Test of Auditors Behavior in Making Balance between the inherent Tasks of Auditing and Marketing Activity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mehdi Maranjory 1
Hamidreza Vakilifard 2
Zahra Poorzamani 3
Seyed Mohammad Reza Raiiszadeh 4
1 Ph.D. Accounting, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Prof. Accounting, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding author)
3 Associate Prof. Accounting, Central Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Accounting, Chalous Branch, Islamic Azad University, Chalous, Iran
Abstract
In recent years, the market of auditing profession and services has undergone rapid and remarkable changes. Privatization has allowed auditing institutions to pursue economic goals more. In such circumstances, auditors confront with a contradictory situation because, on the one hand, the ethics of professional behavior prohibit the auditors from direct interaction with customers in order to respect independency and auditing quality; on the other hand, business environment is changing for providing professional services, and intense competition in this industry push them towards marketing and customer orientation. Society expects auditors to maintain their independency in order to make a balance between their personal interests and the interests of the society. However, with the increasing number of auditing institutions, the auditors feel the risk of staying away from competition more than ever and the question arises as how auditors can make a balance between their personal interests and the interests of the society in current situation. Thus, considering the above, the present study intended to inspect the behavior of auditors in making a balance between the behavior of auditors of auditing and marketing activities. The statistical population included 1157 auditors employed in Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants amongst which 289 auditors were selected. Structural equation modeling was used for hypothesis testing using Smart PLS. The results showed that attitude, level of importance, deceptive behavior and professional levels affect the balance between the essential tasks of auditing and marketing activities. Nevertheless, being young does not have any effect on the balance between the inherent tasks of auditing and marketing activities.
 
Keywords
Behavior of auditors
Auditing Tasks
Marketing Activity
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