FAR Newsletter: Addendum to the FAR Call for Projects 2020 and 2019 International Conference Report

In this newsletter:

• 'The impact of auditor interactions on audit quality' - FAR Masterclass by Eddy Cardinaels and Kristof Stouthuysen - 2 April 2020. Literature review and practice note also available!
• Addendum to the FAR Call for Research Project Proposals 2020
• 'Going Concern Opinions (GCO's) in Theory and Practice' - FAR Masterclass report 9 December 2019 - Masterclass by Marshall Geiger, Anna Gold and Philip Wallage
• Save the date! 5th International FAR Conference on 22 and 23 June 2020 - 'Reaping the benefits of FAR audit research'
• 2019 FAR International Conference Report
• FAR vacancy: Research Program Manager

'The impact of auditor interactions on audit quality' - FAR Masterclass by Eddy Cardinaels and Kristof Stouthuysen - 2 April 2020

The next FAR Masterclass is coming soon!  

On 2 April 2020 the FAR will organize a Masterclass on 'The impact of auditor interactions on audit quality’ by Prof. dr. Eddy Cardinaels (Tilburg University) and Prof. dr. Kristof Stouthuysen (KU Leuven). Check out  this movie (approx. 5 min) for some extra background information.

The judgment and decision-making literature in auditing largely focuses on individual auditor judgments. However, auditors do not work in isolation. They interact with other auditors in audit engagements and with other participants in the financial reporting process. For this reason, scholars have called for more research on how the people, tasks, and environment that auditors interact with influence their performance and hence, the audit quality of their work. Please click here to read the full project literature review.

As a key attribute to audit quality, regulators specify that more experienced staff (i.e. managers, senior auditors) should provide less experienced staff with appropriate coaching and on-the-job training. It is fairly common for junior auditors to start their auditing career by mimicking a more senior person who performs similar tasks; as the saying goes, “Monkey see, monkey do” (Cannon, 2016). Yet, while imitation is an inherent human tendency, limited evidence exists on the impact of such imitative behavior on the quality of an individual auditor’s judgment. For the full practice note, click here.

There are limited spaces available for the Masterclass, so for more information and registration, click here now.

Addendum to the FAR Call for Research Project Proposals 2020

February 21st, 2020
FAR would like to issue an addendum to the Call for Research Project Proposals 2020.

FAR invites research projects that will look into the recommendation of the ‘Monitoring Commissie (Committee) Accountancy’ (MCA) and ‘Commissie Toekomst Accountancysector’ (Committee Future Accountancy sector - CTA). During the past few weeks (in 2020) these two committees charged with studying concerns regarding audit quality in the Netherlands published their final reports. The reports are not yet available in English, but an English summary of the CTA recommendations is included in the Appendix. Links to both reports are at the bottom of this addendum.

Both reports list recommendations, often for additional regulation or regulatory changes, that the committees think will improve audit quality in the Netherlands.

This addendum reflects recommendation 3 (translated) of the CTA: 'Academics, regulators and the accountancy profession should strive for more (scientific) research into the quality of the Dutch accountancy profession, including the factors that explain differences in audit quality'. 

For the full addendum and more information, please click here.

You can find the FAR Call for Research Proposals 2020 here: https://foundationforauditingresearch.org/en/research-publications/call-for-research-projects/

'Going Concern Opinions (GCO's) in Theory and Practice' - FAR Masterclass Report 9 December 2019 - Masterclass by Marshall Geiger, Anna Gold and Philip Wallage

On 9 December 2019, Marshall Geiger, Anna Gold and Philip Wallage presented a masterclass on Going Concern Opinions (GCOs).
 
The main purpose of the session was to communicate the main results of their literature synthesis (see Part I below) and to extend and corroborate the findings of the focus group meeting that was part of the research project, by means of an in-depth discussion concerning eight broad GCO topics (see Part II below).

For more info, such as the presentation slides and the full masterclass report, click here.

Save the date! 5th International FAR Conference – 'Reaping the benefits of FAR audit research'

The FAR Conference will take place on 22 and 23 June 2020 in Breukelen, the Netherlands. Registration for this event will open soon!

We are proud to announce that our Keynote Speaker this year will be Dr. Nayantara Hensel, Chief Economist of the PCAOB and Director of the Office of Economic and Risk Analysis.

We are also pleased that Steven Salterio of Queens University Canada will be present as Invited Speaker.

This year's conference will be chaired by Robert Knechel (University of Florida and board member of the FAR).

FAR offers the unique opportunity to bring researchers and audit firms together for knowledge exchange and collaboration. This year’s conference is focused mainly on sharing findings from FAR Research Projects, disseminating existing knowledge on relevant questions from auditing practice, and discussing views from practice, standard setters and regulators. The conference is particularly of interest to audit researchers, audit practitioners and firm management, auditing standards setters, audit supervisors and auditing teachers.

We are still working on the final program, so keep an eye on our website for more information, updates and registration.

2019 FAR International Conference Report

Curious about last years’ conference? We are proud to present the full 2019 FAR Conference Report. The fourth annual conference of the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR) was held in June 2019.

The theme of the conference was ‘Evidence-informed policy making for the future of the auditing profession’. Therefore, the central question during all the presentations of this conference was: how can evidence-based auditing sector policy making be implemented? To see the full report please click here or watch the conference video by clicking here.

FAR vacancy: Research Program Manager (0,5 – 1,0 fte / 20 – 40 hrs)

FAR is looking for a Program Manager for Research Projects, to perform a crucial role in the unique research collaboration between the 10 largest accountancy firms in the Netherlands and around 25 leading international scientific research teams.

Interested in this position? For more information and applying, click here (Dutch).