Communication is a Two-Way Street: Analyzing Approaches Undertaken to Enhance Audit Research Knowledge Transfer to Policymakers

• In Event: Learning from Each Other

Abstract

We investigate different approaches to transferring audit research knowledge to audit standard setters from the past 50 years. These approaches taken by audit academics range from writing traditional research articles, to sitting on standard setting boards and task forces, to producing “literature reviews” in teams on topics identified by standard setters. Based on theories of communication, we classify each approach and evaluate its likelihood of effective knowledge transfer. Our analysis suggests that the “literature reviews” approach has potential for effective knowledge transfer between audit academic researchers and standard setters. We provide evidence supporting this theory-based conclusion from two studies. Our first study, a team based simulation, shows that literature reviews produced through the PCAOB-AAA Auditing Section Project can be employed as a basis to evaluate existing standards and suggest changes. Our second study, a citation analysis of PCAOB exposure drafts, shows indirect evidence of audit research knowledge transfer, especially in more recent PCAOB standard setting. We present ways to make the “literature reviews” approach more effective by describing how research syntheses are produced in other evidence-based settings where academic research knowledge transfer has taken place.

Authors

• Steven E Salterio, Queen's University

• Kristina J Hoang, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa

• Yi Luo, Queen's University - Kingston