Promoting Proactive Auditing Behaviors

We introduce the construct of auditor proactivity to the accounting literature. Since auditorswork in complex, dynamic environments where complete directives are often unavailable,auditors need to be proactive to achieve quality audit outcomes. However, proactivity is oftenlacking in practice. Thus, we position auditor proactivity as a valuable but scarce determinant ofaudit quality. Drawing on theory from management, accounting, and psychology, we testhypotheses about how environmental and dispositional factors interact to encourage proactiveauditing behaviors. Using an experiment, we find that auditors are more proactive when theyhave both higher autonomy and higher tacit knowledge compared to when either or both of thesefactors are absent. Our theory and findings inform academics, regulators, and practitioners abouthow work environments and policies could be modified to promote proactive auditing behaviors