The results suggest that auditors’ AIS expertise can play a significant role in complex AIS settings and in their ability to compensate for CAS competence deficiencies. The authors note that it may be prudent for firms to consider the combined capabilities of individuals when assigning auditors and CAS to engagements with complex AIS.
Brazel, J. F. and C. P. Agoglia. 2007. An examination of auditor planning judgments in a complex accounting information system environment. Contemporary Accounting Research 24 (4): 1059-83.
The results have implications on two fronts. First, the findings indicate that auditors pursue different production and pricing strategies in different segments of the market, suggesting that the Big 4 audit firms respond to the competitive pressures in each submarket. Second, the evidence raises questions about the construct validity of market share-based measures of industry specialization, which have been used extensively in the literature. The evidence suggests that auditors who obtain a large market share by auditing a large proportion of the industry sector may actually do so by producing lower quality, lower cost audits. As such, these auditors are not acting as true specialists in the sense of using specialized training and knowledge to raise the quality of the audit performed.
Cahan, S. F., D. C. Jeter, and V. Naiker. 2011. Are All Industry Specialist Auditors the Same? Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 30 (4): 191-222.
Although both auditors and fraud specialists added non-standard procedures to the audit program, auditors cut the budgets for some standard procedures, making room in the overall audit budget for non-standard additional procedures. In contrast, fraud specialists added standard procedures, but they were not more effective than those selected by auditors, and also provided less budget room for those procedures. The involvement of fraud specialists in planning an audit engagement where fraud risk is present is likely to lead to additional audit effort and cost, possibly without commensurate benefit. However, considering the potential consequences to the auditor of undiscovered fraud, it may be cost-effective to include additional non-standard procedures in an audit program if they improve the probability of discovering a fraud.
Boritz, J. E., Kochetova-Kozloski, N., & Robinson, L. 2015. Are Fraud Specialists Relatively More Effective than Auditors at Modifying Audit Programs in the Presence of Fraud Risk? Accounting Review 90 (3): 881-915.
The authors believe that when armed with knowledge of how management may intentionally or unintentionally introduce error into their FVMs, auditors will be better able to take steps to adjust for this error. Currently, professional skepticism is the best way to combat this problem. Researchers and policy makers within firms need to grapple with the possibility that existing audit team structure and incentives may not be compatible with audits that require more and more specialized valuation knowledge.
Martin, R. D., J. S. Rich, and T. J. Wilks. 2006. Auditing Fair Value Measurements: A Synthesis of Relevant Research. Accounting Horizons 20 (3): 287-303.
Based on the interviews and problems identified, the authors conjecture that potentially suboptimal auditing methods are being used to evaluate complex estimates which are an important and growing part of the financial statements. This may be negatively impacting audit quality. More specifically, auditors over-rely on management estimates because they lack the knowledge and incentives to behave otherwise. This possibility has direct consequences for auditor professional skepticism because increasing professional skepticism may be less effective unless auditors are also given the requisite knowledge to properly use it. These problems are reinforced by auditing standards and regulators which generally outline/criticize the current auditing methods without suggesting new or better ones.
Griffith, E., J. Hammersley, and K. Kadous. 2015. Audits of Complex Estimates as Verification of Management Numbers: How Institutional Pressures Shape Practice. Contemporary Accounting Research 32 (3): 833-863.
This study has implications for public accounting firms engaging in GHG engagements. Team training that establishes an understanding of the knowledge and role of the team members from differing disciplines might help to alleviate over-reliance on peer-provided evidence. In the context of multidisciplinary assurance teams, establishing and adhering to audit firm quality control mechanisms relating to evidence collection, evaluation, and review are of particular importance. Accounting firms may also need to pay particular attention in fostering an assurance environment that encourages objective evidence processing.
Kim, S., W. J. Green, and K. M. Johnstone. 2016. Biased Evidence Processing by Multidisciplinary Greenhouse Gas Assurance Teams. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 35 (3): 119-139.
Valuators’ judgment and decision making is currently unexplored. This study provides preliminary evidence on how valuators act in the presence of conflict of interest, and the need for conflict disclosures. The results of this study have implications for public accounting firms to the extent that they provide either fairness opinions and associated valuation judgments or are involved in some audit aspects related to mergers/acquisitions. This study contributes to accounting and psychology literature on conflict of interest disclosures and is the first study to test the biasing effects of conflict disclosure specifically targeting professionals performing familiar tasks. Further, this study extends existing literature of the topic by documenting that bias arising from disclosure of conflict of interest depends on whether the conflict of interest is aligned or misaligned with the client’s interest. This study provides the first evidence that disclosure of conflict of interest causes bias in Client-Aligned, but not in a Client-Misaligned, conflict of interest setting.
Jamal, K., E. Marshall and H. Tan. 2016. Does Disclosure of Conflict of Interest Increase or Decrease Bias? Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 35 (2): 89-99.
This study examines the value of non-financial specialist assurance in the capital markets setting. While similar to existing audit literature, this study offers new research by examining a setting in which disclosure of non-financial information is mandatory. To the extent the findings are generalizable to other non-financial assurance settings, they suggest caution in adopting a mandatory approach owing to cost/benefit considerations.
Ferguson, A., and G. Pündrich. 2015. Does Industry Specialist Assurance of Non-Financial Information Matter to Investors? AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory 34 (2):121-146.
The finding that higher decision authority can have negative audit quality implications is relevant to audit firm policies, which often vest substantial authority in consultants, and to the ongoing debate over standards for the use of specialists. This and other findings also suggest that it may be beneficial to advocate lower decision authority. Finally, the findings can inform audit firm policies that require consultation with knowledgeable persons, as well as standard-setters and regulators whose responsibilities to provide guidance on using consultation to conduct more effective audits of financial statement estimates.
Knechel, W. R. and J. Leiby. 2016. If You Want My Advice: Status Motives and Audit Consultations About Accounting Estimates. Journal of Accounting Research 54 (5): 1331 – 1364.
Involving two service providers, rather than one, conveys potential benefits similar to those argued for joint audits. Auditor independence is enhanced because each firm provides a reciprocal check on the diligence of the other, and the allocation of fees between providers reduces economic bonding between the client and any one firm. Regulators might consider requiring disclosure of the recipient of NAS payments for both the audit firm and other consultants to allow a more complete examination of the influence of NAS on audit quality in other settings.
Gaver, J. J., and J.S. Paterson. 2014. The Association between Actuarial Services and Audit Quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 33 (1): 139-159.