the reasons even people thought to be good and moral can commit unethical behavior.

I expected the course to be a lot of, “It’s unethical to misstate financial statements” and “It’s wrong to sleep with your boss.” I was pleasantly surprised to spend the first few weeks discussing different philosophical theories that can drive how people make decisions. Turns out that the philosophy class I took sophomore year wasn’t a huge waste of time and sanity after all!

How differing philosophies like deontology, utilitarianism, and egoism can lead to varying ethical decisions in the same situation are heavily discussed[1].

I see many other students struggling with how different this class is compared to the typical accounting course. I’m thankful for that philosophy course (that I hated so much at the time) because it’s made this course so much easier for me.

[1] Max H. Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2011), 25