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M.Comm. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

Bibliography: leaves 522-538 / xv, 538 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Commerce, 1987

It is widely accepted that accounting education aims to produce competent professional accountants, who are capable of making a positive contribution to the profession and the society in which they work. The provision of a basis of ethical values should therefore be viewed as an important aspect of professional accountants’ education and training. In the face of increasing changes encountered by accountants, it becomes essential that they develop and maintain an attitude of learning to learn (i.e. Continuous Professional Development or CPD). In current times, an education programme for Chartered Accountants (CAs) needs to transcend the traditional approach that emphasised ‘transfer of knowledge’, with learning defined and measured strictly in terms of knowledge of principles, standards, concepts, facts and procedures at a particular time. This study aims to investigate the utilisation of the CPD of ethics among prospective CAs by analysing and statistically interpreting the perceptions and attitudes of a group of undergraduate students at a South African higher education institution, by means of an empirical survey. The objectives of this study are to: (i) demarcate the CA and his/her profession by studying undergraduate students’ perceptions; (ii) determine undergraduate students’ perceptions of CPD, life-long learning (LLL) and ethics, within the framework of a CA and his/her undergraduate education; (iii) investigate the perceived core values within the CA profession; and (iv) analyse specific aspects of the education and training of prospective CAs at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). / Professor Thea L. Voogt Professor Ben Marx

In response to the release of one of its Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or Board) inspection reports, Deloitte notes that “[p]rofessional judgments of reasonable and highly competent people may differ as to the nature and extent of necessary auditing procedures, conclusions reached and required documentation” (PCAOB, 2008, 30). Other responses to PCAOB findings echo this sentiment. Stakeholders need to understand causes of differences between experts’ professional judgments to effectively utilize PCAOB inspection findings and firms’ responses to those findings. This study uses Social Identity Theory to explore whether role identity as an audit partner, internal reviewer, or PCAOB inspector, influences an expert’s judgments in an ambiguous decision environment. I find that professional judgments do not differ based on professional identity. This study also examines whether the presence or absence of outcome knowledge explains judgment differences among auditing experts. Consistent with prior research, e.g. Peecher & Piercey, 2008, outcome knowledge does affect experts’ professional judgment. I also find that experts’ level of organizational identification and membership esteem impacts professional judgment. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

by Anita, Wing-Ngar, Tsang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-114). / Abstract also in Chinese. / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.vi / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.vii / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.viii / CHAPTER / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- THEORETICAL BACKGROUND --- p.5 / The Person-Organization Fit Framework --- p.5 / Role Motivation Theories --- p.8 / The Professions --- p.11 / Professional Role Motivation Theory --- p.14 / Role Theory and the Role Episode Model --- p.21 / Interrole Conflict Among Professionals --- p.23 / Person-role Conflict Among Professionals --- p.25 / Consequences of Role Conflict --- p.25 / Differential Effects of Positive and Negative Incongruence --- p.27 / Chapter III. --- HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY --- p.29 / Chapter IV. --- METHODS --- p.35 / Sample --- p.35 / Data Collection Procedures --- p.35 / Measures --- p.40 / Data Analyses --- p.58 / Chapter V. --- RESULTS --- p.61 / Basic Descriptive Statistics --- p.61 / Effects of Absolute Congruence Indexes on Perceived Role Conflict --- p.64 / Differential Effects of Positive and Negative Congruence Indexes --- p.67 / Chapter VI. --- DISCUSSION --- p.81 / Organizational-Professional Role Congruence and Interrole Conflict --- p.82 / Individual-Work Role Congruence and Person-Role Conflict --- p.86 / Perceived Role Conflict and Work Outcomes --- p.88 / Research and Managerial Implications --- p.89 / Limitations and Future Research --- p.93 / Conclusion --- p.95 / APPENDIX A --- p.97 / REFERENCES --- p.102

