International Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2017, Volume 11, Issue 3, 337-345.
International Journal of Economic Perspectives ISSN 1307-1637 © International Economic Society
http,//www.econ-society.org
337
ABSTRACT
Pressure of work, especially for an external auditor can lead to dysfunctional behavior. If dysfunctional behavior
happen to employees, it could cause some damages to the company. This also applies to auditors who working in
the public accounting firm. Auditors could have had dysfunctional behavior because of work or external factors as
well as their own personal factors. Dysfunctional audit behavior may cause a decline in the quality of the audit
results. Declining in the quality of audit result, can be harm for the user and other stakeholders. Based on that
phenomenon, the aim of this study is to see whether there is influence of personal characteristic that consists of
Intelligent Quotient (IQ), Emotion Quotient (EQ) and Spiritual Quotient (SQ) with the moderating role of
organization commitment. The sample size is 100 respondents and data processed using Partial Least Squares
(PLS). The results show that the personal characteristic does not affect on dysfunctional audit behavior and
organization commitment as moderating variable does not strengthen or weaken the influence of personal
characteristic of the audit dysfunctional behavior.
JEL Classifications, D23; L84; M42.
Keywords: Personal Characteristic; Organizational Commitment; Dysfunctional Audit Behavior.
1. INTRODUCTION
The role of the auditor in conducting an audit of the client's financial statements is crucial to obtain evidence in
order to give a proper opinion. Atmadja et al., (2014) states that the accounting profession hiup in a business
environment where its presence from time to time increase is needed in the business community. Auditor is an
independent third party role in the provision of information in the form of an assessment of the fairness of the
financial statements of the company stated in the audit opinion. According to Alkautsar (2014), the main purpose
of financial statements is to provide assurance to users that the company's financial statements can be relied upon
and in accordance with established criteria" This information is needed for both internal (management) and
external companies want results high quality audits that the parties associated with the company have more
confidence than the reliability of financial statements. Auditor as a service provider of assurance required to
comply with auditing standards and use knowledge, expertise, skills, and professional behavior.
In relation to professional attitude, charactristic auditor plays an important role in addition it has the technical
knowledge. Decisions taken auditors should be based on facts, evidence, and understanding of professional ethics
that they have. However, sometimes users of financial statements would doubt auditor's audit opinion given
because of the possibility of deviant behavior of the auditor (audit dysfunctional behavior) which is an element of
personality auditor in the performance of its duties. According to Kelley and Margheim (1990), personality
qualities will be reflected in the professional attitude in the act of a professional public accountants. He expresses
the condition to avoid had seen the occurrence of dysfunctional audit behavior. Dysfunctional audit behavior may
be occured from environmental control system, and can be an impact on the quality of audits, both directly and
indirectly (Paino et al., 2012). Donnelly et al., (2003) stated that ehaviors which directly impact on the quality of
the audit including the premature signing-off of audit trails without completing the procedure (Outley and Pierce
1995), gathering of insufficient evidential materials, processing inaccuracy, and the omission of the audit steps
(Margheim and Pany 1986). Underreporting of audit time has also been shown to have an indirect impact on audit
quality (Kelley and Margheim, 1990). This is in line with the Public Oversight Board report AICPA (2000) in
Donnelly et al., (2003) which states of the survey on the Big Six (the six largest accounting firms in the world)
showed that 89% of respondents had received some form of behavior can reduce the quality of the audit (eg
premature sign-off) and the estimated time of the audit were not reported is equivalent to approximately 12.2% of
the time the audit was recorded accurately (Outley and Pierce 1995).
Interactions between Personal Characteristics and Audit Behavior:
A Moderating Role of Organizational Commitment
Hendro LUKMAN
Faculty of Economics, University of Tarumanagara, Indonesia. Email:
hendrol@fe.untar.ac.id.