Auditors' Ethical Reasoning: Insights from Past Research and Implications for The Future  

Oleh:

Jones, Joanne ; Massey, Dawn W. ; Thorne, Linda

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Journal of Accounting Literature vol. 2003 no. 22 (2003), page 045-103.
Topik: Public Sector Accounting; PSA; Ethical Action
Fulltext: JAL 03 22 045.pdf (4.98MB)

Isi artikel

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the empirical research on auditors' ethical reasoning within a framework that considers cognitive development, individual characteristics and contextual factors. In so doing, we wish to facilitate an understanding of the extant literature and provide a basis for improving auditors' ethical reasoning. Auditors' ethical reasoning encompasses cornerstone concepts of the auditing profession, such as: due care, independence, objectivity, professional skepticism, and integrity [Thome, 1998; Jones and Ponemon, 1993]. It reflects auditors' ability to render judgment unaltered by self-interest and to recognize the potential impact of the judgment on the welfare of others [Ponemon and Gabhart, 1994; Jones, 1991]. In this paper, we use Rest's [1979, 1994] Model of Ethical Action as an organizing framework. Grounded in the cognitive-developmental perspective [Kohlberg, 1969], Rest's [1979, 1994] Model of Ethical Action has been applied to describe the key components of the ethical decision process in a management context [Jones, 1991; Trevino, 1986; Ferrell and Gresham, 1985] and in an audit context [Thome, 1998; Lampe and Finn, 1992]. Although there are various reviews of auditors' ethical reasoning [e.g., Collins, 2000; Louwers, Ponemon, and Radtke, 1997; Ponemon and Gabhart, 1994], none has considered how the empirical studies included in the extant literature influences each of the four components of auditors ethical reasoning process nor have they explicitly considered the association between each of the four components and individual and contextual factors. The remainder of the paper is divided into two sections. Section 2.0 provides a review of the literature organized according to the four components of Rest's [1979, 1994] Model of Ethical Action, showing the variables that have been explored in past research as well as variables that have received little attention. The final section, Section 3.0, contains a summary and conclusion.

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