Audit Risk Assessment Research Articles

The Effect of using Audit Procedures in Accordance with the IAS 545 in Assessing Audit Risk

The current research aims to determine the effect of using audit procedures in accordance with the International Auditing Standard (IAS. No.545) in auditing measurement and disclosure on the basis of fair value in assessing audit risk, as the questionnaire was used to identify the opinions of the sample in the statement of the impact of the use of audit procedures in accordance with the IAS 545 in auditing measurement and disclosure on the basis of fair value in the assessment of audit risk. Nevertheless, after analyzing the study variables and testing the hypothesis, the research reached the most important conclusions, which are that most auditors lack the skills necessary to audit fair value accounting estimates because there are no fixed bases for measuring fair value, which creates difficulty for the auditor to understand the models used in preparing fair value estimates by the administration, and this affects in assessing audit risk. The most important recommendations were that work should be done to provide specific bases and clear models for measuring fair value, to reduce dependence on personal judgment for fair value estimates. Therefore, the auditor should use the same measurement models used by management when auditing fair value estimates, which contributes to improving the audit risk assessment.

Impact of Independent Internal Audit on External Audit Risks through Risk Management Governance: A Field Study of External Auditors at Audit Offices and Companies in the Republic of Yemen

This study aimed to investigate the impact of independent internal audit on the external audit risk assessments through risk management governance of a sample of external auditors (203) at the audit offices and companies in the Republic of Yemen. To achieve this objective, 203 questionnaires were distributed to external auditors at the audit offices and companies, but only (167) were valid for analysis. The study results revealed that there was a positive impact of independent internal audit and governance of risk management on the assessments of external audit risks. Further, there was a positive impact on the governance of risk management which also increased its indirect positive impact on assessing risks of external audit. It was also found that the most important dimensions related to the external audit risk assessments, from the respondents’ perspective, were detection risk, control risk, and inherent risk. The study recommended that the external auditor should use the method of comparing the enterprise information with the information that is similar to the economic sector in which it operates. The internal auditors should also be free of bias in their work, whereby risk management governance should be taken into account when developing the strategy of the enterprise.

Impact of Independent Internal Audit on External Audit Risks through Risk Management Governance: A Field Study of External Auditors at Audit Offices and Companies in the Republic of Yemen

This study aimed to investigate the impact of independent internal audit on the external audit risk assessments through risk management governance of a sample of external auditors (203) at the audit offices and companies in the Republic of Yemen. To achieve this objective, 203 questionnaires were distributed to external auditors at the audit offices and companies, but only (167) were valid for analysis. The study results revealed that there was a positive impact of independent internal audit and governance of risk management on the assessments of external audit risks. Further, there was a positive impact on the governance of risk management which also increased its indirect positive impact on assessing risks of external audit. It was also found that the most important dimensions related to the external audit risk assessments, from the respondents’ perspective, were detection risk, control risk, and inherent risk. The study recommended that the external auditor should use the method of comparing the enterprise information with the information that is similar to the economic sector in which it operates. The internal auditors should also be free of bias in their work, whereby risk management governance should be taken into account when developing the strategy of the enterprise.

Audit Risk Assessment and Influence on the Auditor`s Opinion

Risk is one of the most controversial elements that auditors face in audit missions. This refers to the probability that significant misstatements will exist in the financial statements of companies, and the auditor will issue an unqualified opinion, therefore an erroneous opinion. For the auditor, the audit risk can be considered an economic risk, which requires the professional accountant to try to minimize this risk. Accurate identification and evaluation of the risk factors that characterize the three components of the Audit Risk - Inherent Risk, Control Risk and Detection Risk - contribute to a rigorous planning of the audit approach. In other words, the identified risks will be the basis for orienting the auditor's efforts towards those areas where distortions can lead to the alteration of the true image reported by the users' financial statements. In this study are identified and prioritized, based on financial reports in general, and of the audit, in particular the risk factors that characterize Audit Risk on three components: Inherent Risk, Control Risk and Detection Risk. The sample studied is represented by companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on the regulated market, and the cause-effect analysis, but also cross-sectional analysis takes into account the period 2019-2020, before the crisis caused by Covid-19 and year of installation of the crisis. By testing and validating research hypotheses using regression methods and multivariate data analysis, it is highlighted that a ranking of audit risk components can be made, the inherent risk having a greater influence on audit planning than control risks and detection risks. Also, at the level of the analyzed sample, a company profile is identified, depending on the object of activity, auditor, the size of the audit risk and the opinion formulated in the audit report for the financial year closed at the end of 2020.

