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This study aims to examine the objectivity of accounting professionals based in India.

To examine the objectivity of accountants based in India, this study performs an experiment using a well-established instrument from prior literature. The authors asked accounting professionals based in India to act as either the seller or buyer in a hypothetical acquisition scenario. Participants were asked to evaluate the obsolescence of an apparel company’s inventory, assessing both the probability of inventory obsolescence and the likelihood they would propose an inventory write-down.

The results indicate external auditors and tax professionals were able to remain objective, reflected in the consistency of their assessments across the buyer and seller conditions. Internal auditors were less objective, evaluating inventory obsolescence as more likely when their client was considering buying a subsidiary than when their client was considering selling a subsidiary. Internal auditors were also more likely to recommend an inventory write-down adjustment when hired by the buyer than when hired by the seller.

This study informs regulators and accounting professionals. Offshoring has “prompt(ed) questions regarding the factors that affect the quality of work in India” (Dickey et al., 2022, p. 680). While the authors do not prescribe specific actions, this study provides evidence on the decision-making process of accounting professionals based in India that regulators might use to craft policy. Furthermore, this study responds to calls for additional evidence on the decision-making process of accounting professionals based in India (Spilker et al., 2016; Mohapatra et al., 2015), and for evidence on the objectivity of internal auditors (Burt and Libby, 2021; Stewart and Subramaniam, 2010).

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors motivating an individual to report a whistleblowing scenario to various stakeholders within a company. This paper examines how four factors (country of origin and the espoused national cultures of masculinity, collectivism and uncertainty avoidance) influence the level of responsibility toward three stakeholders at different levels of hierarchy in an organization.

Using a case-based approach, this study collects data from 432 accounting students from two different countries. Using regression analysis on the pooled data, this paper provides evidence on how accounting students would behave when facing a whistleblowing situation involving their immediate supervisor.

This study finds that country of origin and espoused national cultural values influence the individual’s decision regarding whom to blow the whistle.

The study has improved upon the methodological deficiencies of previous studies that rely on Hofstede’s (1980) cultural values in that the paper focuses on the espoused national culture at the individual level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of suicide, a violent act against one’s self, as it relates to white- and red-collar crimes. White-collar crime can be described as nonviolent crime committed for financial gain. Red-collar crime describes a situation where a white-collar criminal commits an act of violence, often murder, to silence someone who is in a position to report a fraud they have perpetrated. Previous research has not addressed the issue of suicide, as it relates to white- and red-collar crime.

The analysis is conceptual, focusing on the historical underpinnings of white- and red-collar crime and reviewing the evolution of white-collar criminals. Sources of information consisted of published news media, scholarly articles and articles retrieved from the web.

A suicide may be linked, directly or indirectly, to a financial crime. Law enforcement must be careful not to jump to conclusions, as there is a possibility that a staged suicide has occurred.

Law enforcement individuals may want to consider an additional motive when investigating a suicide, especially when the victim has some type of connection to a known fraud. This type of connection may not be readily apparent and may require a new approach on the part of a law enforcement investigation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whistleblowing behavior in the accounting community (students and professionals) in an emerging economy – India.

Using a case-based approach, data were collected from 263 accounting students and 268 accounting professionals in India.

Using multivariate and univariate analyses of variance and logistic regressions, the authors provided evidence on how accounting students and professionals behave in a whistleblowing environment. Specifically, the authors found mixed results when comparing the behavior of accounting students and professionals in a whistleblowing scenario. All subjects reflected a more collectivist attitude, although professionals were more concerned about “fixing” the identified internal control problem (a “shared” problem). Both groups expressed a firm desire to collect more evidence against the likely fraudster.

In this era of global offshoring of services including accounting, the current study makes significant contributions to the accounting ethics literature and the accounting profession by analyzing whistleblowing behavior from an Indian perspective – a highly underrepresented area in the accounting ethics literature. The study aims to guide companies and investors in the US and elsewhere that do business in India.

While the accounting literature has plenty of research on whistleblowing in the Western world, there is a dearth of literature on whistleblowing in India. This paper is among the first to document whistleblowing behavior in India, a country that prides itself on its vast availability of English-speaking and technically sound accounting professionals.

Most people are probably aware of malware, but they may not be aware of malware in what may be its most dangerous form, i.e. causing physical harm, even death, to individuals. This paper aims to document how software can cause malicious harm to individuals by attacking modern systems that appear to be neglected and under-researched.

This paper will review some of the most significant areas of concern with respect to end of days malware, i.e. malware that has a dangerous intent. The areas included are automobiles, medical devices and air traffic control systems.

