Honesty.

ARE YOU AN HONEST PERSON? Virtually every person answers "Yes!" to that question. A student who was caught cheating on an examination, and even a bookkeeper who was serving time in prison for stealing cash from her employer to support a daughter's drug habit both said, "Basically, I am an honest person." But how honest are you really? We invite you to take the pencil-and-paper honesty test on the following pages and call an 800 number to score your responses and see how your honesty quotient compares with that of other people.

The Applicant Review(1), developed in 1983, is based on more than five years of study in the areas of white-collar crime, the relationship between honesty and moral development, and the organizational climate of honesty. It focuses on moral reasoning, personal standards of honesty, attitudes toward honesty, and past dishonest behavior. Several studies have examined the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, and the results suggest that it is a useful measure of personal integrity.

The test is marketed as a preemployment screening questionnaire to measure the honesty and emotional stability of job applicants. It requires about 25 minutes to complete and two minutes to score. After you complete the questionnaire, you may call in your responses on a toll-free 800 number within the U.S. (800-327-6160) between 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. Mountain time to have it scored. If you live outside the continental U.S., you will need to call long distance (801-226-5256) to have your responses scored. The deadline for calling in responses is July 31, 1993.

The operator at the CHC Forecast Analysis Center will ask for the following information:

* Your booklet serial number (A 111000).

* Your company code (Use 55000).

* Your store number (Use 100).

* Your name, social security number, age, gender, and ethnic background. After giving the operator this information, proceed to read the numbers corresponding to the answers on the questionnaire. For example, if you circled "D2" in response to the first statement, "I dislike helping people who are intentionally rude and nasty," you would read "2" over the phone to the operator, not "D." Please read only the numbers you have circled, and read them in groups of three, as this helps the operator in keying them into the computer.

Once you have read all the numbers, the operator will give you a score between 0 and 99. This is your honesty score. It is a percentile score and represents the number of people who would be expected to score lower in a random sample of 100 people. For example, if your score is 62, about 62 percent of the people who take the test will score lower than you and about 37 percent of the people will score higher.

As you complete the questionnaire, accurately report how you feel, or what you would do. Your individual responses and score will be held in confidence. We will compile summary data on all internal auditors, compare them with society in general, and report the results in a subsequent issue of Internal Auditor. You have nothing to lose by taking the test (except 30 minutes). Our primary objective is to help improve standards of honesty. We think small improvements in honesty will pay big dividends to our entire society.

1 The Applicant Review is copyrighted by CHC Forecast Incorporated and is reproduced here with permission. All rights are reserved. This questionnaire may not be copied, duplicated, or reproduced, electronically or otherwise, without express written permission of CHC Forecast Inc.

J. Owen Cherrington, PhD, CPA, is Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

David J. Cherrington, DBA, FPHR, is Professor of Organizational Behavior at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.