Internal Audit Risk Assessment in the Function of Fraud Detection

Abstract We are witnessing an increasing frequency of illegal actions and fraud in the business of legal entities, which directly reflects on the quality of information presented in financial statements. Internal audit does not primarily deal with the audit of financial statements, but through verifying the application of accounting policies and procedures it helps to gain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are reliable and that they are presented fairly. The role of internal audit in the fraud detection process is reflected in the fraud risk assessment in the internal audit planning process, and through performing work engagements to detecting them. In this paper, we will present risk assessment techniques, which the internal auditor can apply in quantitative and qualitative assessment of fraud risk, and in identifying priority areas/audit processes. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of the role of internal audit, through the application of techniques, tools and prescribed responsibilities for risk assessment, in the process of detecting fraud in companies that cause incalculable damage on a daily basis.

INTEGRITAS KLIEN, PENILAIAN RISIKO AUDIT DAN KEABSAHAN BUKTI AUDIT

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of client integrity and audit risk assessment toward audit evidence validity by exploring Integrity Theory, Risk Theory, and Evedence Theory. The data used in this study are primary data by collecting data through questionnaires. A total of 80 auditors (respondents) who works in the Office of Audit Board of Indonesia Representative of South Sulawesi were selected as a sample of this study. This study found that client's integrity positively influence validity audit evidence. It indicates that the higher integrity lead to higher validity audit evidence. In contrast, audit risk assessment does not influence validity audit evidence. It indicates that the higher audit risk assessment does not lead to higher influence validity audit evidence. This study also found that client's integrity and audit risk assessment together can increase the validity of audit evidence

Impact of technical and professional developments on audit risks Review study

The research provides an attempt to identify the effects of technical and professional developments on audit risks, important of these developments are cloud computing, blockchain, electronic commerce, fair value and corporate governance. Considering that these developments represent the modern environment for auditing in general and auditing risks in particular. Therefore, the nature of these developments and their relationship to auditing and their impact on audit risks have been clarified, leading to the determination of the implications of these developments on audit risks and the requirements to keep up with developments (technical and professional) in the field of audit risk assessment.

Application of visualization methods of audit risk assessment in developing an audit strategy

Objectives This study aims to formalize developing a risk-based audit strategy and planning effective and rational audit procedures that reduce the risks of material misstatements and formalize these in a sufficiently detailed and understandable form to ensure the audit engagement high quality. The applicability of different materiality levels to parameterize the significance of risks of material misstatement is substantiated. A scenario mechanism for sufficient auditor actions in response to specific characteristics of the risk factor based on the risk heat map was developed. Methodology The new method of the risk complex visualization – spectrum analysis of the assessed risk factors of material misstatement to develop an audit strategy was proposed. Contribution The usefulness of the study results is to develop and test on a specific example of the audit engagement the risk-oriented approach that allows the most rational use of the audit organization resources. The methodology is also applicable for managing the risks of material misstatement in the internal audit.

