We conduct a comprehensive study on the associations between debt covenant violations (“violations”) and auditor actions for financially distressed and non-distressed firms. Our study is motivated by a lack of research on the consequences of violations resulting from auditors' actions. We...

This paper reviews research that examines professional skepticism (hereafter, PS) in auditing. Consistent with much research and with recent regulatory concerns, the paper defines PS as ‘‘indicated by auditor judgments and decisions that reflect a heightened assessment of the risk that an...

Although there has been significant interest among researchers in audit-quality-threatening behaviours, the decision process through which staff auditors engage in those behaviours has received relatively little attention. It seems likely that the ethical intensity of the behaviours perceived by...