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In the past several years the accounting profession has faced a great problem of ethical scandals and the loss of public trust, however the greater underlying problem is the lack of understanding how accountant´s reason through ethical dilemmas (or situations) and what factors might contribute to their thinking and as a result their behavior. This has propelled researchers to delve into a deeper understanding of how the accountant´s ethical decisions are influenced by the moral reasoning and contextual factors such as public and client influence, the influence of management´s practices and tone, professional affiliations, code of ethics, laws, and colleague associations. This qualitative phenomenological study describes the thinking behind the accountant´s behavior through understanding the influence of personal beliefs and convictions, and the social and professional factors of the organization and the tone set by the organization, code of ethics, laws, client behavior, and education related to the ethical decision making when faced with an ethical work related dilemma.

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A native of Compton,CA. Dr. Spooney has a BS in Accounting from Cleveland State Univ, a MS in Management from Hampton Univ, MACC/concentration in Taxation from UNF, PhD in Accounting from Capella Univ. She is a Certified Public Accountant, operating her own practice since 2002. She is also a full time professor of Accounting/Tax/Audit.

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