Using organizational theory, this research study examines whether a firm's business strategy influences the ethical culture and climate within the organization, and thus explains why a firm's business strategy may ultimately contribute toward an increased risk of financial misreporting. This study develops from recent research which finds that companies following an innovative, risk-oriented Prospector business strategy are significantly more likely to experience financial reporting irregularities, despite increased audit effort levels. To examine the research question, both survey and archival methods are employed. Using a large-scale research survey, I find two subset groups of Prospector firms where a smaller (larger) group is significantly associated with a less (more) ethical culture and climate, which offer insights into why companies following a Prospector business strategy continue to experience irregularities despite auditors' efforts. Results suggest auditors may not be able to distinguish between the two sets of Prospectors and thus may direct higher audit efforts too generally at Prospector firms rather than at the smaller set of firms with less ethical cultures and climates?i.e., firms more prone to rationalizing less ethical behavior. I also find that firms pursing a second type of strategy, a transitory Reactor strategy, are consistently associated with a negative ethical culture and climate. For a subset of public companies which can be linked to archival data, I find evidence to suggest that companies with less (more) ethical climates are associated with an increased (reduced) risk of financial misreporting while controlling for incentive and opportunity factors. I continue to find evidence that companies following a Prospector business strategy are associated with greater risks of misreporting, confirming prior research. Altogether, my findings suggest several antecedents for firms experiencing greater risk of financial statement misreporting and provide evidence regarding the third leg of the auditing fraud triangle (rationalization).

The aim of this work is to find out and chart how looks the integration of the Czech secondary-school students to the beneficence in context of the ethical culture at the secondary schools. This work will be focused on the region Mladá Boleslav and the projects Světluška and Píšťalka. The work will be divided into two sections -- theoretical and practical. The theoretical section will contain the questions of the beneficence and two concrete projects, the whole position of the Czech Republic to the beneficence. The practical section will use the question-form method oriented to the secondary-school students. The practical output of this work will be the project - the subject: Ethical Culture at the chosen secondary school.

The objective of this research was to perform an explorative study to identify the position of Human Resources (HR) departments in companies in South Africa as custodians of the King III code; their knowledge and understanding of the King III code; and their role within corporate governance. The HR department has the responsibility to manage corporate governance by using the King III code as guideline. The main research questions were: Does HR management know, understand, apply and have the ability to use the King III code in terms of ethical decision making and what role does the HR department play within corporate governance? A random sample of available HR managers, senior HR consultants and HR directors was taken and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results indicated that the respondents did not know, understand or use the King III code. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This study investigates the effects of the organizational ethical context (ethical climate and ethical culture) in Chinese enterprises on accounting professionals’ perceptions of earnings management, organizational-professional conflict (OPC) and affective organizational commitment (OC). We also test the effects of Machiavellianism on these factors, and the interactive effects of Machiavellianism and ethical context on OPC and OC. The findings, based on responses from 89 accounting professionals employed by Chinese enterprises at staff, supervisor and manager levels, indicate that in general the perceived ethical context did not affect judgments of the acceptability of earnings management. However, as anticipated, perceptions of a stronger benevolent/cosmopolitan climate (one that places more emphasis on the public interest) were associated with harsher judgments of accounting earnings management. Machiavellianism also had a marginally significant effect on judgments of accounting earnings management and a significant effect on judgments of operating earnings management, with high Machiavellians judging the actions to be more ethical. Two aspects of ethical culture, obedience to authority and ethical norms, were found to be significantly associated with organizational-professional conflict and affective organizational commitment. Contrary to our expectations, high Machiavellians appeared to be more, rather than less, sensitive to the perceived ethical context in their organization. Specifically, the perceived organizational ethical culture had a greater (lesser) impact on affective organizational commitment for high (low) Machiavellians.

This study examines the effects of organizational ethical culture, idealism, relativism and guanxi orientation on the ethical decision-making processes of professional auditors in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is hypothesized that auditors perceiving a positive organizational ethical culture, possessing higher (lower) degrees of idealism (relativism), and possessing lower degrees of guanxi orientation will make more ethical decisions. The findings of the study indicate that certain aspects of organizational ethical culture had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. Idealism had a marginally significant impact on professional auditors’ behavioral intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. Relativism did not have a significant impact on ethical judgments or behavioral intentions. Guanxi orientation had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. This study also explores the potential effects of demographics on PRC professional auditors’ ethical decision-making processes and the results suggest that CPA firm type (local/regional vs. international) had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions. The overall findings suggest that organizational ethical culture, idealism, guanxi orientation, and CPA firm type play a significant role in PRC professional auditors’ ethical decision-making processes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1934. / Vita. "This examination of the philosophy and the pedagogy of ethical culture [is] from the Catholic standpoint."--P. 167. Bibliography: p. 169-176.

The objective of this research was to perform an explorative study to identify the position of Human Resources (HR) departments in companies in South Africa as custodians of the King III code; their knowledge and understanding of the King III code; and their role within corporate governance. The HR department has the responsibility to manage corporate governance by using the King III code as guideline. The main research questions were: Does HR management know, understand, apply and have the ability to use the King III code in terms of ethical decision making and what role does the HR department play within corporate governance? A random sample of available HR managers, senior HR consultants and HR directors was taken and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results indicated that the respondents did not know, understand or use the King III code. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Proefschrift--Groningen. / "Tot heden verschenen litteratuur der ethische beweging in Duitschland": p. [xvii]-xix. "Stellingen": p. [263]-267.

