Impacts of professional ethics on the quality of financial statement audits: An experimental study in Ho Chi Minh City
Published: July 28, 2026
Abstract
One of the decisive factors in the quality of audits is the compliance of auditors and audit firms with professional ethics during the audit process. There are many studies on the impact of professional ethics on audit quality. Different from previous studies, this study measured the compliance of auditors and audit firms with professional ethics through observed variables that were based on specific situations set out by the code of professional ethics and violations over the past 10 years in Vietnam and around the world.
In this study, 33 questions were sent to 228 auditors working at auditing firms in Ho Chi Minh City to collect data. Quantitative research methods were used to analyze the collected data. The study’s results showed that the independence, integrity, professional capacity, and prudence of auditors and audit firms strongly influence the quality of audits, compared to the objectivity, confidentiality, and professional style of auditors.
Keywords
professional ethicsaudit qualityaudit qualityfinancial statement audit
References
1.
Bộ Tài chính. Thông tư số 70/2015/TT-BTC ngày 08/05/2015 V/v Chuẩn mực đạo đức nghề nghiệp kế toán kiểm toán.
2.
A. Y. Kertarajasa, T. Marwa, & T. Wahyudi (2019). The Effect of Competence, Experience, Independence, Due Professional Care, And Auditor Integrity On Audit Quality With Auditor Ethics As Moderating Variable. Journal of Accounting, Financial and Auditing Studies, 5(1), 80-99.
3.
Hammersley (2006). Pattern Identification and Industry-Specialist Auditors. The Accounting Review, 81(2), 309-336.
4.
H. Flayyih (2014). The Ethical Rules of Auditing and the Impact of Compliance with the Ethical Rules on Auditing Quality. International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applied Sciences, 18(1).
5.
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) (2022). Handbook of International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. Croatia: IESBA.
6.
L. Kohlberg (1969). Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research (pp. 347-480). Chicago: Rand McNally.
7.
Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, Strawser, Thibodeau (2015). Auditing & Assurance Service. [Online] Available at https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/audit-assurance.html
Rest (1986). Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory. USA: Praeger.
10.
Sutton, S. G. (1993). Toward an Understanding of the Factors Affecting the Quality of the Audit Process. Decision Sciences, 24, 88-105.
11.
Umphress, E. E., & Bingham, J. B. (2011). When employees do bad things for good reasons: Examining unethical pro-organizational behaviors. Organization Science, 22(3), 621-640.