Cultural influences on judgments of professional accountants in relation to auditor-client conflict resolution, and whistle blowing as an internal control mechanism

This thesis is an empirical examination of cultural influences on professional judgments of Australian, Indian and Chinese Malaysian accountants in relation to auditor-client conflict resolution, and whistle blowing as an internal control mechanism. The results provide support for the following hypotheses: Australian professional accountants are less likely to resolve audit conflicts by acceding to clients than Indian and Chinese Malaysian professional accountants, and are also less accepting of resolving audit conflicts in this way; Australian professional accountants are more likely to engage in whistle blowing as an internal control mechanism than Chinese Malaysian and Indian professional accountants, and are also more accepting of doing so. The results also show the usefulness of the Multidimensional Ethics Measure to examine complex comparative judgments of professional accountants. The findings of the study have implications for the management of multinational enterprises, the international harmonisation of accounting and auditing standards, and for cross-cultural accounting research and accounting education.