Audit risk and audit programmes: archival evidence from four Dutch audit firms

Abstract

The audit risk model has become an extremely important element in audit practice. The basic intuition behind the model is that changes in risk should affect the work of the auditor. However, little systematic empirical evidence has been published on the assessment of audit risk and its effect on audit work. This study, using documentation from actual audits and follow-up interviews, provides such evidence. Assessments of audit risk and audit programme details have been obtained from eight clients of four Dutch audit firms. Audit risk assessments are obtained for two risk categories: (1) audit risk factors, such as the degree of client management turnover or the quality of the client's internal audit department; and (2) audit risk model variables (inherent or control risk), related to the account or assertion being audited. The results indicate that there is substantial variation in audit risk factors between clients and among the audit risk factors per client. To a lesser extent these findings hold for th...