IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v142y2017i2d10.1007_s10551-016-3151-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discussion of “Recognizing Ethical Issues: An Examination of Practicing Industry Accountants and Accounting Students”

Author

Listed:
  • Dawn W. Massey

    (Fairfield University)

Abstract

In public accounting, it is well documented that auditors’ focus on the financial/profitability aspects of their work (i.e., commercialism) creates ethical challenges that can compromise the auditors’ ability to uphold the public interest (see, e.g., Bailey, in Curr Issues Audit 2(1):C28–C36, 2008; Chow et al., in Res Prof Responsib Ethics Account 17:97–138, 2013; Fogarty and Rigsby, in J Account Org Change 6(3):300–329, 2010; Gendron, in Contemp Account Res 18(2):283–310, 2001; Account Org Soc 27(7):659–684, 2002; Lampe and Garcia, in Res Prof Responsib Ethics Account 17:1–45, 2013; Wyatt, in Account Horiz 18(1):45–53, 2004; Zeff, Account Horizons 17(3):189–205, 2003a; Account Horizons 17(4):267–286, 2003b). Less well-studied are other accounting settings (cf., Bampton and Cowton, in J Bus Ethics, 114(3):549–563, 2013; Jones et al., in J Account Literature 22:45–103, 2003). In their paper, Fiolleau and Kaplan (J Bus Ethics (Forthcoming), 2016) address the void by providing insight into the impact of corporate reward structure (context) on the ethical sensitivity of accountants practicing in industry and accounting students (non-auditors). Further, they contribute to the literature by measuring ethical sensitivity using a novel funnel questioning technique, which addresses methodological challenges associated with studying ethical sensitivity. In these comments, I discuss my perspective on Fiolleau and Kaplan’s (J Bus Ethics (Forthcoming), 2016) key contributions to the literature and provide suggestions for moving the research forward in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Dawn W. Massey, 2017. "Discussion of “Recognizing Ethical Issues: An Examination of Practicing Industry Accountants and Accounting Students”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 277-283, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3151-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3151-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3151-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3151-5?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. Sally Gunz & Linda Thorne, 2015. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Tone at the Top," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 1-2, January.
    2. Gendron, Yves, 2002. "On the role of the organization in auditors' client-acceptance decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 659-684, October.
    3. William Shafer, 2015. "Ethical Climate, Social Responsibility, and Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 43-60, January.
    4. Roberta Bampton & Christopher Cowton, 2013. "Taking Stock of Accounting Ethics Scholarship: A Review of the Journal Literature," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 549-563, May.
    5. Sally Gunz & Linda Thorne, 2015. "Erratum to: Introduction to the Special Issue on Tone at the Top," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 167-167, January.
    6. Yves Gendron, 2001. "The Difficult Client†Acceptance Decision in Canadian Audit Firms: A Field Investigation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 283-310, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yves Gendron & Laura F. Spira, 2009. "What Went Wrong? The Downfall of Arthur Andersen and the Construction of Controllability Boundaries Surrounding Financial Auditing," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 987-1027, December.
    2. Jonathan Farrar & Dawn W. Massey & Errol Osecki & Linda Thorne, 2021. "The Association Between Vertical Equity and Presidential Voting Behavior and Taxpayers’ Compliance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 101-114, August.
    3. Tabea Franziska Hirth-Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Management accountants and ethical dilemmas: How to promote ethical intention?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 287-322, October.
    4. Sammy Xiaoyan Ying & Chris Patel & Aeson Luiz Dela Cruz, 2023. "The influence of partners' known preferences on auditors' sceptical judgements: The moderating role of perceived social influence pressure," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3193-3215, September.
    5. Gianni Onesti & Riccardo Palumbo, 2023. "Tone at the Top for Sustainable Corporate Governance to Prevent Fraud," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Le Manh, Anne, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Hervé Kohler & Christine Pochet & Anne Le Manh, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Post-Print hal-03337420, HAL.
    8. O'Regan, Philip & Killian, Sheila, 2021. "Beyond professional closure: Uncovering the hidden history of plain accountants," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Stenka, Renata, 2022. "Beyond intentionality in accounting regulation: Habitual strategizing by the IASB," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Kaplan, Steven E. & Williams, David D., 2012. "The changing relationship between audit firm size and going concern reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 322-341.
    11. Claire France Picard & Sylvain Durocher & Yves Gendron, 2013. "From Meticulous Professionals To Superheroes Of The Business World: A Historical Portrait Of A Cultural Change In The Field Of Accountancy," Post-Print hal-00993019, HAL.
    12. Murphy, Tim & O’Connell, Vincent, 2017. "Challenging the dominance of formalism in accounting education: An analysis of the potential of stewardship in light of the evolution of legal education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-29.
    13. Bertrand Malsch & Yves Gendron, 2013. "Re-Theorizing Change: Institutional Experimentation and the Struggle for Domination in the Field of Public Accounting," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 870-899, July.
    14. Aziza Laguecir & Bernard Leca, 2022. "Organized Decoupling of Management Control Systems: An Exploratory Study of Traders’ Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 153-169, November.
    15. Dunne, Neil J. & Brennan, Niamh M. & Kirwan, Collette E., 2023. "How the Big Four maintain and defend logic equilibrium at concurrent performances," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Everett, Jeff & Shiraz Rahaman, Abu & Neu, Dean & Saxton, Gregory, 2024. "Letters to the editor, institutional experimentation, and the public accounting professional," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Lu-Ming Tseng, 2019. "How Implicit Ethics Institutionalization Affects Ethical Selling Intention: The Case of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Salespeople," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 727-742, September.
    18. Ben Khaled, Wafa & Gérard, Benoît & Farjaudon, Anne-Laure, 2022. "Analysis of the political and identity dynamics of a dominant mode of control: The case of business ethics control and its legalization," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Rafael Robina Ramírez & Pedro R. Palos-Sánchez, 2018. "Environmental Firms’ Better Attitude towards Nature in the Context of Corporate Compliance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    20. Johannes Brinkmann, 2019. "The Potential Use of Sociological Perspectives for Business Ethics Teaching," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 273-287, April.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3151-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.