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Evaluating the Demand for Tax Professionals
Title
Evaluating the Demand for Tax Professionals.
Creator
Rosenthal, Leigh, Higgs, Julia, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description
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....
Show moreTaxpayers 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.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004792, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004792
Subject Headings
Tax return preparation industry., Finance--Law and legislation., Econometrics., Accounting--Moral and ethical aspects., Accountants--Professional ethics., Tax consultants--Professional ethics.
Format
Document (PDF)
Do “Superstar” CEOs Impair Auditors’ Independence and Professional Skepticism?
Title
Do “Superstar” CEOs Impair Auditors’ Independence and Professional Skepticism?.
Creator
Harvin, Oscar, Higgs, Julia, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description
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...
Show moreThe 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
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004771
Subject Headings
Chief executive officers--Professional ethics, Accounting--Moral and ethical aspects, Accountants--Professional ethics, Auditors--Psychology, Behaviorism (Psychology), Industrial management
Format
Document (PDF)
Can Priming a Firm’s Organizational Identity Overcome the Influences of National Culture on Auditor Judgment?
Title
Can Priming a Firm’s Organizational Identity Overcome the Influences of National Culture on Auditor Judgment?.
Creator
Killey, Michael, Higgs, Julia, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description
A significant challenge faced by large auditing firms is offering consistent quality across the global network. Unfortunately, variation in judgments and decision-making, resulting from cultural differences, can undermine the provision of a uniform level of audit quality for these international firms. Previous research has determined that national culture influences an auditors’ professional judgments and decisions. Relying on Social Identity Theory, I explore whether inducing one’s...
Show moreA significant challenge faced by large auditing firms is offering consistent quality across the global network. Unfortunately, variation in judgments and decision-making, resulting from cultural differences, can undermine the provision of a uniform level of audit quality for these international firms. Previous research has determined that national culture influences an auditors’ professional judgments and decisions. Relying on Social Identity Theory, I explore whether inducing one’s organizational identification can both enhance auditor judgment and mitigate any deleterious impact that culture may have on the provision of a uniform level of audit quality. I also examine current cultural variations in auditor judgment in order to ensure that the results of earlier studies still typify the international auditing environment. National culture is assessed using two dimensions (individualism/collectivism, power distance) included in Hofstede’s 1980 cultural values framework. Participants from the United States are used to represent an individualistic/low power distance culture while individuals from India are used to represent a collectivistic/high power distance culture. Firms need mechanisms to elicit desired behaviors that may not be consistent with cultural tendencies in order to provide a uniform level of audit quality. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences are identified between the judgments of auditors from India and The United States. The results, however, do provide evidence that enhancing one’s organizational identification can impact certain professional judgments during the audit process. An association between national culture and auditor attitudes pertaining to client trust is also found. The implications of these findings for the professional auditing environment and future academic research are discussed.
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004736, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004736
Subject Headings
Corporate governance., Corporations--Auditing., Auditing--Quality control., Identity (Psychology), Accounting--Moral and ethical aspects., Accounting--Professional ethics., Social responsibility of business.
Format
Document (PDF)
Cognitive Dissonance and Auditor Professional Skepticism
Title
Cognitive Dissonance and Auditor Professional Skepticism.
Creator
Adikaram, Ruwan K, Higgs, Julia, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description
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...
Show moreI 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
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Date Issued
2016
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004772
Subject Headings
Cognitive dissonance, Auditing--Standards, Accounting--Standards, Accounting--Moral and ethical aspects, Accountants--Professional ethics, Auditors--Psychology, Behaviorism (Psychology)
Format
Document (PDF)