Carolyn A. Strand

Survey Results of the Ethical Beliefs of Business Students.

Abstract Gaps in professional judgment and personal moral standards are perpetual problems across many sectors of society. This article reports the results of a survey that was conducted at four universities to examine the ethical beliefs and attitudes of current business students. The behaviors that current business students believed to be most unethical were (a) taking a test for someone else and (b) obtaining answers from someone else during an exam. The behaviors that they were less certain about were (a) studying from someone elses notes and (b) failing to report unfavorable errors in grading.

The relation between audit pricing and audit contract type: a public sector analysis

Abstract Our study used North Carolina local government data to examine the extent to which audit contract type is capable of explaining the variation in audit fees, after controlling for variables found to be significant correlates in prior audit economics studies (e.g., Z. Palmrose, The Account. Rev. 64 (3) (1989) 494). We used a LOGIT regression model to identify factors associated with the probability of negotiating a particular contract type, either fixed fee or cost-reimbursement. We found evidence that audit fees are, on average, lower for fixed fee contracts than for cost-reimbursement contracts. Also, the probability of negotiating a fixed fee contract increased for governmental units with higher financial risk when they engaged an independent auditor with more knowledge about the public sector.

A public choice analysis of bond referenda and capital outlays of texas school districts

There were 398 bond referenda by Texas school districts from 1990-95. On average, these received a 58% voter approval rating and almost 75% of the referenda passed. A public choice model suggests many factors related to the voter percentage, including the amount of the bond issue per voter, percent of non-white population, and the amount of state and federal aid in the districts. Districts with Big Six auditors received higher voter percentages ceteris paribus, suggesting increased voter confidence in districts reviewed by brand name auditors. Districts with higher standardized test scores (TAAS) had more favorable votes, which can be interpreted that voters are willing to fund more infrastructure when output performance levels are adequate. A public choice model focusing on capital outlays was successful in explaining spending levels. A Big Six audit was associated with higher capital outlays, although TAAS was insignificant.

An experimental assessment of business students' performance: Recognizing risk factors associated with misappropriation of assets

This paper reports the results of a study that was conducted to investigate the performance of senior-level business students as it pertains to recognizing certain clues or risk factors that are frequently associated with the misappropriation of entity assets. Based on three of the risk factors identified in SAS No. 82, an experiment was used to examine differences in performance based on academic major, fraud-specific knowledge, and certain experiences of the students. The primary contributions of this study are the discovery that: (1) an increasing number of risk factors; (2) knowledge accumulated in an accounting curriculum; (3) reading additional articles on the topic of employee theft; and (4) direct encounters with employee theft in the workplace were positively and significantly associated with recognizing an increased possibility that employee theft may be occurring. The results also indicate that neither employer-provided fraud training, nor part-time work experience, helped the subjects recognize an increased level of vulnerability of an organization to employee theft.