Twenty-Five-Year Overview of Experimental Auditing Research: Trends and Links to Audit Quality

What is it about?

We examine 468 experimental auditing research papers that were published in ten leading accounting and auditing journals from 1991-2015. First, we find that the percentage of experimental auditing papers published in the leading journals has decreased substantially. Second, we identify the audit quality issues that have been addressed, and map this research to the IAASB Framework for Audit Quality. We find that the majority of studies have concentrated on the processing stage of the Framework, at both the engagement and firm levels. Third, we observe a significant evolution in experimental research over the 25 years of our study, as evidenced by trends in the topics examined, types of participants used, and data collection approaches used. Our paper is useful to audit standard-setters and regulators in identifying the types of research undertaken that supports evidence-based standard-setting and regulation, and aids researchers to identify gaps in research from a standard-setting perspective.

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