The effects of gender and setting on accountants' ethically sensitive decisions

This paper investigates whether gender affects ethically sensitive decision s of a personal or business nature. Data from 51 practicing accountants fro m both public accounting and private industry suggest that while difference s exist between female and male accountants in responses to specific situat ions, overall responses are quite similar. Statistically significant differ ences were found for only five of the sixteen ethically sensitive situation s. Further, when personal and business situations of a similar nature were paired together, two of the eight differences between personal and business responses were significantly different between females and males. Taken as a whole, the results refute the suggestion that the ethical decision makin g of organizations may be enhanced as more women enter the business field.