Цифровий компонент сучасного аудиту діяльності суб’єктів підприємницької діяльності

The article is aimed at substantiating organizational provisions and developing recommendations for improving the conceptual principles of projecting a computer-based audit system for the activities of performers of entrepreneurial activities. The article proposes the principles of modeling the audit system in the structure of the information service of entrepreneurs, provides proposals for assessing audit risks at different stages of entrepreneurial activity, substantiates methodological approaches to conducting an audit using modern information and communication technologies. It is proved that computer-based audit is an effective instrument for controlling and managing economic security of business entities. When designing the organizational-methodological structure of the audit, it is proposed to use the stages of audit development: confirming, system-oriented, and risk-based audit. When deciding on the creation and operational function of the computer-based audit of the activities of business entities, it is recommended to take into account their size, category, organizational and legal form of management, organizational structure, level of automation of accounting and control procedures. Scientific approaches using the proposed indicator of information security to assessing the state of information security of business entity are defined, their components are: degree of use of information and communication technologies in business processes, status of information threats, and degree of security of information resources. Methodical principles of auditing using modern information and communication technologies are proposed to strengthen control and analytical functions of management with the use of the latest audit systems. It is proved that computer-based audit covers the use of information technologies and software as a method and tools of the auditor in the process of performing the task on the basis of reliability assessment and identification of significant risks of the information system of a business entity.

Структурні трансформації методологічного інструментарію оцінки ризиків в аудиті

The purpose of the article is to expand the methodological tools for assessing risk in audit by developing a risk management algorithm in accordance with the tasks of ensuring sustainable development of rural areas. Research methods. The author used general scientific and specific research methods, in particular: abstraction, induction and deduction, comparison – to study the organizational and methodological foundations for assessing audit risks; graphic – to study models and strategies for the development of risk assessment in audit; analysis and synthesis – in the process of identifying opportunities for expanding the methodological tools for risk assessment in audit. Research results. The inherent limitations that are included in the professional activity of the auditor and affect on the level of audit risk have been determined. The types and combinations of risks that are used to calculate audit risk were considered, focusing on a certain aspect of control and consulting procedures. Scientific novelty. A compromise risk as separate category has been proposed, which consists in the auditor's readiness to recognize the likelihood of misstatement of the data that make up the general information base of the audit, including structured and unstructured data obtained from various sources, which together affects the final and professional judgment of the auditor. The author schematically presents the interpretation of compromise risk in accordance with the vectors of rural development. Four levels of compromise risk management have been identified, which collectively characterize the mechanism of its management, in view of the initially specified parameters of the object of auditing, which makes it possible to form a program of corrective measures to obtain the most acceptable result. Practical significance. The results of this study are not only important theoretically, but also contributes to the transition to a new level of information management within the audit, focusing on the consulting side of the audit as a tool to achieve the goal of ensuring sustainable development. Tabl.: 1. Figs.: 1. Refs.:12.

Risk Assessment of Safety Management Audit Based on Fuzzy TOPSIS Method

According to the International Labor Organization (2017), the lack of awareness of safety management leads to 3,000 deaths every day, two every minute, and caused economic losses of 4 percent of global GDP. Also, according to the ILO, 600,000 lives would be saved every year if the available safety management system was used. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the audit of safety management and evaluate the risks in the process, which will be conducive to the design of effective safety management methods and reduce the frequency of accidents. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is a common method for audit risk assessment, but in practice, evaluation results obtained using this method are ambiguous as the method relies on individual judgment. Thus, we used the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy uncertain language to improve the classical TOPSIS. In this paper, the safety management audit risk evaluation model is structured based on the modern audit risk model from International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). The improved TOPSIS is applied to assess the safety management audit risk from a general perspective. A company is used as the research object to verify safety management audit risk and ranking results of this study. Our empirical results are expected to help companies build future safety management strategies, ensure the safety of the production process, and also realize the sustainable development.

The Impact of Hierarchical Teams, Method of Communication, and Auditor Priming on Key Audit Decisions

This experimental study explores the impact of hierarchal team decision processing in face-to-face (F2F) and computer mediated communication (CM) settings on auditors’ risk assessment and financial statement adjustment decisions. Results indicate that while hierarchal team processing of issues does not significantly impact auditor risk assessments, team processing does significantly impact auditors’ proposed adjustment decisions. Findings reveal that auditors exhibit significantly riskier decision making after hierarchical team discussions when discussions are conducted F2F versus CM, as audit experience increases, and when auditors have some versus no prior experience working on audit engagements with team members (ETM). Higher levels of task experience, however, moderate the impact of ETM on auditors’ adjustment decisions. Findings also reveal strong within-team agreement with the most experienced team member following hierarchical team processing of issues. Lastly, results show that priming of team members prior to team discussions does not significantly impact audit judgments.

