Title: The effects of time budget pressure, organisational-professional conflict, and organisational commitment on dysfunctional auditor behaviour

Authors: Jan Svanberg; Peter Öhman

Addresses: Department of Business, Economics and Law, Mid Sweden University, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Department of Business, Economics and Law, Mid Sweden University, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden

Abstract: This study tests several hypotheses regarding the relationships between time budget pressure, organisational-professional conflict, organisational commitment, and various forms of dysfunctional auditor behaviour. Data were collected from a sample of experienced auditors in Sweden, and the response rate was 21.4%. The results indicate that time budget pressure has an impact on under-reporting of time (URT), but not on reduced audit quality (RAQ) acts. Simultaneously, the organisational-professional conflict in accounting firms exerts an important influence on RAQ acts, but has no effect on URT. Contrary to our expectations, organisational commitment has no impact on RAQ acts or URT. The overall results indicate that aligning accounting firms' ethical cultures with professional values is an effective method to reduce the likelihood that auditors will commit RAQ acts, and that decreased time budget pressure may reduce URT.

Keywords: time budget pressure; organisational-professional conflict; OPC; organisational commitment; dysfunctional behaviour; auditor behaviour; auditing; Sweden; audit quality; accounting firms; ethical culture; ethics; professional values.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2016.075619

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2016 Vol.12 No.2, pp.131 - 150

Accepted: 11 May 2015
Published online: 30 Mar 2016 *

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