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Ethics in Tax Practice: A Study of the Effect of Practitioner Firm Size

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  • Elaine Doyle
  • Jane Frecknall-Hughes
  • Barbara Summers

Abstract

While much of the empirical accounting literature suggests that, if differences do exist, Big Four employees are more ethical than non-Big Four employees, this trend has not been evident in the recent media coverage of Big Four tax practitioners acting for multinationals accused of aggressive tax avoidance behaviour. However, there has been little exploration in the literature to date specifically of the relationship between firm size and ethics in tax practice. We aim here to address this gap, initially exploring tax practitioners’ perceptions of the impact of firm size on ethics in tax practice using interview data in order to identify the salient issues involved. We then proceed to assess quantitatively whether employer firm size has an impact on the ethical reasoning of tax practitioners, using a tax context-specific adaptation of a well-known and validated psychometric instrument, the Defining Issues Test. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Elaine Doyle & Jane Frecknall-Hughes & Barbara Summers, 2014. "Ethics in Tax Practice: A Study of the Effect of Practitioner Firm Size," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 623-641, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:122:y:2014:i:4:p:623-641
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1780-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Dinah M. Payne & Cecily A. Raiborn, 2018. "Aggressive Tax Avoidance: A Conundrum for Stakeholders, Governments, and Morality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 469-487, February.
    3. James Alm & Peter Gerbrands & Erich Kirchler, 2022. "Using “responsive regulation” to reduce tax base erosion," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 738-759, July.
    4. Ahmed Musbah & Christopher J. Cowton & David Tyfa, 2016. "The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 335-358, March.
    5. Doyle, Elaine & Frecknall-Hughes, Jane & Summers, Barbara, 2022. "Ethical reasoning in tax practice: Law or is there more?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    6. Jane Frecknall-Hughes & Peter Moizer & Elaine Doyle & Barbara Summers, 2017. "An Examination of Ethical Influences on the Work of Tax Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 729-745, December.
    7. Christofer Adrian & Mukesh Garg & Anh Viet Pham & Soon-Yeow Phang & Cameron Truong, 2023. "Do Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Tax Avoidance? The Case of Drought," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 105-135, August.
    8. Apostol, Oana & Pop, Alina, 2019. "‘Paying taxes is losing money’: A qualitative study on institutional logics in the tax consultancy field in Romania," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-23.
    9. Peter E. Mudrack & E. Sharon Mason, 2022. "Vignette Themes and Moral Reasoning in Business Contexts: The Case for the Defining Issues Test," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 979-995, December.
    10. Frecknall-Hughes, Jane & Gangl, Katharina & Hofmann, Eva & Hartl, Barbara & Kirchler, Erich, 2023. "The influence of tax authorities on the employment of tax practitioners: Empirical evidence from a survey and interview study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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