The academic study -- titled Do Accounting Students Cheat? A Study Examining Undergraduate Accounting Students' Honesty and Perceptions of Dishonest Behavior -- surveyed 569 undergraduate business majors, including 294 undergraduate accounting students, from seven universities in Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.

The study set out to find out if students who were accounting majors were as likely to cheat or act in an academically dishonest manner as were students with other business majors.

The authors of the study, David E. Morris of North Georgia College & State University, and Claire McCarty Kilian of the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, found that 54 percent of the accounting students they surveyed admitted to cheating, compared to 52 percent of business majors overall.

The study also found significant disagreement among accounting majors as to what constitutes dishonest behavior. Students were asked to review case studies and report if the individuals involved engaged in dishonest behavior. In three of the case studies, students disagreed on what constituted cheating or academically dishonest behavior. Interestingly, there was also disagreement among the accounting educators who reviewed the case studies.

Finally, 82 percent of accounting students who admit cheating in college also said they cheated in high school.

A copy of the questionnaire distributed to the students is available in the final report.