Does auditor religiosity moderate the effect of auditor expertise on audit quality?

Purpose: This study analyses the degree to which audit experience and expertise affect audit quality through the moderating effect of Professional Qualification. 
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The study used a survey research design from a sample of about 400 audit staff of the Ghana Audit Service. 
 A conceptual framework was developed by adopting the framework for Audit Quality (2014) instituted by the International Auditing and Assurance Board (IAASB) and tested using PLS-SEM method of analysis.
 Findings: The study found that in the Public Sector, both audit expertise and experience influence audit quality.
 Furthermore, it was also established that professional qualification did not moderate the relationships between work experience, audit expertise and audit quality. 
 Professional qualification in audit quality was also found to be significant in the study.
 Implications/Research Limitation: The results of the study extend and add to the growing empirical research studies on audit expertise, work experience, and audit quality, as well as in the area of public sector auditing. However, the study was limited to only public sector auditors working with Ghana's Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), the Audit Service.
 Practical Implication: The study results have the prospect of encouraging top management to intensify the need to consciously institute and implement strategies that incorporate people with the requisite audit expertise and experience into the public sector to maximise and enhance audit quality.
 Originality/Value: This study is the first from a public sector perspective that directly examines how audit quality is influenced by audit expertise and experience and how professional qualification moderates this effect.
 Nonetheless, this research is distinct from other empirical studies on the basis of the method used and the context of the study.

Obtaining information about a company’s financial statements has become increasingly important. Thus, highly skilled and expert public accountants are required who can execute their tasks following ethical standards. This study investigates the effects of audit professional skepticism and auditor expertise and integrity on audit quality in the accounting profession, with auditor ethics as the moderating variable. The study sample consisted of 65 auditors working in 14 public accounting firms in Surabaya, Indonesia. Data were collected through questionnaires and then analyzed using the SmartPLS approach. Results indicated that audit professional skepticism and auditor expertise and integrity positively influence audit quality. On one hand, auditor expertise, which is moderated by auditor ethics, positively influences audit quality. On the other hand, audit professional skepticism and integrity, which are moderated by auditor ethics, do not influence audit quality. The findings suggest that auditors must further improve their compliance with ethical standards to strengthen their integrity, which in turn, enables them to produce good audit quality. Furthermore, auditors must always strive to increase their professional skepticism and expertise.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effect of audit quality (auditor expertise and discretionary accruals) on financial communication quality and to distinguish the moderating role of corporate governance mechanisms (board size, CEO duality, board gender diversity and block ownership) on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachLinear regression is used to analyze the annual reports of 150 nonfinancial firms that belong to the CAC All-tradable index for the period 2015–2023.FindingsThe empirical results show that auditor expertise has a positive and significant effect on financial communication quality. Furthermore, board size reinforces the negative effect of discretionary accruals on financial communication quality. However, CEO duality and block ownership attenuate the positive effect of auditor expertise on the dependent variable.Research limitations/implicationsOur research covers three areas of research, i.e. audit quality, corporate governance and financial communication research. It presents the moderator role of some governance mechanisms on the relation between audit and financial communication quality. Furthermore, it aims to identify best practices in the governance system that attempt to facilitate and improve the positive impact of audit quality on the quality of financial communication, which increases stakeholder confidence in the firm. We caution readers from generalizing the findings of this study, as our study is based on a well-developed sample. Also, it is limited only to annual reports to measure the financial communication index without looking at other information transmission channels.Originality/valueThis study investigates the moderating role of internal governance mechanisms in the relationship between audit quality and financial communication quality in the French context.

