Journal of Business Ethics, Industrial Relations, International
Journal of Human Resource Management,
Journal of Labor Research, and Relations Industrielles.
accountants the degree to which changing work conditions
have altered individual accountants’ commitment to
the core professional value of auditor independence. We
argue that certain changes in the condition of work have
made some categories of accountants more susceptible to
the logic of commercialism rather than the logic of professionalism.
We find general support for this argument.
We observe that accountants working outside of public
accounting have a higher commitment to independence
than do accountants working in the context of public
accounting firms. We further observe that accountants in
large international accounting firms (i.e. the ‘‘Big Four’’)
report lower commitment to auditor independence than
do others in public accounting. And we observe that
older accountants report stronger commitment to auditor
independence. One finding, however, contradicts our
general thesis. We find that commitment to one’s client
does not necessarily result in a loss of commitment to the
core professional value of independence. We conclude
that changes in the context of work have contributed to
the demise of ethics among professional accountants and
suggest that further research be done to elaborate the
relationship between client commitment and independence
commitment.