The government whistleblowers in generating audit quality (a survey on provincial audit boards in South, Central, and West Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Purpose The aim of this paper is to investigate the mediation effect of whistleblower in relationship between auditor’s ethic, auditor’s commitment and auditor’s independence to audit quality – a survey on provincial audit boards in South, Central and West Sulawesi, Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The population in this research were auditors of audit board, amounting to 249 people, distributed in three provinces, namely, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi, using purposive sampling. The method used for analyzing the data in this research is structural equation modeling with auxiliary program analysis of moment structural version 20. Findings The main finding of this research is that the whistleblower is not the mediation variable of the relationship between auditor’s ethic, auditor’s commitment and auditor’s independence to audit quality. However, it does not mean that auditors will be whistleblowers who will disclose all cases into the public domain. Facts on the field are that Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik (BPK) or The Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia auditors do not become whistleblowers due to unsupportive atmosphere and less response from superiors. The results support the agency theory. This research supports the agency theory because of the fact in the field that BPK auditors are not committed to be whistleblowers. Meanwhile, there is positive effect of commitment to audit quality. This research supports stewardship theory and setting theory, as BPK auditors are already committed to the organization and demonstrate high levels of participation in the organization and stronger willingness to keep working and contribute to achievement of better audit. The BPK auditors maintain their independence in the inspection, but for them to be whistleblowers to reveal findings to the public is not allowed by their superiors. The research results support the agency theory. Research limitations/implications Whistleblower needs special attention in BPK, as it is proven that whistleblowing system has not been implemented, and support is needed from superiors and the agencies concerned if one of the auditors in carrying out their auditing tasks turn out to be a whistleblower due to their conscience. Although whistleblower is not regulated in Inspection Standard Statement, Regulation No. 01 of 2007 on Standards of State Audit (SKPN) of BPK, BPK should accommodate the application of the whistleblowing system, such as that adopted by i