Taxpayers who hire tax professionals to assist with tax matters have a choice as to which type of tax professional to hire. This study looks at the choice between hiring a tax accountant or a tax attorney. Stephenson (2010) identifies four constructs that explain a taxpayer’s motivation to hire a tax professional—legal compliance, time savings, money savings, and a protection from/avoidance of the Internal Revenue Service. A taxpayer may be motivated by one or more of these demand constructs. Further, the context of the advice—whether given in a planning or compliance setting—may influence the choice of a specific type of practitioner. Taxpayers also perceive certain professional features of the practitioner as being associated with either an accountant or an attorney. In a 2 x 1 between subjects research design, I investigate these issues by exploring how the perceived characteristics of the accounting and legal professions and the tax context differentially influence the demand for one of these professionals. I hypothesize that taxpayers who demand a tax professional because of legal compliance or time savings are more likely to hire an accountant. Taxpayers who demand the services of a tax professional because of money savings or a protection from/avoidance of the Internal Revenue Service are more likely to hire an attorney. Additionally, I hypothesize that taxpayers in a planning context are more likely to hire an attorney while taxpayers in a compliance setting are more likely to hire an accountant. In a hierarchal regression, the variable for accuracy was significant in a simple regression of the four Stephenson constructs. In a second tier of the regression, accuracy was again significant as were certain covariates. In the final tier of the regression, no independent variable was significant but certain covariates were significant including client advocacy which was highly significant. The results do demonstrate that taxpayers perceive professional differences between a tax accountant and a tax attorney. Many of the results and the rationales underlying the hypotheses seem to be in the right direction as far as showing the expected demand for a specific tax professional. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The study examines the potential threat to an auditor’s independence in fact which may result from the extraordinarily favorable personal reputation (superstar status) of an audit client’s CEO This potential threat to an auditors’ independence is the result of a halo effect bias which can distort an individual’s judgment and behavior Accounting firms use a business risk audit approach which involves conducting a strategic risk assessment which assesses the overall threats to the business model of an audit client Prior research has demonstrated that the strategic risk assessment can bias the judgment of auditors pertaining to financial account level risk assessments For example, the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme demonstrated how an extraordinarily well respected individual with superstar status can distort the judgment of knowledgeable and normally skeptical individuals An experiment was conducted to examine the potential threat of a superstar CEO on an auditor’s independence as demonstrated by the ability to distort the judgment of the auditor during the performance of the strategic risk assessment In addition, the experiment was designed to examine whether the halo cognitive bias can lessen the impact that an auditor’s professional skepticism has on his or her judgment and behavior during the audit of a client’s financial statement Unlike other studies which have sought only to demonstrate that a cognitive bias exist which impairs auditor judgment; the study also examined whether the influence of a halo effect bias can be mitigated by the formal rating of audit evidence in a similar manner that was used by Embu and Finley (1977) to successfully mitigate a framing effect The experiment did not support the main hypothesis of the study that auditors assess the strategic risk at a lower risk level for firms that employ a superstar CEO than for those whom employ a non-superstar CEO This result may primarily be due to the inability of the scenario used in the experiment to sufficiently differentiate the characteristics of the superstar and non-superstar CEO Without establishing that the participants’ judgment was being distorted by a superstar CEO; the other hypotheses which involved testing a debiasing method to mitigate the halo effect caused by a superstar CEO and investigating whether a halo effect reduces the impact that auditors’ trait skepticism level has on their judgment could not be properly tested / Includes bibliography / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

I show that auditors experience cognitive dissonance when they fail to take appropriate professionally skeptical (hereafter PS) action in line with high PS judgment I specifically show that cognitive dissonance leads auditors to revise their attitudes on low ranking audit actions upward and lower their risk assessments, consequently, lower overall professional skepticism I also find that auditor cognitive dissonance leads to exaggerated ex-post auditor self-assessments professional skepticism Professional skepticism is fundamental to performing an audit according to auditing standards and critical to audit quality Extant research that investigates treatments to enhance professional skepticism predominantly treats both skeptical judgment and skeptical action as analogous outcomes of professional skepticism If, however, there is a breakdown between PS judgment and PS action, the overall benefits of these treatments will be trivial I show that cognitive dissonance due to the incongruence between PS judgments and PS actions leads to an unforeseeable corollary of lower overall professional skepticism I also demonstrate a specific mechanism of how auditor incentives lead to lower professional skepticism, hence, lower audit quality Both researchers and practitioners can benefit from this study by better understating the intricacies in the critical link between PS judgment and action Additionally, I provide an empirical investigation of the components in Nelson’s (2009) model of professional skepticism and extend the model to reflect the intricacies between PS judgment and PS action I test my hypotheses via a three-group research design with attitude change as a proxy measure of cognitive dissonance / Includes bibliography / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Previous research has shown that accountants may be inadequate moral reasoners. Concern over this trend caused the Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) to call for greater integration of ethics into the student's training. Ponemon and Glazer (1990) found a difference in cognitive moral development (CMD) between accounting students at a public university and a private university with a liberal arts emphasis. This study expands Ponemon and Glazer's research by examining two liberal arts universities, one a private, secular institution and one a Catholic institution. The primary research question asks if Catholic university accounting students manifest greater CMD growth than secular university accounting students. Additionally, this study examines and compares the priority that accounting students from the different institutions place on ethical values versus economic values. It was expected that Catholic university accounting students would manifest both greater CMD growth and a greater concern for ethical values over economic values when compared with non-Catholic university accounting students. The study utilized a two-phase approach. In the first phase, an organizational study of two institutions was made to determine how each strives to integrate moral development into their accounting students' education. In the second phase, lower-division and senior accounting students were given three ethical and values related tasks to complete which propose to measure differences in ethical and economic values.