The impact of heuristics and biases in the application of professional judgement by internal auditors in the stage of fieldwork

Abstract

This study aims to find the impact of heuristics and bias in the application of professional judgment by internal auditors in the stage of fieldwork in “Company X, a company engaged in the distribution of fuel oil in West Nusa Tenggara. “Company X” has conducted internal audit activities although the effort is not maximized. This research was conducted by using the qualitative approach with an interpretive paradigm to explain these anomalies within internal auditor’s professional judgment. The internal audit activities within “Company X” have some hindrance to the heuristic thinking process of the audit team members. One of them is a bias which caused interference within the audit team member heuristic. There are some forms of bias in audit namely overconfidence, availability, confirmation, and anchoring. All of them affect Company X internal auditor’s professional judgment significantly except availability bias.