Designing a model for identifying auditors' stress triggers

Subject Areas : Journal of Investment Knowledge

asgar amiri ¹ , nader rezaei ² , asgar pakmaram ³ , Rasoul ABDI ⁴

1 - PhD student in Accounting, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting, Bonab Islamic Azad University
3 - Corresponding Author: Associate Prof., Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Islamic Azad University Bonab Branch, Bonab, Iran.
4 - Assistant Professor. Department of Accounting, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran

Received: 2021-03-27 Accepted : 2021-05-08 Published : 2021-12-22

Keywords: Audit quality, Stress arousal, foundation theory approach,

Abstract :

The complexity of business transactions and the demand for relevant and reliable information in decision-making necessitate a fair system of information flow between the respondent and the respondent. Applying tender criteria in the use of accreditation services, conducting audits under time budget pressure, trying to satisfy the client, and financial scandals of business units, cast doubt on the judgments applied. At present, the causal, intervening, and contextual conditions, strategies, and consequences of auditors' stress arousal have not been investigated. Therefore, in this study, an attempt has been made to design a pattern of auditors' stress arousal using contextual theorizing method. This research is of qualitative and exploratory type. This study was conducted by interviewing experts in the field of theoretical foundations of auditing and psychology and by conducting 17 interviews in 2021 by snowball sampling method, has been saturated. The results showed that the most important causal conditions that provoke auditors' stress are: inflexibility, time budget deviations, management control in auditing firms, lack of expertise, level of risk assessment, ambiguity in opportunistic behavior and risk, respectively. The client, the size of the audit work, the client's environmental pressure, the incompleteness of accounting systems and internal controls, the degree of collaboration of the client's staff and the new client. According to experts, the lack of flexibility in the auditor is one of the factors affecting the auditors' stress arousal.

References:

• کاشانی پور، محمد و دیگران، «سودمندی اقلام صورتهای مالی در پیش بینی زمان لازم برای حسابرسی شرکت»، بررسی های حسابداری و حسابرسی، دانشگاه تهران، شماره 44، تهران، تابستان 1385، صص 103-85


• کمیته تجدید نظر دستور العمل حسابرسی، دستور العمل حسابرسی( نشریه شماره 150)، انتشارات سازمان حسابرسی، چاپ چهارم، تهران، 1385


• کمیته تدوین استانداردها، استانداردهای حسابرسی(نشریه شماره171)، انتشارات سازمان حسابرسی، چاپ هفتم، 1386


• گلستانی، پرویز، حسابرسی، انتشارات دانشگاه پیام نور، تهران، 1385


• لنگری، محمود، «بررسی و اندازه گیری میزان رعایت عوامل کنترل کیفیت در حسابرسی های مستقل در ایران و شناسایی موانع و مشکلات موجود»، رساله دکتری حسابداری دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی، 1379


• مهرانی، ساسان و مهدیس نعیمی، «تئوری اخلاقی و تأثیر فشار بودجه زمانی بر رفتار حسابرسان مستقل»، بررسی های حسابداری و حسابرسی، دانشگاه تهران، شماره32، تهران، 1382، ص 43-61.


• نجاجی غفوری، سید جواد، پایان نامه کارشناسی ارشد مدیریت بازرگانی دانشگاه علامه مدرس، 1375


• نیکخواه آزاد، علی، بیانیه مفاهیم بنیادی حسابرسی(نشریه شماره 121)، انتشارات سازمان حسابرسی، تهران، چاپ اول، 1378.


• Alderman and deitrick , auditors perceptions of time budget pressures and premature sign-offs ; a replication and extent ion, auditing: a journal of practice and theory, 1982, pp.54-68


• Azad , time budget pressure and filtering of time practices in internal auditing, auditing, managerial auditing journal, vol.9 , no.6 , 1994, pp. 17-25


• Beattie, and Fearnley, “Auditor changes and tendering: UK interview evidence”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 11 No. 1, 1998,  72-98


• Breda Sweeney and Bernard pierce , Management control in audit firms A qualitative examination , Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 17 No. 5, 2004, pp. 779-812


• Buchheit, S., W. Pasewark, and J. Strawser. Evidence from auditors about the causes of inaccurate budgets: Do clients cause budget overruns? Advances in Accounting 22, 2006: pp.45-68


• Carl j. pacini, PhD, Florida golf coast university, http://ruby.fgcu.edu /courses/cpacini, chapter7, 2007


• Charles f. Malone, Factors Associated with the Incidence of Reduced Audit Quality Behaviors auditing: a journal of practice & theory, Vol. 15, No 2, Fall 1996


• Coram, P., Glavovic, A., Ng, J., & Woodliff, D. (2008). The moral intensity of reduced audit quality acts. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 27, 127–149.


• Covaleski, M.A., Evans, J.H, Luft, J.L. and Shields, M.D, “Budgeting research: three theoretical perspectives and criteria for selective integration”, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 15, 2003, pp. 3-49


• David t. Otlay, Bernard j. pierce , "Auditor time budget pressure: consequences and antecedents", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 9 ,No. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58


• DeAngelo, L. (1981). Auditor size and auditor quality. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 3(3), 183–199.


• Department of Health and Human Services (1999). Mental health: A report of the surgeon general. U.S. Public Health Service. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 15, 87–110.


• DeZoort, F. T., & Lord, A. T. (1997). A review and synthesis of pressure effects research in accounting. Journal of Accounting Literature, 16, 28–86.


• Donnelly, D. P., Quirin, J., & O'Bryan, D. (2003). Auditor acceptance of dysfunctional audit behavior: An explanatory model using auditors' personal characteristics.


