Whistle-blowing propensity among Malaysian accountants and factors affecting their decisions / Saadon Mydinsa

The dissolution of Arthur Andersen following the Enron financial scandal exemplifies how tragic the situation can be for the accountants if they remain unperturbed. Moreover, the increasing legislative stipulation and regulation suggest that accountants are required to report improper conduct i.e. whistle-blow. A brief review of Malaysian accounting and financial regulatory reports reveal that only a small number of complaints were received throughout their establishment, and fewer among the complainants are accountants. Thus this study is engaged to investigate Malaysian professional accountants’ willingness to whistle-blow when encountering improper conduct. Previously identified whistle-blowing influencing factors and a newly introduced factor (profession’s espousal) were tested by conducting a survey on all the four categories of Malaysian professional accountants. The study reassess the applicability of the widely used prosocial behaviour theory by Latane and Darley (1970) and pioneered the appropriateness of the functionalist theory of profession by Carr-Saunders and Wilson (1933), Greenwood (1957) and Parsons (1968) on whistle-blowing.