We place participants in a scenario in which they are
responsible for evaluating an engagement senior who appears to have worked more hours
than were budgeted. We manipulate the senior’s reporting accuracy (underreporting versus
accurate reporting) and the desirability of the client (more versus less desirable). We find
that, whenmanagers’ agency-related incentives conflict more strongly with those of the firm
(more desirable client), they tend to tacitly encourage underreporting through their evaluations
of the senior’s performance. Managers are also more likely to request an underreporter
on a future engagement. In contrast, partners placed in the same setting show no evidence of
encouraging underreporting. Thus, our results suggest that managers’ tacit encouragement
of underreporting is contrary to what the ‘‘principals’’ of the firm (i.e., partners) appear to
want. Further, while firms may have reduced their emphasis on formal, explicit incentives
to underreport, it appears likely that implicit manager incentives persist.