In a large-scale laboratory experiment, we investigate gender differences in overconfidence and risk taking. Our results show that (self-)selection and socialization can eliminate the gender difference in overconfidence, but they appear insufficient to create environments in which women are as...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine if there exists a gender difference in overconfidence within an auditor population. Studies outside the accounting domain have found that men are more overconfident than women. It would be worthwhile to know if such a gender difference in...

In this paper, we test the effectiveness of an expanded auditor's report vis-à-vis an audit course in narrowing the expectations gap. We compared two auditor's reports in a between subjects design: the ISA 700 report and an expanded auditor's report. We also examined if explaining audits to...

In Belgium, all “large” companies are legally required to appoint a statutory auditor. The thresholds of the criteria to be considered “large” are, however, not that large. Consequently, many relative small companies in Belgium are legally required to appoint a statutory auditor. The...

The purpose of this paper is to provide generalizable evidence on the determinants influencing the voluntary disclosure of sales in the abbreviated financial statements of small private companies. We estimate our model separately for micro-entities and non-micro small companies. The existing...

Audit firms can shape and foster the desired behavior of their partners in accordance with the firm's strategy and objectives through compensation schemes. Understanding financial incentives is therefore of great importance, especially to ensure that auditors actually deliver high quality work....