Dominant personality types in public accounting: selection bias or indoctrinated?

Burton, Hughlene A.; Daugherty, Brian; Dickins, Denise; Schisler, Dan L.

doi:10.1080/09639284.2015.1127768

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…More recent research findings, however, support selection–socialization theory. Burton et al (2016) demonstrated that through hiring selection bias and professional socialization, the personalities of new accountants eventually come to align more closely with those of more experienced accountants. We, therefore, expect that the selection–socialization process will result in differences in ethical reasoning between Indian students and professionals.…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whistleblowing in India: evidence from accounting students and professionals

Brody

Gupta

White

2020

IJAIM

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whistleblowing behavior in the accounting community (students and professionals) in an emerging economy – India. Design/methodology/approach Using a case-based approach, data were collected from 263 accounting students and 268 accounting professionals in India. Findings Using multivariate and univariate analyses of variance and logistic regressions, the authors provided evidence on how accounting students and professionals behave in a whistleblowing environment. Specifically, the authors found mixed results when comparing the behavior of accounting students and professionals in a whistleblowing scenario. All subjects reflected a more collectivist attitude, although professionals were more concerned about “fixing” the identified internal control problem (a “shared” problem). Both groups expressed a firm desire to collect more evidence against the likely fraudster. Practical implications In this era of global offshoring of services including accounting, the current study makes significant contributions to the accounting ethics literature and the accounting profession by analyzing whistleblowing behavior from an Indian perspective – a highly underrepresented area in the accounting ethics literature. The study aims to guide companies and investors in the US and elsewhere that do business in India. Originality/value While the accounting literature has plenty of research on whistleblowing in the Western world, there is a dearth of literature on whistleblowing in India. This paper is among the first to document whistleblowing behavior in India, a country that prides itself on its vast availability of English-speaking and technically sound accounting professionals.

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Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whistleblowing in India: evidence from accounting students and professionals

Brody

Gupta

White

2020

IJAIM

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“…While this concern has some empirical support (e.g., King ; Moore et al ), prior studies, to our knowledge, have not considered whether auditor responses to social interaction are contingent on their personalities, nor have prior studies considered how these relationships vary over time. Further, while prior research on auditor skepticism considers individual personality traits to be “very important determinants of whether [the auditor] exhibits an appropriate level of skepticism” (Hurtt et al , 55–56), little research has examined underlying traits (Swain and Olsen ; Burton et al ) and how they are influenced by social interaction. We examine the joint influence of social interaction and personality on the behavior of auditors in a multi‐period, interactive, economically robust experimental setting (Bowlin et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Benefit of Mean Auditors: The Influence of Social Interaction and the Dark Triad on Unjustified Auditor Trust

Hobson

Stern

Zimbelman

2020

Contemporary Accting Res

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Regulators and researchers have expressed concerns that social interaction leads auditors to unjustifiably trust managers, constituting a lack of sufficient professional skepticism. Using both an abstract laboratory experiment and a contextually rich experiment with practicing auditors we predict and find that higher Dark Triad auditors (those with higher levels of the shared core between psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) are relatively more resistant to lapses in professional skepticism due to the effects of social interaction. This is likely driven by higher Dark Triad auditors' callousness, lack of empathy, and lack of response to social stimuli. In contrast, while higher social interaction initially increases lower Dark Triad auditors' unjustified trust in managers, this effect reverses in subsequent interactions when lower Dark Triad auditors observe evidence suggesting managers have reported aggressively. These findings add to research on the effect of auditor personality traits, audit‐client social interaction, and the interaction of these two variables, and suggest that practitioners and researchers account for the interplay of Dark Triad traits and social interaction and their effect on professional skepticism.

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“…According to the traditional stereotype, an accountant is cautious, prudent, and risk-averse (Carnegie & Napier, 2010). This stereotype is also supported by personality assessments conducted on accountants (Burton, Daugherty, Dickins, & Schisler, 2016;Davidson & Dalby, 1993). The salient characteristics of accountants include the development of intellectual skills and knowledge, adherence to shared values manifested in a common code of conduct and responsibility to the public interest (Shaub & Braun, 2014).…”

Section: Professional Background and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a leopard change its spots? Auditors and lawyers as valuation experts for minority shareholders in the judicial appraisal of private firms

Saastamoinen

Savolainen

2020

Business Fin & Account

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Agency theory suggests that minority shareholders in private firms are vulnerable to shareholder oppression, which necessitates shareholder protection. This paper investigates a form of shareholder protection, the special representative of minority shareholders, which is used in Finland and Sweden. The special representative is a valuation expert, typically an auditor or a lawyer, who assists minority shareholders in shareholder dissent cases which require judicial appraisal of the minority interest in a firm. The different codes of conduct associated with these professions may manifest themselves in their performance as valuation experts. We examine a comprehensive data set of judicial valuation cases of Finnish private firms, in which the judge learns the valuation estimates of the controlling shareholder, the minority shareholder and the special representative and then issues a verdict on the fair price of the firm's shares.Our findings indicate that the special representative benefits minority shareholders by reducing the gap between the minority shareholders' and the judge's valuation estimates. Our results also suggest that the special representative's professional background may affect how he or she values the company. We find that special representatives who are auditors propose more conservative valuation estimates than lawyers do.

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Dominant personality types in public accounting: selection bias or indoctrinated?

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Whistleblowing in India: evidence from accounting students and professionals

Whistleblowing in India: evidence from accounting students and professionals

The Benefit of Mean Auditors: The Influence of Social Interaction and the Dark Triad on Unjustified Auditor Trust

Does a leopard change its spots? Auditors and lawyers as valuation experts for minority shareholders in the judicial appraisal of private firms

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