Accountants and auditors are supposed to be the gatekeepers that protect us from fraud.

So it's a bit of a worry when we come across a study that finds accounting students are just as likely to cheat as other business students. The study Do accounting students cheat? A study examining undergraduate accounting students' honesty and perceptions of dishonest behavior found that 54 per cent of accounting students said they had cheated in college (versus 52 per cent of business majors).

Interestingly, the study also found that the accounting students couldn't agree what constituted dishonest behavior. Unfortunately, that might well mean they will go far when they join the big firms. But it does raise questions about how much confusion there is about what constitutes cheating or dishonest behavior. And it also suggests that the battle to stop fraud is far from over. The other interesting point is that there was some disagreement among the teachers too.

All of which suggests that the institutions turning out accountants have some work to do.