How the profession can learn from results of academic audit research

Abstract

Auditors full an important societal role by assuring the reliability of companies’ nancial statements. However, the audit profession is quite often under scrutiny because of bankruptcies, mismanagement and frauds by their clients. Also, auditors, responsible for discovering material misstatements in their clients’ - nancial reports, are increasingly being criticized for their making errors themselves, sometimes with far-reaching consequences for the nancial markets and society as a whole.