A study of whistleblowing among trainee auditors

By Niamh M. Brennan, J. Kelly. 2007

176 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Over the last number of years whistleblowers have been gaining prominence. This paper investigates some of the factors that influence the propensity or willingness to blow the whistle among trainee auditors. Three categories of factors are examined: audit firm organisational structures, personal characteristics of whistleblowers and situational variables.A survey of 240 final year students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland was undertaken. Trainee auditors (just about to sit their finals) were asked about their confidence in internal and external reporting structures in their firms. Using four scenarios, audit trainees were questioned on their willingness to challenge an audit partner’s inappropriate response to concerns raised during the audit. Finally, audit trainees were asked about the influence of legal protection on their likelihood of whistleblowing.Results indicate that where firms have adequate formal structures for reporting wrongdoing, trainee auditors are more likely to report wrongdoing and have greater confidence that this will not adversely affect their careers. Training increases this confidence. Trainee auditors also express a willingness to challenge an audit partner’s unsatisfactory response to wrongdoing. Significant differences were found in attitudes depending on whether the reports of wrongdoing were internal or external. The willingness to report wrongdoing externally reduces for older (aged over 25) trainees.

Subfields: Accounting, Information Systems and Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3f7e528819fbfb77cdfc679ef2c8339aa73ef1ce

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Citations in the corpus

Whistleblowing Intentions Among Public Accountants in Indonesia: Testing for the Moderation Effects (2016, background): “From this perspective, whistleblowing is seen as a positive behavior (not selfish and altruistic) conducted without a specific purpose (such as reward or praise) and the action is in line with social norms (Brennan & Kelly, 2007; Dozier & Miceli, 1985; Seifert, Sweeney, Joireman, & Thornton, 2010).”
THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL AND SITUATIONAL FACTORS ON LOWER-LEVEL CIVIL SERVANTS’ WHISTLE-BLOWING INTENTION IN INDONESIA (2013, background): “…that affect the whistle-blowing intention, and a considerable amount of literature has been published on that topic (e.g. Park & Blenkinsopp, 2009; Schultz et al., 1993; Cortina & Magley, 2003, Near & Miceli, 1985; Miceli & Near, 1988; Keenan, 2000; Brennan & Kelly, 2007; Rothwell & Baldwin, 2006).”