Search results

1 – 10 of over 5000
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2024

Brian M. Lam, Phyllis Lai Lan Mo and Md Jahidur Rahman

This study aims to investigate whether auditors compromise their independence for economically important clients in countries with a secrecy culture.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate whether auditors compromise their independence for economically important clients in countries with a secrecy culture.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors empirically examine the research question based on a data set of 33 countries for the period from 1995 to 2018. The dependent variable is the auditors’ propensity to issue modified audit opinions, which is a proxy for auditor independence. The authors use relative client size as a proxy for client importance. The authors adopt the Heckman (1979) two-stage model to mitigate the potential endogeneity issue involved in the selection of Big-N auditors.

Findings

Using a large sample of firms and controlling for the firm- and country/region-level factors, this study reveals that both Big-N and non-Big-N auditors are more likely to issue modified audit opinions to clients located in countries with a strong secrecy culture relative to those located in other countries. However, Big-N auditors are more likely to issue modified audit opinions for their economically important clients with a secrecy culture relative to their other clients, while no or weaker evidence is found for non-Big-N auditors. The results are consistent and robust to endogeneity tests and sensitivity analyses.

Originality/value

This study enriches the literature by providing a new perspective on auditor independence that an auditor’s reporting behavior can vary depending on the client’s importance and auditor type, even under the same secrecy culture.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2023

Shelly Rodrigue and Susie Cox

The purpose of this study is to extend the pay communication literature by examining the relationship between pay secrecy and turnover intentions with the inclusion of mediators…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to extend the pay communication literature by examining the relationship between pay secrecy and turnover intentions with the inclusion of mediators. This study further analyzes the influence pay secrecy and organizational trust have on three key employee attitudinal variables that are directly related to turnover intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from participants that were recruited using Mechanical Turk, yielding a sample size of 496. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the hypotheses.

Findings

Findings demonstrate pay secrecy positively influences turnover intentions. This relationship is double-mediated by organizational trust with organizational cynicism, organizational disidentification, and job embeddedness. All hypotheses were supported.

Practical implications

This research shows that pay secrecy has negative effects on employee attitudes and behaviors. Based on the findings of this study, organizations should take steps toward pay openness to avoid employees becoming distrustful and more cynical of the organization, boost feelings of being embedded, and deter organizational disidentification.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the pay communication literature by further explaining the pay secrecy–turnover intentions relationship with the inclusion of mediators that have shown mixed results or have not been previously analyzed to the researchers' knowledge. Specifically, organizational trust, organizational cynicism, organizational disidentification, and job embeddedness were examined as mediators. Previous research has shown mixed results for the influence pay secrecy has on organizational trust, with some studies demonstrating pay secrecy to have a positive effect and others a negative effect. This study demonstrates support for pay secrecy's negative relationship with organizational trust.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 46 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2011

Thomas C. Ellington

Since the early years of the Cold War, two countervailing trends have been present in the treatment of officially held information in the United States. On the one hand, as the…

Abstract

Since the early years of the Cold War, two countervailing trends have been present in the treatment of officially held information in the United States. On the one hand, as the foundations of U.S. information policy were being set after World War II, wartime practices were remade and made permanent in a crisis atmosphere, with the establishment of a classification system (essentially the same one used to this day) by executive order, as well, as the passage of the Atomic Energy Act in 1946 and the National Security Act in 1947. However, even as the practice of official secrecy took root, the United States took the lead in formalizing standards of openness by statute, beginning with the 1946 passage of the Administrative Procedures Act and culminating in the passage (and 1974 strengthening) of the Freedom of Information Act. This article traces the development of U.S. information policy since World War II and describes the impact of official secrecy on decision making and democratic practice more generally.

Details

Government Secrecy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-390-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 August 2017

James A. Vela-McConnell

This chapter presents an investigation of the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church through the lens of stigmatization for the purpose of elaborating the theory, making it…

Abstract

This chapter presents an investigation of the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church through the lens of stigmatization for the purpose of elaborating the theory, making it more widely applicable across multiples levels of analysis. Much like individuals, organizations must engage in information management in order to conceal discrediting information that would blemish their reputation. Given the number of people who comprise an organization, such secrecy relies on teamwork in order to contain damaging information. Based on an analysis of investigative journalist accounts of the scandal between 1985 and 2014, I present a typology representing the system of organizational secrecy developed by the Catholic Church. While organizations like the church have more structural resources at their disposal to ensure information control is maintained, their size and the varying levels of commitment to secrecy on the part of individual members of the team ultimately work against them.

