This article investigates how auditors' value preferences affect their ethical beliefs and discusses whether ethical ideology can serve as an intervening mediator. We adopts multiple vignette approach to design fictional unethical earnings management conducts, for the purpose of measuring auditors' judgment of and attitude toward ethically sensitive events. This article also reflects upon the effect of social desirability response. By incorporating personal values and ethical ideology into the questionnaire design, the study aims to get a glimpse into the ethical beliefs of auditors in general. Our results show that the both idealism and relativism are positively correlated with ethical beliefs. The former is positively correlated with companies actively executing dubious management policies, while the latter is negatively correlated with companies actively engaging in illegal conduct.