• Edvard b.deakin. Cost accounting, 2 Th, edition Irwin 1987.p 723


• Edwards, J. R., Caplan, R. D., & Harrison, R. V. (1998). Person-environment fit theory: Conceptual foundations, empirical evidence, and directions for future research. In C. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of organizational stress (pp. 28–67). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.


• el hady , examination of an integrated expectancy model for auditors behavior under time budget pressure, PhD dissertation north Texas state university, 1985


• Everly, G. S., McCabe, O. L., Semon, N., Thompson, C. B., & Links, J. (2014). The development of a model of psychological first aid (PFA) for non-mental health trained public health personnel: The Johns Hopkins' RAPID-PFA. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 20, S24–S29.


• Gaertner, J. F., & Ruhe, J. A. (1981). Job-related stress in public accounting: CPAs who are under the most stress and suggestions on how to cope. Journal of Accountancy, 151, 68–74.


• Gist and Davidson , an exploratory study of the influence of client factors on audit time budget variances, auditing : journal of practice and theory, vol.18, no.1spring 1999, pp. 101-116


• Goolsby, J. R. (1992). A theory of role stress in boundary spanning positions of marketing organizations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20, 155–164.


• Helen rananaus kas, op. cit, pp. 124-131


• Herrbach, O. (2001). Audit quality, auditor behaviour and the psychological contract. The European Accounting Review, 10, 787–802.


• Houston , the effect of fee pressure and client risk on audit seniors time budget decisions, auditing: a journal of practice and theory18, 1999, pp. 70-86


• Jones, A., Norman, C., & Wier, B. (2010). Healthy lifestyle as a coping mechanism for role stress in public accounting. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 22, 21–41.


• Kahn , M.S, CIA cos fm. Cgap, www.portlandonline.com/auditor/audit services, 2007


• Kelly and margheim ,the impact of time budget pressure, personality, and leadership variables on dysfunctional auditor behavior, auditing a journal of practice and theory9, 1990, pp. 21-42


• Kelly and margheim, the effect of audit billing arrangement on underreporting of time and audit quality reduction acts. advances in accounting , 1987, pp. 221-223


• Leung, K., Tong, K. and Ho, S.S., “Effects of interactional justice on egocentric bias in resource allocation decisions”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 89,2004, pp. 405-15


• Little, H.T., Magner, N.R. and Welker, R.B., “The fairness of formal budgetary procedures and their enactment: relationships with managers’ behavior”, Group & Organization Management, Vol. 27, 2002, pp. 209-25.


• Malone, C. F., & Roberts, R. W. (1996). Factors associated with the incidence of reduced audit quality behaviors. Auditing, 15(2), 49–64.


• Mcnair, ET all, the management control dilemma in public accounting and its impact on auditor behavior, accounting, organization and society 16, 1991. pp. 635-653


• Michael ,l.ettredge , Jean C. Bedard, Karla M. Johnston, Empirical Tests of Audit Budget Dynamics, School of Business, University of Kansas, 2007


• Nace R. Magner et al, The case for fair budgetary procedures , Managerial Auditing Journal Vol. 21 No. 4, 2006 ,pp. 408-419


• Nouri, H. 1994, “Using organizational commitment and job involvement to predict budgetary slack: a research note”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 19, pp. 289-95.


• Otley and peierse , Auditor time budget pressure: consequences and antecedents Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 9 No. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58.


• Otley, “The contingency theory of management accounting: achievement and prognosis”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 5, 1980 pp. 413-28


• Otley, and Pierce, “The operation of control systems in large audit firms: an empirical investigation”, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Vol. 15 No. 2, 1996, pp. 65-84


• Palmrose, the relation of audit contract type to audit fees and hours, the accounting review, vol.64, no.3,1989, pp 488-499


• Power, M.K., “Auditing and the production of legitimacy”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 28 No. 4, 2003, pp. 379-94.


• Raghunathan, B. (1991). Premature signing-off, Accounting Horizons, 5, 71–79.


• Smith, K. J., Davy, J. A., & Stewart, B. R. (1998). A comparative study of the antecedents and consequences of job dissatisfaction and turnover intentions among women and men in public accounting firms. Advances in Public Interest Accounting, 7, 193–227.


• Smith, K. J., Emerson, D. J., & Everly, G. S. (2017). Stress arousal and burnout as mediators of role stress in public accounting. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research.


• Staley, A.B. and Magner, N.R. (n.d.), “Budgetary fairness, supervisory trust, and the propensity to create budgetary slack: testing a social exchange model in a government budgeting context”, Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, in press.2002


• Sweeney, B., and B. Pierce. Good hours, bad hours and auditors’ defense mechanisms in audit firms. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 19, 2006: pp .858-892.


• Vander and stede “The relationship between two consequences of budgetary controls budgetary slack creation and managerial short-term orientation”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 25, 2000 pp. 609-22.


• Weick, K. E. (1983). Stress in accounting systems. The Accounting Review, 58, 350–369.


• Weitzman, M.L. The “ratchet principle” and performance incentives. The Bell Journal of Economics 11:302-308. 1980.


• Wentzel, K., “The influence of fairness perceptions and goal commitment on managers' performance in a budget setting”, Behavioral Research in Accounting, Vol. 14, 2002, pp. 247-71


• Youssef, C. M., & Luthans, F. (2007). Positive organizational behavior in the workplace: The impact of hope, optimism, and resilience. Journal of Management, 33, 774–800.


• Zunz, S. J. (1998). Resiliency and burnout: Protective factors for human service managers. Administration in Social Work, 22, pp. 39–54. Britt, T. W., & Jex, S. M. (2015). Thriving under stress: Harnessing demands in the workplace. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.