IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/arapps/v15y2007i1p6-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The importance in accounting of ambiguity tolerance at the national level

Author

Listed:
  • Noel Harding
  • Mingchuan Ren

Abstract

Purpose - The aim of the research is to examine potential differences in the levels of ambiguity tolerance between Australian and Chinese accountants at the national, rather than individual, level. Design/methodology/approach - Ambiguity tolerance levels of final year accounting students (proxying for entry level accountants) and first year accounting students from Australia and China were measured using the MacDonald AT‐20 Ambiguity Tolerance Index. Comparisons were made across the four subject pools with a view to identifying national level differences suggested by the cultural, sociological, historical, and contemporary issues impacting on the accounting profession in the two countries. Findings - Entry level accountants in China are less tolerant of ambiguity than their Australian counterparts. There are, however, no statistically significant differences in the levels of ambiguity tolerance between first year accounting students in China and Australia. Research limitations/implications - The research employed final year accounting students as surrogates for entry level accountants. Future research could usefully extend this research to practicing accountants at different ranks. Practical implications - Given the central role of ambiguity in contemporary accounting practice, the potential implications are broad. This is particularly the case with regard to the harmonization of accounting practices in that accountants with different tolerances for ambiguity might make different decisions in the face of similar accounting standards and circumstances. Interestingly, the results from the research suggest that differences in ambiguity tolerance are attributable to events occurring while students are studying. Originality/value - This research examines ambiguity tolerance at the national level (rather than the individual level), thereby allowing practical implications to be prescribed.

Suggested Citation

  • Noel Harding & Mingchuan Ren, 2007. "The importance in accounting of ambiguity tolerance at the national level," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(1), pages 6-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:arapps:v:15:y:2007:i:1:p:6-24
    DOI: 10.1108/13217340710763726
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13217340710763726/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13217340710763726/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/13217340710763726?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carpenter, Brian & Dirsmith, Mark, 1993. "Sampling and the abstraction of knowledge in the auditing profession: An extended institutional theory perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 41-63, January.
    2. Harding, Noel & Mckinnon, Jill, 1997. "User involvement in the standard-setting process: A research note on the congruence of accountant and user perceptions of decision usefulness," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 55-67, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fred Pries & Ron Baker, 2010. "A Proposal for Teaching Introductory and Intermediate Accounting in an Environment of International Financial Reporting Standards and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Private Enterprises," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 15-27, March.
    2. Arquero, José Luis & Fernández-Polvillo, Carmen & Hassall, Trevor & Joyce, John, 2017. "Relationships between communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance and learning styles in accounting students," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 13-24.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guénin-Paracini, Henri & Malsch, Bertrand & Paillé, Anne Marché, 2014. "Fear and risk in the audit process," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 264-288.
    2. Olivier Herrbach, 2001. "Audit quality, auditor behaviour and the psychological contract," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 787-802.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3505 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Marius Gros & Daniel Worret, 2016. "Lobbying and Audit Regulation in the EU," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 381-403, September.
    5. Pentland, Brian T., 2000. "Will auditors take over the world? Program, technique and the verification of everything," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 307-312, April.
    6. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Gendron, Yves, 2021. "Networks of interpretation: An ethnography of the quest for IFRS consistency in a global accounting firm," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Zhang, Mao & Wang, Yiming & Zhao, Qifeng, 2020. "Does participating in the standards-setting process promote innovation? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    10. Fabien Cerruti & Christelle Richard, 2008. "Qualité de l'audit et Satisfaction de l'audité : Chronique d'une Innovation Ordinaire," Post-Print halshs-00522438, HAL.
    11. Carnegie, Garry D. & McBride, Karen M. & Napier, Christopher J. & Parker, Lee D., 2020. "Accounting history and theorising about organisations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    12. Power, Michael, 1996. "Making things auditable," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 289-315.
    13. Power, Michael, 2013. "The apparatus of fraud risk," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 525-543.
    14. Yong, Kevin Ow & Lim, Chu Yeong & Tan, Pearl, 2016. "Theory and practice of the proposed conceptual framework: Evidence from the field," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 62-74.
    15. Fischer, Michael J., 1996. ""Real-izing" the benefits of new technologies as a source of audit evidence: An interpretive field study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 219-242.
    16. Mohammad Hudaib & Roszaini Haniffa, 2009. "Exploring auditor independence: an interpretive approach," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 221-246, January.
    17. Jeffrey Cohen & Yuan Ding & Cédric Lesage & Hervé Stolowy, 2017. "Media Bias and the Persistence of the Expectation Gap: An Analysis of Press Articles on Corporate Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 637-659, September.
    18. Power, Michael K., 2003. "Auditing and the production of legitimacy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 379-394, May.
    19. Ruhnke, Klaus & Schmitz, Stefanie, 2019. "Review engagements – structure of audit firm methodology and its situational application in Germany," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    20. Christopher Humphrey, 2008. "Auditing research: a review across the disciplinary divide," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 170-203, February.
    21. Funnell, Warwick & Wade, Margaret, 2012. "Negotiating the credibility of performance auditing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 434-450.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:arapps:v:15:y:2007:i:1:p:6-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.