Proefschrift--Groningen. / "Tot heden verschenen litteratuur der ethische beweging in Duitschland": p.[xvii]-xix. "Stellingen": p.[263]-267.

Titel: Kan etisk kultur och etisk medvetenhet förbättra revisorsobjektivitet? Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Jonas Glad och Madalina Ersson Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2015 – januari Syfte: Uppsatsen syftar till att klarlägga möjliga samband mellan etisk kultur, etisk medvetenhet samt objektivitet och har sin bakgrund i tidigare forskning inom respektive ämne. Vi undersöker om ´Etisk kultur´ påverkar ´Objektivitet´, om ´Etisk Kultur´ påverkar ´Etisk Medvetenhet´ samt om ´Etisk Medvetenhet´ påverkar ´Objektiviteten´. Metod: Arbetet bygger på en deduktiv kvantitativ metod där vi använt oss av en tvärsnittsdesign i form av en surveyundersökning med en onlineenkät som insamlingsmetod för primärdata i studien. Primärdata har analyserats med statistiska metoder i statistikprogrammet SPSS och resultatet redovisas i huvudsak i tabellform vilket sedan diskuteras mot tidigare forskning. Resultat och slutsats: Inget signifikant samband har erhållits för hypotesen att ´Objektivitet´ skulle bero på ´Etisk kultur´ eller ´Etisk medvetenhet´. Ett signifikant samband för hypotesen att ´Etisk medvetenhet´ påverkas av ´Etisk kultur´ visade sig i resultatet av vår studie. Hypotesen om att ´Objektivitet´ beror på ´Etisk medvetenhet´ förkastades av resultatet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Detta arbete har begränsats av en snäv tidsram samt ekonomiska resurser vilket lett till att studien inte uppnått en så hög svarsfrekvens som önskat, vilket ger utslag på arbetets resultat. Det vore därför intressant att se en mer omfattande studie med högre svarsfrekvens och ytterligare mer fokus på objektivitets- och medvetenhetsmåtten ur ett svenskt perspektiv, vilka möjligen kan upplevas för inexakta för en sådan uppgift som att bekräfta våra hypoteser, även om det är erkända mått inom internationell forskning. Uppsatsens bidrag: Arbetet har bidragit till att visa att det inte är självklart att ´Etisk medvetenhet´ har en direkt inverkan på revisorers ´Objektivitet´. Detta kan resultera i en ökad förståelse för komplexiteten kring dessa aspekter hos både yrkesgruppen revisorer samt för andra intressenter som kunder, investerare, myndigheter och det övriga samhället. Studien har även validerat det mått av etisk kultur som använts från tidigare forskning, vilket visar att det går att applicera i en svensk miljö men att vissa aspekter skiljer sig åt mot den miljö där dessa mått är utvecklade. Detta är värdefullt både för fortsatta kumulativa studier inom ämnet, samt som kunskap för branschen i applicerandet av de bakomliggande teorierna i praktisk etiskt arbete. / Title: Does ethical culture and ethical awareness improve auditor objectivity? Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Jonas Glad and Madalina Ersson Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2015 – January Aim: This exam paper aims to identify (clarify) possible relationships between ´Ethical culture´, ´Ethical awareness´ and ´Objectivity´ amongst auditors and has its origins in previous research about these individual components. It examines if ´Ethical culture´ has an impact on ´Objectivity´, if ´Ethical culture´ has an impact on ´Ethical awareness´ and finally if ´Ethical awareness´ has an impact on ´Objectivity´. Method: This paper practices a quantitative method where we have used a cross-sectional study in form of a survey design with an online survey to collect primary data for this study. This primary data has been analyzed using statistical methods in SPSS and the result is primarily presented in table form which is then discussed against previous research. Result and conclusion: No significant relationship could be proved that ´Objectivity´ would be dependent of ´Ethical culture´ or ´Ethical awareness´ in this study. The hypothesis that ´Objectivity´ is dependent of ´Ethical awareness´ was rejected, which validates previous research in the area. There is however an indication that ´Ethical awareness´ is dependent of the ´Ethical culture´ and we find a significant dependency between them throughout this study. Suggestions for future research: This study has been limited by scarce amount of time and financial resources which has led to a lower response frequency than could be wished for. Also the measurements for objectivity and ethical awareness, although they are accepted and recognized in previous research, could be viewed as inexact and it would be interesting to apply more exact measurements of objectivity and ethical awareness formed out of Swedish conditions and view of objectivity. This suggest that a more thorough survey to ensure higher answer-ratio and even more focus on the objectivity and ethical awareness measurements could be fruitful.      Contribution of the thesis: This paper has contributed to showing that it’s not obvious that ethical awareness has a direct impact on auditor’s objectivity, which can strengthen the understanding for the complexity of these aspects among the professional auditors and other interest groups such as investors, regulators and society. The paper also validates the measurement of ethical culture from previous research, and shows that the model is valid in a Swedish context. This gives a value for further cumulative studies in this area and as knowledge for future application of the studied theories in practical ethical issues in organizational work.