The innovative Bogart Technologies game was developed in response to the revised and restructured International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, released by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) in April 2018.
The Code will be effective from 15 June 2019, with accountants globally required to comply with it after this date.
A "serious" game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than entertainment.
Bogart Technologies is a uniquely designed digital simulation, intended for players at any stage of their professional career.
Other award winning serious games have been developed by the School of Accounting, led by Senior Lecturer of Accounting and serious games expert Gillian Vesty.
Vesty worked alongside Acting Accounting Head of School Steven Dellaportas and Associate Professor and Industry Fellow in the School of Accounting Eva Tsahuridu to create the gamified accounting ethics learning resource.
The revised Code is brought to life as the player steps into the office of fictitious company Bogart, greeted by colleagues and inducted into their new role.
Throughout the transformative learning experience, players are motivated to progress through a series of stages to practice their skills and ethical decision making in context.
Tsahuridu said the game will offer a new scope for ethics training that may not be possible through other traditional methods.
“A lot of ethics training focuses on determining right and wrong actions,” she said.
“While these approaches may be helpful, they do not address one of the key impediments of our ethics at work: we do not do what we know we should do because of pressures and influences.”
Tsahuridu believes the new game will assist players in understanding the influences on our ethics, leading to better equipped accountants to identify ethical issues and comply with the Code.
It will be offered as an RMIT-Cred, a micro-credential that will be embedded in RMIT’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
Beyond the scope of the University, accountants around the world will have the opportunity to complete the micro-credential to familiarise themselves with the continuous changes in ethical requirements.
Professional accountants will also be able to claim three hours of verifiable ethics specific Continuous Professional Development (CPD) upon completion of the game.
The serious accounting ethics game will be launched at the World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) in Sydney, which will run from 5-8 November 2018 and will be available early in 2019.
Story: Maddy Pattison