Using Statistical Modeling for Enhanced and Flexible Pharmacovigilance Audit Risk Assessment and Planning

BackgroundThe European Medicines Agency Good Pharmacovigilance Practices (GVP) guidelines provide a framework for pharmacovigilance (PV) audits, including limited guidance on risk assessment methods. Quality assurance (QA) teams of large and medium sized pharmaceutical companies generally conduct annual risk assessments of the PV system, based on retrospective review of data and pre-defined impact factors to plan for PV audits which require a high volume of manual work and resources. In addition, for companies of this size, auditing the entire “universe” of individual entities on an annual basis is generally prohibitive due to sheer volume. A risk assessment approach that enables efficient, temporal, and targeted PV audits is not currently available.MethodsIn this project, we developed a statistical model to enable holistic and efficient risk assessment of certain aspects of the PV system. We used findings from a curated data set from Roche operational and quality assurance PV data, covering a span of over 8 years (2011–2019) and we modeled the risk with a logistic regression on quality PV risk indicators defined as data stream statistics over sliding windows.ResultsWe produced a model for each PV impact factor (e.g. 'Compliance to Individual Case Safety Report') for which we had enough features. For PV impact factors where modeling was not feasible, we used descriptive statistics. All the outputs were consolidated and displayed in a QA dashboard built on Spotfire®.ConclusionThe model has been deployed as a quality decisioning tool available to Roche Quality professionals. It is used, for example, to inform the decision on which affiliates (i.e. pharmaceutical company commercial entities) undergo audit for PV activities. The model will be continuously monitored and fine-tuned to ensure its reliability.

PENGARUH BIAYA AUDIT TERHADAP KUALITAS AUDIT DAN DETERMINAN BIAYA AUDIT

PENGARUH BIAYA AUDIT TERHADAP KUALITAS AUDIT DAN DETERMINAN BIAYA AUDIT

Auditors and the Principal-Principal Agency Conflict in Family Controlled Firms

SUMMARYThis paper examines whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) affect audit fees in firms where the largest controlling shareholder (LCS) is a family. Results show that there is a negative relationship between audit fees and the presence, number, and voting power of MLS. This is consistent with the view that auditors consider MLS as playing a monitoring role over the LCS, mitigating the potential for expropriation by the LCS. Therefore, our evidence suggests that auditors reduce their audit risk assessment and audit effort and ultimately audit fees in family controlled firms with MLS.Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.JEL Classifications: G32; G34; M42; D86.

Earnings Volatility and Auditor Risk Assessments: Evidence from Auditor Resignations

SYNOPSIS This study proposes that auditors incorporate earnings volatility into their risk assessments such that volatility is associated with auditor resignations. Because volatile earnings are less predictable, they create larger deviations from the auditor's expectation of earnings and could increase auditor risk assessments. Higher earnings volatility could also signal underlying conditions that increase risk because accounting estimates become less reliable. Alternatively, auditors may perceive lower earnings volatility as riskier if auditors view it as an indication of more earnings management. We find a positive association between earnings volatility and auditor resignations, consistent with auditors viewing volatile earnings as riskier. This association is stronger for non-industry-specialists and auditors without long tenure. Finally, after the resignation of a Big 4 auditor, firms in the top quartile of earnings volatility are more likely to switch to a non-Big 4 auditor. Overall, our results show that earnings volatility plays an important role in auditor-client realignments.

