The Strength of an Accounting Firm’s Ethical Environment and the Quality of Auditors’ Judgments

Martinov‐Bennie, Nonna; Pflugrath, Gary

doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9882-1

Cited by 54 publications

(26 citation statements)

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“…The contributions on accountants, though often yielding mixed results, share a common interest, as they aim to understand the effect of variables such as gender, age, and education, on their ethical attitudes and orientations. In this stream of literature, accountants are viewed as professionals who face highly ethical dilemmas (Marques and Azevedo‐Pereira, ; Lan et al , ), especially after the corporate scandals and accounting irregularities that have occurred in recent years (Martinov‐Bennie and Pflugrath, ). Such dilemmas involve pressure to compromise moral principles to acquire or maintain clients, as well as actions that are motivated by the individual's interest or by the firm's short‐term financial interest.…”

Section: Literature Review and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The status and credibility attributed to the accounting profession are linked not only to accountants' technical expertise but also to their ability to project a public image of themselves as ‘ethical experts’ (Martinov‐Bennie and Pflugrath, ). In other words, the function that accountants fulfil in the economic system is dependent on the profession's ability to maintain the perception of high ethical standards and ensure for themselves a respectable image within the community at large.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Is it Shameful to be an Accountant? GenMe Perception(s) of Accountants' Ethics

Caglio

Cameran

2017

Abacus

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The function that accountants fulfil in the economic system is dependent on their ability to maintain the perception of high ethical standards. Building on the idea that birth cohorts, otherwise known as generations, are a useful proxy for the socio‐cultural environment of different time periods, we focus on the so‐called ‘GenMe’, that is, students and young workers born in the 1980s and 1990s. In particular, combining the accounting and business ethics literature, the purpose of our paper is to contribute to an increased awareness of the GenMe perceptions of accountants, with special attention given to ethical aspects. We believe that the perceptions of this age group are particularly crucial for the future of the accounting profession as it is these young people who will either become professional accountants or the accountants' future clients. Using an extensive database of 1,794 questionnaires, results show that the impression of the accountant as a corrupt professional is not dominant among GenMe and seem to suggest the existence of a multifaceted perception of accountants' ethics. Specifically, the factors that contribute to influencing GenMe perceptions of accountants' ethics are level of education, having attended an accounting course at high school level, gender, and belonging to the accounting profession. Finally, our study indicates that there is room for improving public perceptions of accountants' ethics through university courses in ethics, continuing education programs, and focused communication strategies by accounting firms and professional bodies.

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Section: Literature Review and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Is it Shameful to be an Accountant? GenMe Perception(s) of Accountants' Ethics

Caglio

Cameran

2017

Abacus

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“…Social practices assess the formal policies and procedures at a firm (as opposed to the informal culture) and contain two sub-elements: (1) procedures, rules, and codes of ethics, and (2) ethics training. Organizational codes of ethics and formal ethics training affect ethical decisions and behaviors (e.g., Ford and Richardson 1994;Martinov-Bennie and Pflugrath 2009). Finally, outcomes are recognized as rewards and sanctions, and pertain to the explicit consequences of ethical (or unethical) behavior within organizations.…”

Section: Prior Research and Hypothesis Development Prior Accounting Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Investigation of Ethical Environments of CPAs: Public Accounting versus Industry

Bobek

Dalton

Daugherty

et al. 2016

Behavioral Research in Accounting

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate certified public accountants' (CPAs) perceptions of their ethical environments. More specifically, we compare the perceptions of CPAs in (1) public accounting firms to those in industry, and (2) perceptions of CPAs at Big 4 public accounting firms to those at non-Big 4 firms. The ethical environment is one component of overall organizational culture and is important for encouraging ethical decision making. Based on responses from 904 CPAs, we find CPAs working at public accounting firms perceive their ethical environments as significantly stronger than CPAs in industry (and other nonpublic accounting work settings). Additionally, within public accounting, CPAs at Big 4 firms perceive their ethical environments as significantly stronger than those working at non-Big 4 accounting firms. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Data Availability: Please contact the authors.

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“…As Kaplan et al (2007) argue, the effectiveness of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act critically depends upon the attention of the Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to assessing the ethical climates of public accounting firms and to effectively promoting and maintaining audit quality in situations in which unconscious bias and economic incentives may erode the independence of public accounting firms. Indeed, experimental studies support the idea that the quality of auditor judgment is affected by an accounting firm's ethical environment (Martinov-Bennie and Pflugrath, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Buy, Lie, or Die: An Investigation of Chinese ST Firms’ Voluntary Interim Audit Motive and Auditor Independence

Chu

Jiang

2011

J Bus Ethics

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The Strength of an Accounting Firm’s Ethical Environment and the Quality of Auditors’ Judgments

Abstract: auditor experience, audit judgment, code of conduct, ethical environment, quality controls,

Cited by 54 publications

References 40 publications

Is it Shameful to be an Accountant? GenMe Perception(s) of Accountants' Ethics

Is it Shameful to be an Accountant? GenMe Perception(s) of Accountants' Ethics

An Investigation of Ethical Environments of CPAs: Public Accounting versus Industry

Buy, Lie, or Die: An Investigation of Chinese ST Firms’ Voluntary Interim Audit Motive and Auditor Independence

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