Ghostwriters in the cloud

• Ghostwriters complete coursework for your students – a growing problem.
• Ghostwriting affects faculty, academic institutions, and accounting practitioners.
• Few states outlaw ghostwriting, and no federal law prevents it.
• A pilot study we conducted shows that even new authentication software is imperfect.
• Accounting professors can help control ghostwriting following our best practices.

Ghostwriters are “hired guns” who complete online tests, write term papers, or even take entire courses on behalf of others. Several surrogate indicators suggest that the market for ghostwriting is growing. This paper explores the antecedents, ethical considerations, and legal issues involved with ghostwriting, and discusses the authentication techniques, identity-management methodologies, and proctoring options that can help control ghostwriting activities. It also describes a pilot study that the authors conducted of a promising authentication system. Both institutions of higher learning and accounting educators can adopt policies and procedures to deal with ghostwriters, and we include a list of best practices for this problem.