We interview 24 very experienced auditors about how they audit complex accounting estimates such as fair values and impairments and what problems they experience in the process. We find that auditors overwhelmingly choose to audit the details of management's estimate rather than use other...

Auditors are more likely to identify misstatements in complex estimates if they recognize problematic patterns among an estimate's underlying assumptions. Rich problem representations aid pattern recognition, but auditors likely have difficulty developing them given auditors' limited...

Auditors must recognize problematic patterns among the assumptions underlying complex estimates to identify misstatements. Pattern recognition requires rich problem representations of complex estimates that auditors may be unable to develop given their lack of valuation expertise. I predict and...

Auditors experience significant problems auditing complex accounting estimates, and this increasingly puts financial reporting quality at risk. Based on analyses of the specific errors that auditors commit, we propose that auditors need to be able to think more broadly and incorporate...

Auditors frequently use valuation specialists to help them evaluate fair values, but problems related to specialists' involvement suggest the potential benefits of specialists' involvement are under-realized. I interviewed 28 auditors and 14 valuation specialists to investigate how auditors use...

Critics argue that audit research rarely impacts practice and that challenges associated with synthesizing and interpreting research are contributing factors. We propose that using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as a meta-theoretical framework can help in understanding the collective...