Auditor Perceptions of Audit Workloads, Audit Quality, and the Auditing Profession

Abstract

In this study, we use a survey instrument to obtain perspectives from almost 800 auditors about present-day audit workloads and the relationship between audit workloads and audit quality. Our findings indicate that auditors are working, on average, five hours per week above the threshold at which they believe audit quality begins to deteriorate and often 20 hours above this threshold at the peak of busy season. Survey respondents perceive deadlines and staffing shortages as two of the primary reasons for high workloads and further believe that high workloads result in decreased audit quality via compromised audit procedures (including taking shortcuts), impaired audit judgment (including reduced professional skepticism), and difficulty retaining staff with appropriate knowledge and skills. We also find that auditors’ job satisfaction and their views on the audit profession are impacted negatively by audit workloads, particularly when the workloads are perceived as being heavy enough to impair audit quality. Overall, our findings provide support for the PCAOB’s concern regarding excessive workloads and suggest that the primary drivers of workloads (i.e., deadlines and staffing problems) might be the actual “root cause” of workload-related audit deficiencies.