An Experimental Investigation of Auditor Professional Skepticism in Client Email Inquiries

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Abstract

While academic research has been conducted on auditors’ ability to detect deception in face-to-face client interviews, little is known about how auditors apply professional skepticism in email communication with the client. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that impact auditors’ level of professional skepticism exercised in process of conducting client inquiries through email. A 2X3 between-subjects experiment was conducted with 12 auditors and 127 auditing students serving as surrogates for staff-level auditors. The experimental design crossed two levels of client expressed confidence (high and low) and three levels of client response timeliness to the auditor’s email inquiry (earlier than expected, when expected, and later than expected). Results indicate that in the when expected condition, auditor professional skepticism decreased with increasing client confidence, which is consistent with the use of the confidence heuristic. In the earlier than expected response condition, auditor professional skepticism increased with increasing client confidence, which is indicative of a quick, confident client response activating the presumptive doubt view of professional skepticism. The study should be of interest to audit firms as it provides evidence on how auditors use nonverbal cues such as chronemics, or time‐related messages, in email communication to judge audit client and evidence reliability and credibility.

Author

• Aleksandra B Zimmerman, Case Western Reserve University