The surge in financial scandals following the global financial crisis and the collapse of major corporations (such as Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat) has prompted market demands for high audit quality standards. High audit quality requires the crucial role of auditors in providing information regarding financial statements and market trends, which assist information users (creditors and investors) in their decision-making processes. This study aims to analyze factors that can enhance audit quality by considering work experience, auditor expertise, and time pressure as predictor variables, as well as the mediating role of ethics. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to auditors of the Local Government Inspectorate of Regencies in South Sulawesi. The sample size was determined using the Slovin method, resulting in 77 respondents. Data were then analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method with SmartPLS 4.09. The findings indicate a positive and significant influence of work experience and auditor expertise on audit quality, while time pressure negatively impacts audit quality. Ethics serve as a significant mediating variable that influences the relationship between work experience and auditor expertise on audit quality, and mitigates the negative impact of time pressure on auditor behavior that may diminish audit quality. This study contributes to the practice of ethical codes within the Inspectorate of Regencies/Cities in South Sulawesi. A strong commitment to the ethical code will guide auditors in avoiding behaviors that reduce audit quality, thereby emphasizing the need for building an ethical culture to guide auditors' ethical behavior.

This study seeks to analyse the impact of time budget pressure, the professional ethics of public accountants, work experience, and auditor competency on audit quality at PKF Public Accounting Firm, which is ranked among the top 10 accounting and professional services businesses in Indonesia. The study's population comprised 103 personnel from the Public Accounting Firm Drs Paul Hadiwinata, Hidajat, Arsono, Retno, Palilingan & Rekan (PKF International), including 93 Auditors and 10 HR Administrators and Staff. This study employed a purposive sampling methodology. This research employed a questionnaire as a survey instrument to gather respondent data. This study processed data from 68 respondents, representing 85 percent of the disseminated questionnaires. The software employed to examine the variable association in this study is SPSS 22. This study's findings demonstrate that time budget pressure, professional ethics, and experience positively influence audit quality. Conversely, auditor expertise does not influence audit quality. Keywords: Time Budget Pressure, Professional Ethics of Public Accountants, Work Experience, Auditor Competence and Audit Quality.

This paper investigates whether seasonal affective disorder (SAD) influences audit quality. On the one hand, a SAD‐induced negative mood can render auditors risk‐averse in auditing. On the other hand, SAD can lower their cognitive ability and efficiency at work. Our results show that absolute discretionary accruals and the likelihood of restatements are lower when the level of SAD is higher during the audit period, thus suggesting that SAD lowers auditors' willingness to accept aggressive reporting. Other tests show that the relationship between SAD and audit quality is not significantly different between the fall and winter or between industry expert and non‐industry expert auditors. We also find that the association between SAD and audit quality is more pronounced for auditors located in northern states than southern states. Lastly, our results hold after controlling for management reporting choices, auditor busy season, auditor locality and other robustness tests. Overall, this paper contributes to the auditing literature by highlighting the effect of environmental factors on auditors' professional judgement from a psychological perspective.

Audit Professional Well-roundedness is important for the development of the performance monitoring ability of the auditor that will help improve the audit process and how audits cause audit expertise, professional judgment, audit skepticism, and audit quality leading to audit success. This paper aims at empirically examining and investigating the influence of audit professional well-roundedness and the audit success of CPAs in Thailand. The conceptual model indicates that audit professional well-roundedness, namely the modern audit practice ability, audit knowledge diversity, audit skills excellence, audit learning competency and integrative audit resource implementation were chosen as independent variables. Professional judgment, audit expertise, audit skepticism and audit quality are a mediating effect on audit professional well-roundedness with audit success relationships. Also, the self-efficacy moderating effect of self-efficacy has influence on the relationships among each dimension of audit professional well-roundedness, audit expertise, professional judgment, audit skepticism, audit quality and audit success. The contribution of this paper can help CPAs to explain the key factor of audit professional well-roundedness that can enhance audit success, and enhance auditors to assist in the development of audit professional well-roundedness. These will improve audit quality and audit success. Also, it helps to develop the professional knowledge and competency of the auditor. There are key factors in the development and adaptation to improve market access, national and international auditing, and increase the competitiveness in the changing scenarios. Suggestions for theoretical contributions are provided, introduced, and concluded; and directions for future research are highlighted. Keywords Audit Professional Well-roundedness, Modern Audit Practice Ability, Audit Knowledge Diversity, Audit Skills Excellence, Audit Learning Competency, Integrative Audit Resource Implementation, Professional Judgment, Audit Expertise, Audit Skepticism, Audit Quality, Audit Success, Self-Efficacy.

