An Examination of Moral Development within Public Accounting by Gender, Staff Level, and Firm*

Abstract

This study extends prior resecirch on the average level of moral development in public accounting by examining five large accounting firms and three staff levels. The research is important because it highlights the need to include auditors from several firms in research designs, provides evidence of differences in moral development among public accounting firms, and profiles the professions' average level of moral development for three levels. The data are from 494 managers and seniors (204 females and 290 males) from five Big Six firms. Using the Defining Issues Test (Rest 1979a) to measure moral development, several results were noted. First, the results indicate a difference in the average level of moral development among firms, suggesting that use of subjects from only one firm inhibits the generalizability of findings regarding moral development. Second, female managers are at a significantly higher average level of moral development than male managers. In fact, the average scores for male managers fell between those expected for senior high school and college students. The data suggest that a greater percentage of high-moral-development males and low-moral-development females are leaving public accounting than their respective opposites. These results indicate that the profession has retained, through advancement, males who are potentially less sensitive to the ethical implications of various issues. The analysis also indicates that Kohlberg's (1969) theory of moral development is not biased towards the thought processes of males because female auditors did not score lower on the Defining Issues Test.i CondenseLa presente 6tude s'inscrit dans le prolongement des travaux realis6s jusqu'a maintenant sur le niveau moyen de d^veloppement du sens moral en expertise comptable. Elle porte sur cinq grands cabinets d'expertise comptable et trois echelons hi6rarchiques dif-f6rents. Les hypotheses de recherche formul6es par les auteurs visent & determiner si le sexe, l'echelon hi6rarchique et le cabinet peuvent expliquer les variations dans le niveau moyen de developpement du sens moral. L'importance de la pr6sente recherche tient aux caract6ristiques suivantes : elle met en relief la n6cessit6 d'integrer aux plans de recherche des verificateurs de plusieurs cabinets, elle fait 6tat de l'existence de variations dans le niveau de developpement du sens moral des cabinets d'expertise comptable, et elle trace le profil du niveau moyen de developpement du sens moral au sein de la profession, pour trois 6chelons hierarchiques.

Firm Efficiency, Foreign Ownership and CEO Gender in Corrupt Environments

“…Finally, prior studies also found women to be more likely to adopt a strict ethical stance (Weeks et al, 1999) and exhibit ethical behavior in the workplace (Bernardi and Arnold, 1997;Lund, 2008). They may also be more likely to behave honestly to teach their children appropriate values (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990).…”

CEO Gender, Ethical Leadership, and Accounting Conservatism

“…Females are more likely than males to adopt a strict ethical stance (Weeks et al 1999), exhibit ethical behavior in the workplace (Bernardi and Arnold 1997;Lund 2008;SimgaMugan et al 2005;Valentine and Rittenburg 2004), speak out against unethical behavior (Miethe and Rothschild 1994;Vermeir and Van Kenhove 2008), and become internal whistle blowers (Rothschild and Miethe 1999).…”

Is gender diversity in ownership structure related to private Italian companies propensity to engage in earnings management practices?

“…Eynon et al (1997), Khazanchi (1995) and Ruegger and King (1992) have found that women are more ethical in a business context. Bernardi and Arnold (1997) and Betz et al (1989) have found that women are less likely to engage in unethical behavior in the work place to gain financial rewards.…”