Uluslararası Muhasebe ve Finans Araştırmaları Dergisi

Öz

Financial scandals as from the earliest 21st century have turned the attention of the world to the tendencies of accounting and auditing professionals about business ethics. In this regard, standard procedures such as work ethic and occupational ethics have been generated in organizations by the thought that the personal tendencies of persons in related organizations reflect their professional behavior. Unethical behaviors and personal characteristics of accountants have been subjected to many studies by the academic circles to offer an insight into the validity of the legal procedures. Machiavellianism is one of the primary personal characteristics that need to be analyzed by the mentality of ‘every way that leads to success is permissible’.
Besides the members of the profession, university students are accepted as the initial data source for the occupational groups that they will choose in the future. This study aimed to scrutinize the Machiavellian personality level of university students who are the potential accountant candidates; we also tested whether these levels vary by some of the demographic variables. For this purpose, the Machiavellian personality levels of students of Osmaniye Korkut Ata University who study to be a member of the accounting profession based on 3568 numbered Accounting Professional Law were measured by a questionnaire form including Mach IV scale.
For research findings; female participants (contrary to expectations) from among higher education students have a higher level of Machiavelist personality characteristics compared to male participants; associate students have a higher level of Machiavelist personality characteristics compared to undergraduates; Machiavelist personality characteristics of students who are at third and fourth-year students are at a higher level compared to the freshman and sophomores; students who are familiar to accounting knowledge for a longer time have a higher level of Machiavelist personality characteristics more than students who just met with accounting in university; students who are happy about their department have a higher level of Machiavelist personality characteristics compared to students who are not happy about the department; finally, the students who express a negative preference toward choosing a profession about accounting have a higher level of Machiavelist personality characteristics compared to students who express a positive preference toward choosing a profession about accounting.