Speaking up in the Big 4: Facilitators and inhibitors of employee voice in unethical situations in tax

Tax practitioners are uniquely placed to influence the tax compliance behaviour of their clients. While credited with assisting clients in meeting their various payment and filing responsibilities, they also stand accused of undermining the integrity of tax systems by designing highly contrived structures which allow their clients to avoid tax. While strictly legal, this activity has been labelled as unethical by governments and civil society. Moreover, some accounting firms have crossed this legal line and been prosecuted for not complying with tax legislation. In seeking potential remedies for this, we draw on the concept of employee voice to examine the factors that influence tax practitioners from speaking up when they encounter unethical behaviour at work. Interviews were conducted with tax practitioners across all levels of seniority in Big 4 accounting firms, which dominate the tax profession worldwide. The findings reveal that the voice decision in tax is the product of powerful professional level factors and, to a lesser extent, a series of organisational level ones. We conclude that professional bodies, as well as management at the Big 4 firms themselves, need to take steps to re-emphasise to their members the importance of always reporting suspected unethical behaviour in the workplace.