ABSTRACTThis study is a study that aims to find out: Effect of Auditor Professionalism on Audit Quality, Effect of Auditor Work Experience on Audit Quality, Effect of Auditor Independence on Audit Quality, and Effect of Professionalism, Work Experience and Auditor Independence on Audit Quality. The population of this research is all auditors who work at the Public Accounting Firm (KAP) in Surabaya. The sample used in this study were 50 respondents. The method of collecting data using the questionnaire method. The validity test uses the Pearson Product Moment correlation test, while the reliability test uses Cronbach alpha. Classic assumption tests include normality test, multicollinearity test, heteroscedasticity test and Autocorrelation test. Hypothesis testing in this study uses simple regression analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that: (1) Auditor Professionalism has a significant effect on Audit Quality as indicated by Value Professionalism (X1) on audit quality (Y) of 0.016 <ttable 0.05. (2) Auditor Work Experience influences Audit Quality (Y) as indicated by the value of Auditor Work Experience (X2) on Audit Quality (Y) of 0,000 <ttable 0.05. (3) Auditor Independence influences Audit Quality (Y) as indicated by Auditor Independence tcount (X3) to Audit Quality (Y) of 0.012 <from table 0.05. (4) There is a positive and significant influence of Independence, Work Experience and Independence simultaneously influencing Audit Quality as indicated by R2 value of 0.654 or 65.4%, Value of Fcount = 28.947 with a significance level of 0.000 which is smaller than 0.05 and the regression line equation Y = 0.997 + 0.251X1 + 0.385X2 + 0.174 X3 + 0.321. Keywords: Professionalism, Work Experience, Independence and Audit Quality.

Research Purposes Aims to determine how much influence accountability, integrity, auditor expertise, auditor professional skepticism, due professional care, time budget pressure, and audit fees have on audit quality. Research Methods All auditors who work at the Public Accounting Firm (KAP) Semarang Central Java are the population of this study. A total of 13 public accounting firms with 64 auditors became the research sample. With the help of SPSS version 26, multiple linear regression analysis was performed on the data. Research Results and Findings, The results of hypothesis testing show that integrity, auditor professional skepticism, due professional care, and time budget pressure do not affect audit quality. Meanwhile, accountability, auditor expertise, and audit fees have a positive effect on audit quality.

This study aims to analyze and provide empirical evidence on the influence of profitability on tax avoidance; the influence of leverage on tax avoidance; the influence of audit quality and earnings management on tax avoidance; the moderation effect of capital intensity on the relationship between profitability and tax avoidance; the moderation effect of capital intensity on the relationship between leverage and tax avoidance; and the moderation effect of capital intensity on the relationship between audit quality and earnings management with tax avoidance. The research methodology employed is quantitative. Secondary data sources consist of financial reports from companies in the infrastructure sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period 2020-2022. The population comprises companies in the infrastructure sector, with a sample size of 111 selected using purposive sampling based on specified criteria. The research employs panel data regression analysis, with data processed using Eviews version 12. Partially, the study finds that ROA, leverage, and audit quality significantly influence tax avoidance, while earnings management does not significantly affect tax avoidance. Capital intensity strengthens the influence of ROA and earnings management on tax avoidance, while weakening the influence of leverage and audit quality on tax avoidance.

