Orientación Ética de los Estudiantes de Contabilidad: Evidencia en una Universidad Estatal de Chile

This study aims at knowing, analyzing, and explaining the ethical orientation of students in the career of Public Accountancy and Auditing (CPA) in a State University of Chile on the basis of deontological and teleological considerations. Similarly, it seeks to explain the student decision to reward or punish a conduct that is ethical or unethical in order to guide their education on the basis of ethics. Thus, the objectives in the study are: 1) to determine the ethical orientation CPA College students in academic work. The research is based on an adaptation of the design and the measures used by Hunt and Vasquez-Parraga (1993). The results reveal an interesting reality in the ethical background of CPA college students. The vast majority has a clear idea of how to reach ethical judgments, but many are confused when they have to make decisions (such as reward or punish) regarding those acts, ethical or unethical. The vast majority understands the value of morals, they know, but many people get stuck in the consideration of the consequences and do not decide based on the moral value of the conduct, but on the basis of the positive impact they want achieve or the negative consequences that you want to avoid. The study concludes with theoretical reflections and pedagogical applications.