ETHICAL INTELLIGENCE AND ETHICAL CLIMATE
The key expectation from auditors lies in the fact that they are called upon to give social legitimacy to their clients. When financial audits are concerned they can be understood as a social mechanism of control the objective of which is to reproduce trust. However, to be able to meet the expectation of the guardian of reliability of financial transactions, they shall be irreproachable, at least in ethical sense, (Pasewark, 1995).
Principally, ethical issues are to be taken into consideration once two criteria are met: volition and consequences. First, the individual dealing with an ethical issue must have a choice. Secondly, his choice must have consequences for the others. If the action of an individual has no consequences for the others, it can not be considered an ethical issue, (Bartels et al., 1998).