Abstract:
Auditors are confronted with ethical dilemmas in their decision-making. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the perceived level of moral intensity of the problem influences the external auditor's ethical decision-making process when faced with situations involving ethical dilemmas. Data for the study were collected by questionnaire from 55 audit firms operating in Cameroon between July and October 2021. These data were then analyzed using a linear regression technique. The analysis of the results led to several findings. First, we find that the moral intensity of the problem is indeed an explanatory factor for the external auditor's ethical reasoning. Second, the results reveal that among the characteristics of the moral intensity of the problem, the importance of the consequences, the social consensus, and the proximity of the effects positively influence the auditor's ethical decision-making process concerning the problem. The concentration of effects, on the other hand, has a negative and significant impact on the auditor's ethical decision-making process.
Keywords: Ethical dilemmas, Moral intensity, External auditor, Ethical decision
