The Role of Bargaining Style in Public Company Audits

Prior auditing research has found that negotiation plays an important role in audit outcomes. General purpose negotiating literature suggests that bargaining styles are an important factor in business negotiations and that bargaining style mismatches between negotiating counterparties can influence negotiation results. To date, the role of auditors' bargaining-style tendencies in audit negotiations has gone unnoticed in the auditing literature. This study examines the bargaining styles of accountants and managers as measured by the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). The results suggest that accountants are predisposed to avoid conflict or accommodate whereas managers are predisposed to collaborate or compete. Recognizing this potential mismatch of bargaining styles should help the auditor to develop more effective negotiation strategies