The potential harmful effects of malware are often not well known by consumers and businesses around the world. These issues are not limited to just financial harm. Lives can actually be in danger. Underestimating the importance of cybersecurity and understanding the dangers that are associated with advancing technology are global issues that will continue unless there is enough awareness to force businesses and governments to address these issues. It is critical that safeguards are established.

While many papers have been written about malware and the implications of having malicious software infect a computer or a network, little attention has been paid to “end of days” malware. With advancing technology, malware now has the ability to cause serious injury or death to individuals who have minimal or no knowledge of the potential consequences of, for example, driving in an automobile, wearing or having an internal medical device or flying on an airplane. It is up to businesses and governments to address these issues.

The purpose of this study is to examine and provide additional insights into Nigerian 419 scams. Such scams may also be referred to as advance fee frauds. This study not only provides a historical perspective as to why these scams continue to remain popular and successful but also addresses cultural issues and technological issues associated with this type of fraud.

The analysis is primarily conceptual, focusing on the historical underpinnings of 419 scams as well as changes that have occurred as a result of technological advancements. Further, an active Nigerian scammer agreed to be interviewed by one of the authors and the information has been incorporated into this paper.

Fraudsters in Nigeria use a more “scientific” approach to identifying victims. The Government of Nigeria has been implementing some new policies and techniques to identify these fraudsters as well as to attempt to curtail such fraudulent activities. Unfortunately, these attempts have had limited success and more will be needed to slow down 419 scammers. The total elimination of such scams is unlikely.

Although many 419 scams have been reported in the news, actual studies in this area are quite limited. Further, current research has not produced comprehensive papers that focus on why these frauds ever started, how they have developed over time and how technology has impacted such frauds. This paper is among the first to include “inside” information from an actual Nigerian scammer and thus adds significant value to the existing literature.

When an individual leaves evidence to suggest that they are dead to mislead others, they are committing “pseudocide.” This study aims to examine pseudocides performed for the purpose of committing or concealing a financial crime.

This manuscript summarizes information from both academic and nonacademic publications. To provide evidence related to the conclusions made by prior authors and identify the risk factors that are often indicative of pseudocide, this manuscript examines the characteristics of pseudocides that received media coverage.

Pseudocides that receive media coverage often involve a prominent figure or a compelling story. These stories are not representative of the average pseudocide, which receives no publicity because it occurs in a less developed nation and is committed by a nonpublic figure. Common characteristics include the absence of a corpse and paperwork procured through bribery.

One of the only academic papers focused on pseudocide, this manuscript provides readers with information related to the scope of the issue, common methodologies and factors indicative of pseudocide. This should be of interest to several parties including forensic accountants, insurers, regulators and academics.

In this study, the authors examine the issue of corruption in the government institutions of developing countries. Additionally, this study aims to answer the following research question: How do developing countries implement and enforce these anti-corruption policies? Specifically, the authors look at the laws adopted in different developing countries to deal with issues related to corruption.

The authors use the qualitative approach to examine the causes of recent corruption among government officials in developing countries such as Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. A comparative approach was used to compare and contrast the anti-corruption practices of developing and developed countries.

The findings indicate that corruption is rampant in much of the developing world. On a positive note, the authors have found evidence of actions taken by governments in these developing economies to rapidly deal with issues of corruption. All the countries analyzed in this paper have developed anti-corruption policies and related acts to detect and punish the perpetrators of corruption.

This paper provides a greater insight as to how the anti-corruption policies are formulated and enforced in the developing world. Specifically, the authors provide examples of different emerging countries and their approaches to developing and enforcing anti-corruption policies. This guidance can help others around the world to deal with anti-corruption policies in their countries. Although the authors have learned a lot about the detrimental effects of corruption and laws enacted to combat it, the next step is to examine the processes used by the developing countries to develop these anti-corruption laws and policies.

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 research aims to explore whether recent audit reforms have improved auditor objectivity when performing non-audit services.

In two separate experiments, the authors tested whether external and internal auditors' inventory obsolescence judgments are influenced by their client's (or company's) role as the buyer or seller in an acquisition setting.

External auditors assessed the likelihood of inventory obsolescence objectively, regardless of their consulting role in the acquisition setting. Internal auditors assessed the likelihood of inventory obsolescence as higher when consulting for the buyer than when consulting for the seller, consistent with the supposition that the buyer would prefer to write-down inventory and negotiate a lower purchase price, whereas the seller would prefer the inventory not be written down.

From a regulatory perspective, external auditors may be relying too much on the work of internal auditors if internal auditors' lack of objectivity as consultants extends to their assurance role.

This paper extends prior research in the area of internal and external auditor objectivity and is the first paper to include both subject groups in the same experiment. It also addresses the current policy issues that may have a significant effect on audit quality and auditor liability.