Is ethical judgment a dimension of auditor expertise?

摘要

One of the distinguishing features of the auditing environment is the existence of multiple stakeholders who rely on auditors' judgments. Ethical dilemmas are inherent in this environment because of the potential conflicts in serving multiple stakeholders (e.g. shareholders, management, creditors, etc.) who have potentially conflicting interests (Gaa and Ponemon 1997; Mautz and Sharaf 1961). This study explored whether a sensitivity to a wide variety of potential stakeholders is a dimension of auditor expertise. Using Rest's (1984) model of ethical judgment as a framework for inquiry, experts' sensitivity to stakeholders was investigated. Expertise was operationalized by asking participating audit firms to create teams of audit seniors and managers who have been classified as either being outstanding (expert) or average (novice) based on their firm's performance evaluation records.; Using a between-subjects experimental design, this study investigated the impact of expertise and factors germane to producing judgments in an auditing environment (i.e. outcome consequences and management's intentions) on the ethical sensitivity and judgment of auditors. The results suggest that a sensitivity to multiple stakeholders is a dimension of auditor expertise. The contextual factor outcome had a robust effect on both the stakeholder sensitivity and judgment of novice auditors however expert auditors were less susceptible to the effect of outcome. Further, management's intentions had a mixed effect on stakeholder sensitivity and evaluative judgments.