Auditor Personal Characteristics and Fraud Detection Skills: The Mediating Role of Professional Scepticism
Date
2019-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Ghana
Abstract
Corporate scandals have made stakeholders question the display of professional scepticism by
auditors. This has prompted stakeholders to reassess the trust they place in the audit opinion.
Research into professional scepticism has, therefore, caught the attention of practitioners and
academia. There is a belief that: to win back the increasingly eroding trust of stakeholders, there
is a need to understand the nature of the display of professional scepticism. The study, therefore,
examines the relationship between personal characteristics and professional scepticism displayed
by auditors. Also, the study examines the mediating role of professional scepticism between
personal characteristics and fraud detection skills. To achieve this aim, the quantitative research
approach is employed. A questionnaire was employed to gather data from 305 auditors while
PLS-SEM was used for the analysis of data. The results revealed that there is a significant
positive relationship between intrinsic motivation, and positive mood, as predictors, and
professional scepticism. Also, the results show that persons that are less trusting are generally
more sceptical. Furthermore, professional scepticism mediated the relationship between personal
characteristics of auditors and their fraud detection skills. The results consequently recommend
that practitioners should be aware of personal characteristics of auditors and should inform their
hiring, training and appraisal practitioners. Government Audit Agencies should also find the
recommendation relevant.
Description
MPhil. Accounting
Keywords
Scepticism, Corporate Scandal, Fraud