Search results

A survey of 455 internal auditors in 13 organizations asked respondents to evaluate their performance. A similar request was made for performance evaluation from the immediate supervisor of these individuals. Comparisons indicated that audit staff systematically rate their performances higher than supervisors. Staff self‐ratings and supervisor ratings prove significantly different in several ways. These differences include the relationship of individual items to the construct of overall performance and their relationship to other important employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment, and turnover intentions. Implications of these differences and recommendations for improvement in the evaluation of performance are provided.

The concept of professionalism of internal auditors is examined. A survey of a large sample of internal auditors revealed that internal auditors generally conform to a model of professionalism previously applied to other occupations. Especially notable, internal auditors strongly believe in the importance of internal auditing. The relationship between the dimensions of professionalism and levels of education, certification, and rank are also explored. Implications for professionalism in internal auditing are discussed.

The burnout condition of employees – characterized by three interrelated symptoms of emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and depersonalization – is a well-known phenomenon in psychology and several applied business disciplines. Following persistent recognition in the practice community, academic recognition of this topic has begun to appear in the accounting literature. Using a measure of burnout developed for boundary-spanning positions, this paper shows that burnout among internal auditors is a serious concern. Results offer evidence that the burnout condition is directly related to several of the important behavioral and attitudinal outcomes in internal accounting practice. In order to provide greater clarity for future research, this study offers a separate treatment of the three dimensions of burnout, two very different organizational commitment constructs and two turnover directions. Implications for the management of human resources in this area are included.

The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational commitment within the context of important antecedents, correlates, and consequences for auditors in public accounting. Specifically, to explore the relationships among the constructs of experience, role ambiguity, organizational commitment (affective and continuance), job satisfaction, and turnover intentions.

An integrated model is developed and tested using structural equation modeling techniques. A sample of 334 auditors working for international and regional public accounting firms in a major metropolitan area of the USA is used to test the model.

The findings support nearly all of the hypothesized relationships. Auditors with more experience have less role ambiguity, have more affection for their organization, and are less inclined to leave their organization. Continuance commitment plays a less important role in the integrated model. However, the study lends support to the notion that the two dimensions of continuance commitment, high sacrifice and low alternatives, are distinct and have different patterns of relationships with other important variables.

The sample was taken from one geographic area of the US and may not be representative of all auditors. Auditors from the regional public accounting firms may not be representative of other regional firms.

Despite the fact that auditors with higher levels of affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction are less likely to leave their organizations, the findings also indicate a direct link with more experience and the desire to leave the firm. Role ambiguity and continuance commitment do not have direct links to turnover intentions, but deserve consideration for their indirect influence on important job outcomes.

This study contributes to the study of organizational commitment by using auditors from all job levels and from public accounting firms from varying sizes. Few studies have examined the sub‐dimensions of continuance commitment for auditors.

The purpose of this paper is to review, critique, and integrate certain trends, events, and research streams involving earnings management, fraudulent financial reporting, corporate governance and ethics.

The paper provides a brief history of relevant events and trends in financial reporting for the period 1987‐2007. Within this historical context, financial reporting and earnings quality are discussed from the academic and practitioner points of view. The influence of corporate governance and the role of ethics and behavior are introduced as part of an integrated discussion of academic and practitioner viewpoints of earnings management and fraudulent financial reporting. The last section of the paper provides final observations and recommendations for future research.

The paper concludes that academic research in earnings management and fraudulent financial reporting has become increasingly narrow in addressing important issues and problems in practice.

The paper is limited in its depth of analysis in each individual research stream due to the breadth of research and time period that are addressed. The implications for future research are enhanced by the integration of several streams of research relevant to earnings management and fraudulent financial reporting.

The paper may be useful to regulators and policy makers to better understand the significance and relevance of academic research.

The paper introduces and integrates ethics and behavior as important aspects for understanding earnings management and fraudulent financial reporting.

The current study examines public accountants' professionalism and professional commitment (PC) and their effect on job performance. Results provide support for four of five dimensions of Hall's (1968) professionalism framework (beliefs in professional affiliation, professional dedication, self-regulation, and social obligation) and Meyer et al.'s (1993) three-dimensional PC framework (affective, continuance, and normative professional commitment) for modeling public accountants. Support was also found for most of the hypothesized relationships between professionalism and PC. Beliefs in professional affiliation, professional dedication, and self-regulation positively influenced affective professional commitment (APC). Belief in professional affiliation was negatively influenced by continuance professional commitment (CPC) but positively influenced by normative professional commitment (NPC). Belief in social obligation was also positively influenced by NPC. As expected, professionalism and PC were associated with job performance. Professionalism had an incremental effect beyond PC on job performance and as well, PC had an incremental effect over professionalism on job performance. Identifying relationships between professionalism and professional commitment with desirable outcomes is important for justifying future investments in the public accounting profession. Understanding these issues will assist in determining the types of professional attributes and commitments that are and should be fostered by the accounting profession.