Journal article
The Effects of Economic and Social Bonds with Clients on Tax Professionals' Recommendations
The Journal of the American Taxation Association, v 42(2), pp 145-158
01 Sep 2020
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This study provides new insights about how tax professionals' economic and social relationships with clients separately and jointly affect tax professionals' propensity to recommend aggressive tax positions to clients when resolving ambiguous issues. In an experiment with 133 practicing tax professionals, we manipulate the economic importance of the client and client identification (a social construct). We find that as the economic importance of the client increases, professional recommendations follow an inverted U-shaped pattern. Tax professionals more strongly recommend aggressive positions for clients of moderate economic importance than for clients of low or high economic importance. We also find that tax professionals with high versus low client identification provide more aggressive recommendations for clients of low or moderate economic importance, but not for clients of high economic importance. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying a boundary condition on client identification that has not been considered in prior accounting research.
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Details
- Title
- The Effects of Economic and Social Bonds with Clients on Tax Professionals' Recommendations
- Creators
- Beth Y. Vermeer - University of DelawareBrian C. Spilker - Brigham Young UniversityAnthony P. Curatola - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- The Journal of the American Taxation Association, v 42(2), pp 145-158
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Accounting
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000589761700006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85096957921
- Other Identifier
- 991019168479904721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Business, Finance