Proceedings of 23rd International Business Research Conference
18 - 20 November, 2013, Marriott Hotel, Melbourne, Australia, ISBN: 978-1-922069-36-8
An Assessment of the Effect of Ethical Climate, Suspension
of Judgment, and Virtues on Auditors’ Professional
Commitment in Indonesia
Bambang Riyanto L.S
Public accountants’ professional commitment and integrity have, not for
the first time, been questioned by their main constituent, the investors.
The failure of accounting firms to send signals to the market about the
management’s wrong-doings (frauds) properly has created distrust on
the accounting profession. Mega financial scandals that happened in
America, such as Enron, Adelphia, and WorldCom, to name a few,
involved billions of dollars loss on the part of the investors. Many believe
that these scandals are reflective of the deterioration of public
accountants to their profession. Indeed, there is an increasing attention
given, both by researchers and practitioners, to professional
commitment-related issues. This paper examines the impact of four
variables that have not been investigated in the literature, namely, ethical
principles and benevolent (two dimensions of ethical climate),
suspension of judgment (an important element of professional
skepticism), and instrumental virtues, among auditors. Fifty-five auditors
(46 six males and 9 females) participate in this study. The results of the
regression analysis show that, as expected, ethical principles,
benevolent, and suspension of judgment positively affect professional
commitment. But, contrary to the prediction, virtue is negatively
associated with professional commitment.
Key words: professional commitment, ethical climate, suspension of judgment, virtues,
auditors
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Bambang Riyanto L.S, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia,
Email: bambang_rls@yahoo.com.