Whistleblowing in Public Accounting: Influence of Identity Disclosure, Situational Context, and Personal Characteristics

Abstract

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.

The Effects of Contextual and Wrongdoing Attributes on Organizational Employees’ Whistleblowing Intentions Following Fraud

“…Therefore, we recognize that our data indicate how participants believe they would behave in the various contrasting scenarios, though this is a limitation of scenario 16 The Dodd-Frank Act offers potential monetary incentives in fraud cases that produce more than $1,000,000 in fines if the whistleblower provides original information that leads to the settlement of the case (U.S. House of Representatives 2010). research in general (Curtis and Taylor 2009). 17 Furthermore, given our valuable participant group of professionals from diverse backgrounds (consistent with the group of ''real-world'' potential whistleblowers), our within-subjects design allowed us to both control for individual differences through our design and obtain an adequate amount of data without sacrificing statistical power.…”

Factors Influencing Whistleblowing Intention Among Accountants In Malaysia

“…To be a whistle-blower is consider as a good manner, which is influenced by internal locus of control. Curtis and Taylor (2009) also support that the person who possess internal locus of control is more likely to involve in whistleblowing behavior.…”

“…According to Curtis &Taylor (2009) andChiu (2003), the personal characteristics of locus of control are a vital antecedent of the possibility to blow the whistle. To be a whistle-blower is consider as a good manner, which is influenced by internal locus of control.…”

A influência do canal de denúncia anônima na detecção de fraudes contábeis em organizações

“…Brennan & Kelly, 2007;Kaplan et al, 2008;e Ahmad, Smith & Ismail, 2010), não se tem notícia de estudos similares no Brasil A pesquisa em Contabilidade tem se apresentado ainda restrita ao buscar métodos que indiquem ou previnam condutas antiéticas que levem a ocorrência de fraudes (Curtis & Taylor, 2009 A partir da hipótese que a decisão em comunicar atos irregulares, é afetada pelos canais de comunicação disponíveis (Near & Miceli, 1995), e que um canal operado internamente, motivaria uma intenção maior de denúncia (Kaplan et al, 2009), este estudo tem por objetivo analisar o impacto da presença de canais de denúncias anônimos operados internamente na decisão dos colaboradores de comunicar casos de fraudes contábeis e, de forma complementar, se o perfil ocupacional do colaborador tem impacto nesta decisão.…”