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Professional behavior clearly will be achieved by
emulating Javanese life behavior because the auditor
will be afraid to do something that might discredit
the profession in the eyes of the public. However,
Javanese life behavior could weaken the profession
if it is interpreted that someone cannot accentuate
their superiority in front of other people. This matter
will affect the rigidity of the auditor when finding
mistakes committed by the auditee because of the
fears of being called arrogant.
The ethos of Javanese life tends to reinforce
rather than weaken the public accountant code of
ethics. The ethos of Javanese life teaches someone to
not be too highly ambitious in life because high
ambition is one of the big reasons for corruption.
The ethos of Javanese life teaches someone to use
their skills or superiority to help other people. This
matter will reinforce the principle of competence
because the auditor will keep trying to improve his
skills relating to the accountancy profession, and
that encourages the auditor to help the financial
report user in improving its quality, which affects
the decision making. The ethos of Javanese life also
reminds us that humans are flawed and they make
mistakes. This matter will remind the auditor to be
cautious in performing any actions. Do not let the
actions negatively affect the profession’s reputation.
So, the principle of precision and professional
caution could be achieved. The ethos of Javanese
life could be weakened if it is interpreted that every
person should accept their own flaws and those of
others. This matter will affect the auditor’s firmness
in addressing problems made by the auditee. So, it
makes the auditor overly trust the reason of the
mistake performed by the auditee as the form of
other people’s flaw acceptance.
The principle of harmony can reinforce and
weaken the public accountant code of ethics
depending on the auditor’s comprehension of this
principle. The principle of harmony can reinforce
the public accountant code of ethics if it is used to
establish a good relationship between the auditor and
financial report user. The principle of harmony
makes the auditor afraid to do actions that could
damage the profession’s reputation or discredit it in
the public’s eyes. So, the principle of professional
behavior, competence, precision, and professional
caution can be achieved. The principle of harmony
teaches someone gotong royong or teamwork. If it is
interpreted correctly, this principle will reinforce the
audit team’s cooperation in investigations, so that a
good quality financial report can be achieved.
However, the principle of harmony can weaken the
profession if it is understood that one should
preserve a good relationship with anyone in any
condition. This matter will probably cause a conflict
of interest between the auditor and auditee while the
investigation is undergoing. For the achievement of
a good relationship with the auditee, the auditor
should comply with every request from the auditee
even if it is a violation of professional regulations
such as Financial Accounting Standard or Standar
Akuntansi Keuangan (SAK) and SPAP. This matter
will damage the principle of objectivity because it
negatively affects opinions in published financial
reports. Other than that, the principle of integrity
will also be destroyed because the auditor has
violated professional regulations because of
indecision and dishonesty while performing their
duties. Therefore, the principle of good professional
behavior cannot be achieved because the auditor has
violated the professional regulation that might
discredit the profession in the eyes of the public. The
principle of secrecy also cannot be achieved if the
auditor divulges information to a third party for the
reason of preserving a good relationship with the
third party. This matter can be advantageous to the
third party who accepts information but it can be
disadvantageous for the auditee. The principle of
objectivity will also be achieved if the auditor
understands that objectivity is important when
giving opinions, which is the auditor’s responsibility
toward the financial report users, both internal and
external users. So, the auditor will avoid a conflict of
interest that benefits only one side of the party but is
not advantageous for other parties (general society),
and negatively affects the profession’s good
relationship with general society.
The principle of respect teaches someone to
always appreciate others’ point of view and opinions
despite their social level and position. The outlook
that social relations in a structured society are
hierarchical for the realization of harmony
corresponds with the ethics of manners and is
fundamental to the principle of respect (Endraswara,
2015). Javanese people believe that every matter in
this world is connected to each other a unity of life
and that its harmony should be preserved. As well as
the principle of harmony, the principle of respect can
weaken or reinforce the public accountant code of
ethics. If the principle of respect is interpreted
correctly, it will make an auditor an obedient
personality toward the accountant profession
regulations and it makes the auditor afraid to do
actions that might violate the professional
regulations. This matter will make the auditor’s
personality turn into an honest and emphatic
personality. Therefore, the principle of professional
Interpreting The Public Accountants’ Code Of Ethics From The Perspective Of Javanese Culture In East Java: An Ethnographic Study
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