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This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.

This study examines whether Lifestyle Preferences affect attrition or influence career attitudes of early-career public accountants. The research follows an initial sample of 253 newly-hired, entry-level public accountants (133 male accountants and 120 female accountants). Analysis of data on career attitudes and Lifestyle Preference collected after three-years indicates an association for female accountants' data but not for male accountants. The research also finds that career attitudes have higher explanatory power for intentions to remain in public accounting for female accountants than male accountants. While job satisfaction, liking one's job, and intentions to remain in public accounting were all associated with female accountants' level of effort to be successful, there was no association between effort and these variables for male accountants. The level of effort to be successful was significantly lower at the three-year point than for the same individuals at the entry point across the sample. Finally, the data indicate that, after two years of career experience, Lifestyle Preference and attrition were associated for female accountants.

This paper presents narrative data collected from seniors and managers/senior managers of five international professional services firms. Participants voluntarily wrote comments on the face of a survey instrument that collected objective format data. Comments discuss a variety of aspects of the work environment. This study provides a view of the accounting workplace that focuses on individual perceptions and experiences. The narrative data is organized into categories addressing the nature of the job, compensation, organizational culture and personal sacrifice. Overall, the environment portrayed by the individual comments is one perceived by the respondents to be difficult and challenging: too much work, insufficient rewards, lack of appreciation, limited control by the individual, and poor-quality management. The paper discusses the comments and relates them to contemporary events, theory and research.

This study seeks to further an understanding of taxpayer characteristics. The study presents a multidimensional tax locus of control (LOC) instrument developed from the starting point of a validated LOC instrument from the health-care field. Data collected using the instrument indicate that older taxpayers are more likely to have an external LOC in tax situations, indicated by a greater propensity to defer decision-making to a tax professional, defined as a “powerful other.” As the U.S. population is aging, this information may be helpful to tax practitioners when advising older clients on tax issues and researchers exploring issues related to aging. An additional finding is that taxpayers with more business exposure are less likely to defer to a tax professional. Gender and education play roles in an individual's internal tax LOC (TaxLOC) beliefs.