The effectiveness of a complaint-based ethics enforcement system: Evidence from the accounting profession
S. Douglas Beets, Larry N. Killough
Journal of Business Ethics · 1990 · Volume 9 · Issue 2
Abstract
Many professions, in order to enforce their ethics codes, rely on a complaint-based system, whereby persons who observe or discover ethics violations may file a complaint with an authoritative body. The authors assume that this type of system may encourage ethical behavior when practitioners believe that a punishment is likely to result from a failure to adhere to the rules. This perceived likelihood of punishment has three components: detection risk, reporting risk, and sanction risk. A survey of potential violation witnesses related to the accounting profession revealed that the profession's complaint-based enforcement system may not provide practitioners with the necessary disincentive to refrain from code violations.
Keywords
Economic Growth, Ethical Behavior, Ethic Code, Accounting Profession, Enforcement System
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