In recent years, professional skepticism (PS) has drawn extensive attention from both regulators and academics. While prior research theorizes that both stable personality traits and temporary states influence PS (e.g., Hurtt 2010; Nelson 2009), this literature tends to focus on either trait PS or...

This study classifies and reports public auditors' observations of unethical behavior within their offices. Sixty-six of 238 survey respondents reported observing eighty instances of unethical behavior in their offices. The majority of behaviors are audit-related; although many are workplace...

This paper investigates auditors' likelihood to report observations of colleagues' unethical behavior. We consider whether two characteristics that are particularly relevant to the audit environment, prior organizational response and power distance, affect willingness to report. Data collected...

Retaliation against whistleblowers is a well-recognized problem, yet there is little explanation for why uninvolved peers choose to retaliate through ostracism. We conduct two experiments in which participants take the role of a peer third-party observer of theft and subsequent whistleblowing....

This case presents facts and opinions gathered from personal interviews and public documents that describe how one individual discovered and reported what he perceived as accounting fraud at a large U.S. public company. George (a pseudonym), the Director of Technical Accounting Research and...