In audit analytical procedures, research has shown that auditors have difficulty proposing possible explanations for financial statement discrepancies (Bedard and Biggs 1991a). One source of this difficulty is that auditors may represent analytical procedures problems incorrectly; that is, their...

SAS No. 78 requires that on every engagement auditors obtain a quot;sufficient understanding of internal controlquot; to plan the audit and determine the nature, timing and extent of audit testing (AICPA 1995). Two formats that have been used by auditors in the past to document their...

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) proposed rules and forms to implement Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), entitled Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection, and sought comment thereon. The Dodd-Frank...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the adoption of a business risk audit approach on internal control documentation and testing. Data were collected from senior auditors before and after a change to a new business risk approach to determine if auditors' preferred internal...

Businesses increasingly outsource organizational functions that have financial reporting implications which requires auditors to adjust their risk assessment and audit procedures for this practice. However, PCAOB inspection reports cite deficiencies indicating that external auditors frequently...