Can professional skepticism be learned? Evidence from China

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore whether professional skepticism can be learned in a classroom setting, an issue that has received scant attention in the prior literature. A questionnaire was administered to students enrolled either in the accounting program or in the business administration program of a large college in China. The author finds that participation in ethics education is positively related to students’ professional skepticism, whereas participation in auditing education is not related to accounting students’ professional skepticism. The author also finds that accounting and nonaccounting business students exhibit no significant difference in their scores of professional skepticism.

Keywords:

• China
• ethics education
• professional accounting education
• professional skepticism