Accountants’ Perceptions of the Relationship Between Organizational Culture and Fraud Risk

• In Event: Audit Considerations

Abstract

Abstract
Organizational culture (OC) plays an important role in preventing and reporting financial fraud. Extensive guidance exists on control functions of OC in this regard (e.g., COSO 2013). We investigate whether accounting practitioners in general concur with guidance, as well as related research in accounting and other disciplines. We are the first study to examine the views of accountants regarding their experiences with OC in a more general business context. The views of our sample of 137 accountants in general were consistent with guidance and relevant research, and do not suggest any obvious limitations of OC as a control against fraud. Strong consistency arose in the views across demographic groups, including age, gender, and experience. We also found that nearly a quarter of older accountants indicated as strongly as possible that they believe that Millennials are more likely than themselves to commit fraud, and Millennials on average did not think that they would be any less likely than older generations to commit fraud.

Authors

• Alan Reinstein, Wayne State University

• Philip Beaulieu, University of Calgary