Ethical decision-making in audit: study of judgement, intent, and intensity.

Abstract

Our economic system is an interrelated system that can only hold together if each economic actor trusts the others. One of the key players is the auditor. He certifies the account and is the guarantor of the veracity of the financial information provided by companies to the world. This crucial role brings with it many dilemmas that the auditor has to face every day. Therefore, ethical decision-making is at the heart of the matter. In view of the legal responsibilities and expectations on the auditing profession, several questions arise. Do auditors have a different moral judgement, a higher moral intent, or a higher moral intensity? A study based on three cases of ethical dilemmas for comparing auditors, final year’ students in finance and non-audit professionals may begin to provide an answer to those questions. The model used to represent the ethical decision-making is based on theories known so far such as Rest (1986), Trevino (1986) or Jones (1991). The survey and analysis techniques used are largely based on Cohen, Pant and Sharp (2001) and Chaplais, Mard and Marsat (2016). These analyses allow us to conclude that auditors do have a different moral judgement, a stronger moral intent to act ethically and a stronger moral intensity.