This study aims to examine the influence of Prudence, Financial Distress, and Audit Quality on Audit Quality and to explain the role of the audit committee chairman as a moderator of the influence of Prudence, Financial Distress, and Audit Quality on Audit Quality. The type of data used in this study is primary data in the form of financial reports of companies used as samples. The research method used in this study is a quantitative research method. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling method. For hypothesis testing, this study uses multiple linear regression analysis. Based on the expected research results in this study are Prudence influences audit quality, Financial Distress with the Springate method influences audit quality, Financial Distress with the Zmijewski method influences audit quality, Litigation Risk influences audit quality, The characteristics of the Audit Committee Chairman strengthen the influence of Prudence on audit quality, The characteristics of the Audit Committee Chairman strengthen the influence of Financial Distress with the Springate method on audit quality. The characteristics of the Audit Committee Chairman strengthen the influence of Financial Distress with the Zmijewski method on audit quality. The characteristics of the Audit Committee Chairman strengthen the influence of Litigation Risk on audit quality.

This study aims to determine the influence of auditor expertise, time pressure, and auditor experience on audit quality, mediated by auditor ethics. The population and sample in this study comprised 115 auditors from the Inspectorate of Regional Government in the districts and cities of South Sulawesi Province. Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire method, where structured statements were distributed referring to the research variables. The findings of this study indicate that auditor expertise, auditor experience, and auditor ethics positively affect audit quality, while time pressure has a negative effect on audit quality. Additionally, the findings reveal that auditor ethics mediates the relationship between auditor expertise, time pressure, and auditor experience on audit quality. These results contribute to the theoretical foundation of auditing, particularly in improving audit quality. Future research is expected to increase the sample size and expand its coverage to several provinces or even the entire country of Indonesia.

This research aims to find out how the level of formal education, work experience, level of professional qualifications and counting professional development affect audit quality at the Bengkulu Province Inspectorate. The problem discussed in this thesis is the quality of audits at the Bengkulu Province Inspectorate. The population of this research is the auditors of the Bengkulu Province Inspectorate which consists of 95 auditors in the Bengkulu Province Inspectorate. The sample used in this research was all of the population, namely 95 Bengkulu Province Inspectorate auditors. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The data collection method uses a questionnaire using multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this research show that, (1) the level of formal education has an effect on audit quality, (2) work experience has an effect on audit quality, (3) the level of professional qualifications has no effect on audit quality, (4) continuous professional development has an effect on audit quality, ( 5) level of formal education, work experience, level of professional qualifications, and continuous professional development together influence audit quality. Keywords: Formal Education Level, Work Experience, Professional Qualification Level, Continuous Professional Development, Audit Quality

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of between the auditor's professional skepticism, audit risk, audit experience, audit expertise, and independence with the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant. This research done by survey method the responden are senior auditors, supervisors, managers, and partners in public accountant office in Jakarta and Tangerang. The samples were taken by non-probability sampling method with using convenience sampling. The total samples used in analysis are 102 responden. Data analysis conducted by using multiple regression. Hypothesis testing to determine whether any significant relationship between auditor's professional skepticism, audit risk, audit experience, audit expertise, and independence with the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant. The result of hypothesis testing showed that professional skepticism, auditors, audit risk, the audit experience, expertise, and independence as simultaneously have significant influence to the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant. Meanwhile, only audit experience and independence has significant influence to the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant. Other three variables, which auditor's professional skepticism, audit risk, audit expertise have no significant influence to the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant. Keyword: auditor's professional skepticism, audit risk, audit experience, audit expertise, and independence with the accuracy of audit opinion by public accountant.

This study aims to determine the effect of Audit Professional Skepticism and Auditor Expertise on Audit Quality. The analytical tool used is to tabulate the questionnaire, collect data in the form of validity and reliability tests. The hypothesis in this study is that there is an effect of the Professional Skepticism of the Audit and the Expertise of the Auditor on Audit Quality. To test this hypothesis, the SPSS data analysis tool was used. The results obtained based on the validity test show that all statements in the questionnaire are declared valid. For the reliability test of all variables, the composite reliability value or Crobach's alpha value was stated to be reliable. And for Hypothesis Test based on R-Square, T-Statistics and Significance Value shows that all hypotheses are accepted. The results of this hypothesis state that professional audit skepticism and auditor expertise have an effect on audit quality.