Intuition versus Analytical Thinking and Impairment Testing

ABSTRACTWe examine the use of intuition versus analytical thinking in auditor risk assessment using a task that requires auditors to assess a group of impairment indicators. We expect that auditor intuition, rooted in the subconscious, more likely reacts to impairment indicator risk than does auditor analytical thinking. Results from two different experiments support this expectation for less‐experienced audit seniors. These seniors are more likely to assess step‐zero impairment indicators as signaling potential impairment when prompted to think intuitively versus analytically. In contrast, a third experiment finds that experienced seniors are more likely to assess step‐zero impairment indicators as signaling potential impairment when prompted to think analytically versus intuitively. This is consistent with the more experienced but still non‐expert seniors possessing developed analytical thinking, but struggling to effectively use their intuition. Our results inform theory by suggesting under what conditions auditor intuition and analytical thinking produce differential risk sensitivity. Furthermore, our results inform practice, given regulators' stated focus on auditor skepticism and impairment assessments.

Investigating the impact of macro-economic changes on auditors' assessments of audit risk: a field study

PurposeThe study aims at examining whether or not poor macro-economic conditions can lead auditors to change their risk management policies when performing an audit.Design/methodology/approachThe present study is based on a questionnaire distributed to auditors working at the branches of the big four audit firms in Egypt over two rounds under different economic conditions. The responses in each of the two rounds were analyzed to identify any similarities or differences in auditors' behavior when performing analytical procedures under different economic conditions.FindingsAuditors appear to alter their risk management strategies during challenging economic times. The present study results suggest that auditors increase their dependence on non-financial data and information as supporting evidence when assessing audit risk during times of economic difficulties. The findings also show that when the macro-economic trends are declining, audit firms tend to assign the performance of analytical procedures to more experienced audit personnel (i.e. senior auditors, audit managers and partners) with less of this work being done by the audit staff.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study is based on a sample of 40 respondents. It is recommended for future research to use a larger sample size as results may differ for a greater sample. The present research did not consider the effect of auditors' specialization in a certain industry on the audit judgment during an audit engagement. Future research would examine the impact of auditors' industry specialization on audit judgments during periods of unfavorable economic conditions. The present study is based on a survey that aims at capturing auditors' perception. Further research would use other research techniques (e.g. laboratory experiment) to examine the effect of the general economic conditions on auditors' assessment of audit risk.Practical implicationsAuditors need to give sufficient attention to the analyses of non-financial information of their audit clients during the performance of the analytical procedures under unstable economic conditions rather than depending solely on financial information. Moreover, audit firms could use a much richer labor mix for audit teams through increasing their reliance on experienced senior auditors, audit managers and partners during periods of deteriorating macro-economic conditions to mitigate risk and improve audit judgment.Originality/valueThis study adds to the scarce literature in developing countries investigating the influence of external economic factors on the audit process. The present research provides information to practitioners and educators about risk management policies that could be considered in case of performing analytical procedures during an audit conducted under poor economic conditions.

Solutions for Assessment of Materiality and Audit Risks to Enhance the Audit Quality of Some Independent Audit Firms, Vietnam

The paper researched the relationship between materiality, audit risk assessment and the improvement of audit quality. Studying and surveying the situation of materiality, audit risk assessment and audit quality of a number of independent Vietnamese audit firms. Based on the analysis and evaluation of existing problems, the paper proposed a number of solutions to complete the methods in assessment at independent audit firms in Vietnam.

Sustainability reporting quality and post‐audit financial reporting quality: Empirical evidence from the UK

AbstractThis study examines whether firms that appear to exhibit high sustainability reporting quality are less likely to engage in earnings management activities, thereby delivering financial information that is more transparent and reliable than that delivered by firms that do not produce high‐quality sustainability reports. I also investigate whether the association between sustainability reporting quality and post‐audit financial reporting quality is conditional on audit effort. Analysis of data drawn from FTSE 350 companies covering 2007 to 2018 indicates that firms that produce high‐quality sustainability reports are significantly and negatively associated with earnings management metrics. More importantly, this association is moderated by audit effort, measured by audit fees, suggesting that sustainability reporting quality reflects factors considered by auditors in their audit risk assessment practices. These results remain robust after several sensitivity analyses. I conclude that firms that devote more resources to producing high‐quality sustainability reports are likely to demonstrate an overall commitment to quality that alleviates auditors' concerns about the opportunistic use of sustainability reporting and reduces business risk, thereby reducing the effort auditors expend to verify financial reports.