Auditor ethics: do experience and gender influence auditors’ moral awareness?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how experience and gender relate to the auditors’ moral awareness. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are informed by a neurocognitive approach to ethical decision-making and tested using survey data from 191 auditors of a Big Four audit firm in The Netherlands. Findings The main findings indicate that more experienced auditors (i.e. those with more years of work experience, a higher rank and a higher age) show higher levels of moral awareness. This positive relationship is stronger for morally questionable situations related to accounting and auditing, compared to general business moral dilemmas. In addition, the results support the expectation that on average, female auditors have higher moral awareness than their male counterparts. Originality/value To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study that considers a neurocognitive approach to inform hypotheses about the antecedents of auditors’ moral awareness. The findings suggest that the involvement of experienced auditors in ethical decision-making processes may be beneficial given their enhanced ability to identify ethically disputable situations as such. Furthermore, increasing the number of women in senior positions may positively affect ethical decision-making in audit firms. Finally, this paper presents directions for future research.

Wave after wave: unboxing 40 years of auditing ethics research

“…Concerning work experience, Espinosa-Pike and Barrainkua (2016) found a positive and significant link between work experience and auditor ethical judgment. A recent study conducted by Carrera and Van Der Kolk (2021) found that more experienced auditors show higher levels of moral awareness. Other studies (i.e.…”

“…Several studies (Carrera and Van Der Kolk, 2021; Adeel et al , 2021; Espinosa-Pike and Barrainkua, 2016; Dalton et al , 2014; Karacaer et al , 2009; Curtis, 2006; Karcher, 1996; Merchant and Rockness, 1994) examine the impact of personal auditor values (i.e. age, gender and experience) on auditor decision-making.…”

“…According to Lehnert et al (2015), the most widespread impact noticed is that women were more moral than men. More recently, Carrera and Van Der Kolk (2021) indicate that woman auditors have greater moral awareness than their man counterparts. Besides, in most studies about gender differences, females are more ethically sensitive than males.…”

Difference between genders in attitudes toward ethics in digital business. Evidence from Croatia

“…This process involves the active participation of employees, aiming to implement technological processes successfully, as technology and digitalization have become integral aspects of modern business practices. A crucial aspect of examining the impact of digitization and digital transformation at the company level is considering the ethical context where ethical issues may vary depending on the various types of moral dilemmas (Carrera & Van der Kolk, 2021). Over the past decades, the role of ethics in business, particularly in digital business, has increased in significance (Paoloni et al, 2023), alongside numerous studies on how to foster strong ethical climates by making ethical decisions (Glover et al, 2002).…”

The effect of auditor experience on stock price crash risk

“…In addition, the upper echelons theory posits that personal characteristics affect decision‐making behaviours (Hambrick & Mason, 1984). Some studies document that audit judgements vary with auditor characteristics, such as auditor gender (Gold et al, 2009; Lee et al, 2019), auditor experience (Carrera & Van Der Kolk, 2021; Chi et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2015) and auditor expertise (Chin & Chi, 2009; Goodwin & Wu, 2014), resulting in variations in the quality of audited financial statements. In this paper, we focus on another kind of auditor characteristic, auditor overall experience measured by the length from the first time when auditors signed audited financial statements to the current year when the auditor signs reports.…”