ethics, moral intensity, organizational commitment, professional identify, whistleblowing,

Public accounting firms rely on effective reporting of unethical behavior (whistleblowing) as a form of corporate governance. This study presents results from a survey of 122 in-charge level auditors, who indicated their likelihood of internal whistleblowing under three forms of identity disclosure for three independent scenarios. Reporting likelihood was significantly lower under a disclosed identity format, while there was no significant difference in likelihood between anonymous and protected identity formats. Contrasts reveal a significantly higher likelihood of reporting audit standards violations than a professional code violation. Likelihood was also positively related to measures of trust that the firm would investigate and act on the reported incident. Personal characteristics (i.e., locus of control and ethical style) were significant antecedents to whistleblowing intentions. Findings should aid public accounting firms and organizational governance researchers in their understanding of the determinants of auditors' whistleblowing propensity.

Purpose This study aims to examine how public accounting firms can use developmental mentoring to increase knowledge sharing (KS) among employees directly and indirectly through affective organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a survey of public accounting professionals to elicit participants’ demographics and their perceptions of KS, mentoring relationships and organizational commitment in their workplace. Findings The findings support that two categories of challenges found in developmental mentoring, demonstrating dedication and resilience and career goal and risk orientation, are directly associated with increased KS and they, along with a third, measuring up to mentor’s standards, indirectly influence KS through their positive effect on organizational commitment. Applying social exchange theory, these challenges contribute to a reciprocal relationship between the protégé and mentor, which builds the relationship between the protégé and organization. Practical implications This study provides information about developmental mentoring that human resource professionals and managers in public accounting firms can use to address two persistent challenges facing them: increasing employees’ organizational commitment and encouraging employees to share their knowledge with others at work. Originality/value This study examines the concept of developmental mentoring, adopting three categories of mentoring challenges and applying them in the context of public accounting to examine their effect on KS.

Do financial incentives increase knowledge sharing in a computermediated environment? Thirty-six accounting students assigned to groups with different financial incentives (group, piece-rate, or tournament) searched for errors in accounting-related spreadsheets, with access to an online chat room they could use for helping others. The dependent variable was the amount of knowledge the students shared with others. Quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the group financial incentives inspired more knowledge sharing than did either tournament or piece-rate. Results suggest that managers should carefully consider incentive structures in computer-based systems because incentives potentially affect knowledge sharing.

This paper investigates auditors' likelihood to report observations of colleagues' unethical behavior. We consider whether two characteristics that are particularly relevant to the audit environment, prior organizational response and power distance, affect willingness to report. Data collected from 106 senior-level auditors suggest auditors are more likely to report on their peers than on their superiors, but they are more likely to report superiors when prior organizational response is strong than when it is weak. Additionally, men appear to be relatively less sensitive to variations in power distance or prior organization response than women. Moral intensity of the case is significantly related to reporting likelihood, and power distance moderates this effect such that those who perceive this scenario to be of lower moral intensity are much more influenced by power distance than are those who perceive it to be of high moral intensity. These results contribute to the existing literature on accounting ethics, as well as inform public accounting governance policies.