Professional skepticism is considered an essential component of audit quality. Consequently, research has focused on ways to increase skepticism by identifying factors that either limit or encourage its practice. However, research has yet to explore potential negative consequences of...

A primary concern facing the PCAOB's requirement of disclosing critical audit matters (CAMs) is increased auditor litigation risk. Evidence with Key Audit Matters from the U.K. indicates auditors may subsequently remove a CAM or continue to report the same CAM for several years. Therefore, we...

We find that when a manager concedes on an initial potential adjustment, auditors place more trust in the manager and propose smaller aggregate adjustments. Furthermore, ingratiation has a marginally positive effect on auditor trust when the manager first concedes. However, our results indicate...

In recent years, professional skepticism (PS) has drawn extensive attention from both regulators and academics. While prior research theorizes that both stable personality traits and temporary states influence PS (e.g., Hurtt 2010; Nelson 2009), this literature tends to focus on either trait PS or...

Public accounting firms traditionally use a billable time entry (BTE) model to assist in budgeting engagements, evaluating personnel, and determining audit fees. However, research has identified drawbacks including time pressure and incentives to engage in audit quality-reducing behavior....

In an effort to provide more meaningful information to financial statement users, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recently adopted sweeping changes to the audit report, requiring the audit firm to disclose whether or not it identified a critical audit matter (CAM) and its...