About FAR
Purpose, Mission, Strategy
The Dutch Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR), announced earlier as ‘Accountancy Lab’, was launched in Amsterdam on October 20, 2015. The audit profession is undergoing significant changes in respect of expectations and demands. FAR focuses on enhancing the knowledge of what makes a good audit today and on sustainably improving audit practices.
Code of Independence
FAR is an independently operating scientific research institute, committed to delivering excellent academic research, conducted by the best academics within the audit field.
Governance and Organization
The Dutch Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR), announced earlier as ‘Accountancy Lab’, was launched in Amsterdam on October 20, 2015. The audit profession is undergoing significant changes in respect of expectations and demands. FAR focuses on enhancing the knowledge of what makes a good audit today and on sustainably improving audit practices.
Board members
Prof. dr. Robert Knechel
Distinguished Professor and Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar at the University of Florida Fisher School
Organization members
FAR PhD’s and PhD Students
Frequently Asked Questions about FAR, Surveys and Data
General questions
Why is my participation in this survey important?
We have the ambition to move the audit profession forward and actively contribute to evidence-based policy making. Only with enough and high-quality input from audit practitioners themselves, i.e. from you, we can answer important research questions about auditing and potential improvements that really work. Thank you for your contribution!
How are (survey) participants for research projects selected?
A central selection is performed based by the FAR Liaison (primary contact) of your audit firm based on the sample criteria formulated by the research team. The research team does therefore not know your identity and your employer does not know your answers. After a review on the absence of identifying information by a FAR employee, your answers are provided directly to the research team on a secured research environment.
How is confidentiality safeguarded?
Your answers will be kept completely confidential. Please note that the research team does not know and will not be able to know your identity. Nor will your audit firm be able to see your responses. Only the research team involved will be able to analyze the anonymized data on an aggregated level.
We use Unique Anonymized IDs to safeguard your full anonymity through FAR’s trusted service provider CentERdata. Your answers on survey questions will remain confidential, they will be stored on a separate research environment. FAR issued an assurance report on the appropriate design, implementation, and operating effectiveness of its data gathering and information security controls (ISAE 3000 type II assurance report). This report is intended only for FAR, CentERdata and the affiliated audit firms who have a sufficient understanding of the process and the context. Therefore, the ISAE 3000 assurance report is available with the FAR Liaison of your firm.
What is the goal of this survey?
Good question! We love to discuss our research projects, but to obtain as honest and unbiased answers as possible, we try not to influence you too much about the research project and its research question. Please answer each item as truthfully as possible. Keep in mind there are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much time thinking over any one item.
For a short description of the research project and other FAR projects, please consult the library and choose projects.
To receive updates relating to this and other research projects such as practice notes, literature reviews, podcasts, masterclasses and (working) papers, please subscribe to our newsletter (bottom of page).
If you are interested in auditing research performed by FAR affiliated researchers, please subscribe to our podcast series FARview:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPI1mrxz1gaPpZjaGaqVjZg
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/farview/id1500587172
https://soundcloud.com/auditingresearch
When will I receive feedback regarding the results of this survey?
The affiliated audit firms, FAR and the research teams have entered into agreements to keep all answers confidential. Therefore, we cannot provide personal feedback. General feedback about the findings will be given in the regular FAR updates, research papers of the research team and masterclasses of the research team. We present research findings at our research conferences, masterclasses and strive to present research results in training sessions in your firm.
Who is the Foundation for Auditing Research?
The Foundation for Auditing Research, established in Amsterdam on 20 October 2015 following recommendation 5.10 of the Dutch audit profession’s improvement plans (‘In the public interest’) of September 2014, aims to scientifically inform the auditing profession in its continuous development and improvement of audit quality. The Foundation for Auditing Research is a unique collaboration between science and practice, conducting relevant and rigorous academic research into the drivers of audit quality. We therefore work together with and have the explicit support for our research projects from the affiliated audit firms and the Dutch audit profession.
The mission of FAR is to structurally contribute to the learning capabilities and sustainable development in the broadest sense of auditor organizations, the audit profession, the audit education and the audit research community in the Netherlands. It does so through opening the “black box” of auditing by providing research with access to funding and data of the affiliated audit firms. By applying specific protocols and established methods geared towards working with confidential data, the affiliated audit firms and departments provide FAR access to research data including research subjects needed for the research projects defined.
Who is CentERdata?
Stichting CentERdata is FAR’s trusted service provider for data handling and management. CentERdata implements and maintains the necessary technical and organizational measures to safeguard confidentiality and your anonymity, secure the data against unauthorized- access, disclosure or modification and theft, as well as (accidental) loss, destruction, damage, modification and the like. These measures aim to safeguard an appropriate security level, allowing for the risk that the processing and the nature of the data to be protected bring about.