Do Auditor Advocacy Attitudes Impede Audit Objectivity?

What is it about?

Biased evaluation of evidence exists when an auditor either over-emphasizes evidence that supports management assertions or over-emphasizes evidence against management assertions. This study examines if an auditor’s advocacy attitudes leads to bias in information search for audit evidence. We measure the range of advocacy attitudes of individual auditors and hypothesize that auditors at either end of the advocacy spectrum may impede the objectivity of evidence gathered.

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Why is it important?

Results from 60 Big 4 auditors indicate that advocacy attitudes impact both initial judgments and consequent search strategies of auditors. Aggregate findings establish an important link between bias and information search that may manifest itself in auditor training procedures and be of interest to auditing regulators.