Can Professional Skepticism be Taught to Undergraduate Auditing Students?.

Download or read book Can Professional Skepticism be Taught to Undergraduate Auditing Students?. written by Dominic Mertz and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professional skepticism is a combination of an auditor's innate abilities, personal characteristics, professional experiences, education, and training (Nelson, 2009; Hurtt, 2010; Liu, 2018). A key question is whether professional skepticism can be enhanced by classroom assignments. This study attempts to measure professional skepticism in audit students before and after a classroom assignment designed to enhance skepticism. The assignment is an intervention or simulated audit, which gives students the opportunity to exercise skepticism. Using Hurtt's (2010) survey instrument, I examine a questioning mind, the suspension of judgement, search for knowledge, interpersonal understanding, self-determination, and self-confidence. The findings show that students do not exercise a questioning mind, and instead, put too much trust in authority figures (e.g., clients). The students do suspend judgement, search for knowledge, seek interpersonal understanding, and have self-confidence during audits. The findings also show that rather than exercising self-determination, the students engage in groupthink. These results suggest that classroom assignments that simulate real-life audits may be able to improve certain aspects professional skepticism.