Details

Oppression and Resistance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-167-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2021

Ronny Prabowo, Usil Sis Sucahyo, Theresia Woro Damayanti and Supramono Supramono

The research aims to investigate the moderating role of secrecy culture on the effect of tax enforcement on the likelihood that private firms hire external auditors.

Abstract

Purpose

The research aims to investigate the moderating role of secrecy culture on the effect of tax enforcement on the likelihood that private firms hire external auditors.

Design/methodology/approach

The study generates more than 70,000 observations from 83 country-years from the World Bank Enterprise Survey 2018 dataset. Because the study focuses on private firms in emerging countries, data on publicly listed firms and firms from OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries are deleted. The secrecy culture data are generated from Hofstede's website. The data are then analyzed with logit analyses because the dependent variable is binary.

Findings

The results demonstrate that tax enforcement increases the likelihood that private firms hire external auditors. Further, secrecy culture weakens the relationship between tax enforcement and audit demand.

Practical implications

Governments in emerging countries need to encourage private firms to hire external auditors by intensifying tax enforcement because private firms often do not appreciate the importance of high-quality financial statements. However, secretive national culture may reduce tax enforcement's effectiveness in motivating private firms to hire external auditors. Hence, governments of highly secretive countries need to address this issue and find alternative ways to promote audited financial statements.

Originality/value

Audit demand of private firms in emerging countries is relatively understudied, especially concerning tax enforcement. Furthermore, the research also focuses on the moderating role of national culture (secrecy) in explaining the relationship between tax enforcement and audit demand.

Details

Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-1168

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2016

L.C.O. Klaus

After discussing recent academic attempts to assess the status of worldwide military transparency and accountability in nations which adopted open governance paradigms, this paper…

Abstract

Purpose

After discussing recent academic attempts to assess the status of worldwide military transparency and accountability in nations which adopted open governance paradigms, this paper tries to show that such countries allegedly committed to democracy and open data should coherently fight for military transparency and citizen inclusion in the governance process, avoiding the prevalence of military secrecy over military transparency. The most important contribution of the paper is discussing the lack of military transparency, until now taken for granted as a traditional armed forces ’informal right, and proposing concrete definitions of military transparency and secrecy within the context of the open government partnership. In addition to the definitions, an exploratory model of how military accountability can affect military transparency has been suggested.

Design/methodology/approach

For the proposed endeavour, first a description on the context of open governance where the involved public defence sector is inserted is given. Second, notions of military transparency and secrecy are proposed. Finally, the paper discusses when military secrecy could be granted and what it means for military information to be unjustifiably kept secret. At the end, the urge of the citizen involvement to open the still insulated military governance systems is highlighted.

Findings

This paper proposes notions of military secrecy and military transparency and suggests the second term as a broader notion which includes the first. This paper also indirectly identifies the conditions for the inadmissibility of military secrecy and calls attention to the bad externalities of unjustifiably holding public information back.

Research limitations/implications

The consideration of the proposed notions of military secrecy and military transparency could minimize the traditional excuse of military confidentiality that armed forces worldwide tend to not to convey public information to the public while making military accountability perfectly possible without overexposing its strategies regarding national defence.

Practical implications

Providing armed forces and citizens with concrete definitions of military secrecy and military transparency could not only help military institutions to develop a sincere transparency policy based on open government terms, but it could also guide interested media and citizens with their control and oversight tasks by establishing clear limits for alleged secrecy while releasing the borders for military transparency.

Social implications

The suggested approach for military transparency and secrecy is not only adequate to the globalized strategy of open governance but also mainly a way to finally reward citizens’ often misused and manipulated trust.

Originality/value

It is the first attempt of an academic definition for military secrecy and military transparency taking into consideration the open government terms and aiming at improving military accountability.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1997

George J. Moscarino and Michael R. Shumaker

This decree by the Nazi Government in 1933 is probably the single most important event leading to the advent of bank secrecy laws as we know them today. This criminal provision…

Abstract

This decree by the Nazi Government in 1933 is probably the single most important event leading to the advent of bank secrecy laws as we know them today. This criminal provision was enacted to halt the German Jews' movement of assets out of Germany and into Swiss banks — a movement that was occasioned by the Government's attempt to seize the Jews' assets. Swiss banks were chosen because of their geographic proximity, but more so because of Switzerland's then unofficial policy of confidentiality over banking deposits and transactions.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2020

Nathan Robert Neale

Research addressing the impact of tacit and explicit pay secrecy policies on organizational climates is fairly limited. While researchers desire to explain the impact of such…

