Effect of Accounting Ethics on the Quality of Financial Reports Prepared by Accountants in Enugu State

The quality and reliability of financial reports in Nigerian organizations are fundamentally linked to the ethical conduct of accounting professionals, yet incidents of financial fraud and reporting manipulation signal persistent ethical breaches within the profession. This study examined the effect of accounting ethics on the quality of financial reports prepared by accountants in Enugu State, with a focus on practitioners registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and Association of National Accountants of Nigeria. The study was anchored on the virtue ethics theory, which emphasizes character, integrity, and professional virtue as foundations of ethical conduct. A survey research design was adopted, with a population of 318 practicing accountants across public and private sector organizations in Enugu State. A sample of 177 was drawn using proportionate stratified sampling. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection, and data were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. Findings indicated that adherence to professional codes of ethics, independence, and objectivity were positively and significantly associated with higher scores on financial report quality dimensions including accuracy, completeness, and timeliness. The study concluded that ethical conduct by accountants is a critical non-technical determinant of financial reporting quality. It was recommended that professional accounting bodies should intensify continuing professional development programs on ethics and establish anonymous whistleblowing mechanisms to deter unethical reporting practices.

Keywords: Accounting ethics, financial reporting quality, professional conduct, virtue ethics, practicing accountants