Abstract

Purpose

Research addressing the impact of tacit and explicit pay secrecy policies on organizational climates is fairly limited. While researchers desire to explain the impact of such policies on individuals' pay satisfaction, a direct effect has not been supported. This study seeks to better explain how these policies are related to ethical climates and pay satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on ethical climate theory to show the influence of ethical climate types on job satisfaction and a moderating effect of explicit and tacit pay secrecy policies on this relationship. This is accomplished through designing this study by using existing scales from the literature in a survey methodology. A pilot study of 246 undergraduate students was used to validate the measures. Then, a sample of 217 adults was obtained to test the proposed relationships. Linear regression is employed to analyze the data and to test the existence of direct and moderating effects.

Findings

The five empirically tested ethical climates each have a direct effect on pay satisfaction. Explicit pay secrecy policies has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between rules, law and code ethical climates, and pay satisfaction. Tacit pay secrecy policies moderate the relationship between caring, rules, law and code, and independence ethical climates and pay satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The findings strengthen the literature by demonstrating a stronger relationship between ethical climates and pay satisfaction. While some of the moderating effects were significant, others were not. This was surprising, but present avenues to further test ethical climate theory and the impact of pay secrecy policies.

Practical implications

This study presents practical implications for managers. Understanding how these policies may be viewed differently, depending on the type of climate that is experienced within an organization may help managers evaluate using them. Trying to protect employees or the organization itself by enacting these polices may backfire and create additional problems. Managers may want to evaluate the manner that they communicate these polices through formal or informal means, depending on the type of climate experienced within the workplace.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine the influence of explicit and tacit pay secrecy policies on the relationship between ethical climates and employees' satisfaction with pay. It leads to a number of directions for further research that may continue to build upon this study in order to further advance scholarly understanding of the importance of ethical climates and pay secrecy policies.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1999

Bonita Erbstein

The year 1986 did not bode well for investment banker Dennis Levine. In a civil injunctive action the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) alleged that…

Abstract

The year 1986 did not bode well for investment banker Dennis Levine. In a civil injunctive action the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) alleged that Levine, through an insider dealing scheme, violated several anti‐fraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Without admitting or denying that he obtained over $12m in illicit profits from secretly trading in the securities of 54 companies, Levine settled the SEC action and was ordered to disgorge over $10m to the court.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 2 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2019

Reeda Al Sabri Halawi

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Lebanese anti-money laundering (AML) paradigm in light of banking secrecy law. The phenomenon of money laundering that was first…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Lebanese anti-money laundering (AML) paradigm in light of banking secrecy law. The phenomenon of money laundering that was first associated with the crime of drug trafficking developed a lot since the early 1900s to become a major threat to the world’s economy today. The fight against this ever-growing crime, with multiple sources and origins, has been the centre of attention of the biggest countries in the world. Thus, the need for international AML standards was required, by which countries must abide, to ensure an effective fight against this crime. The issue of banking secrecy regulations was important to study along with the AML framework as the principles of the first totally contradict those of the latter.

Design/methodology/approach

The scope of this study first entails a qualitative technique. It will start with analysing existing legal provisions on money laundering and studying the AML framework internationally and in accordance with the Lebanese banking system. For that, websites such as GoogleScholar and HeinOnline were used to collect many scholars articles. Additionally, Laws, Regulations and Directives have been examined for the purpose of establishing the legal basis for the fight against money laundering. Moreover, an interview was conducted in 2018 with the Lebanese Financial Prosecutor, which served as data related to the operations of the Special Investigation Commission (SIC) in Lebanon, which is the Lebanese Financial Intelligence Unit. Second, quantitative research has been done. Reports of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, Financial Action Task Force Report and Annual Reports of the SIC of Lebanon have been used to gather information related to the AML/combating the financing of terrorism framework, such as customer due to diligence provisions and know-your-customer requirements and to collect statistics of suspicious reports.

Findings

The question of “How to balance the confidentiality of the Lebanese banking sector with the interest of the international community in the fight against money laundering?” was interesting to study, as it turned out that the existence of such professional secrecy does not affect the effective implementation of the AML guidelines by banks and other financial institutions. This can only happen when there is a special judicial organ to which banking secrecy is not opposable at any time, and which is the sole organ entrusted with lifting off this professional secrecy and allowing the disclosure of information to the competent authorities. Thus, the Lebanese banking system can ensure total compliance with the AML framework while still adopting banking secrecy regulations.

Originality/value

The choice of Lebanon was compelling because of the special level of protection its banking secrecy law offers.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 5000