FAR Newsletter: FAR around the globe

In this newsletter:

• FAR around the globe
• Research Masterclass 6 December 2018 – Professor Knechel (University of Florida)
• Leading academic Jere Francis accepts FAR Chair in Auditing Research
• FAR 2018 International Conference Summary
• MAB Special Issue: Moving the Audit Profession Forward
• Pre-announcement: Call for Papers 2019
• FAR 2017 Annual Report

FAR around the globe

International collaboration with (research) institutions to share knowledge is part of the mission of the Foundation for Auditing Research. FAR representatives Judith Künneke, Willem Buijink, Olof Bik and Henriëtte Prast recently took part in several
events around the globe.

Adapting the FAR model abroad?
Is the Dutch FAR model of collaboration adaptable? This question was asked more than once during the past International FAR Conference last summer, leading to invitations for FAR to share insights at several occasions.

Olof Bik, managing director and academic board member of FAR, took part in a panel discussion at the 23rd Audit Quality Symposium at the University of Illinois in September. He contributed to the discussion around the question if a knowledge sharing model
that connects science with practice, as organized within FAR, would also work in the USA. Olof shared his experience on how to facilitate such knowledge sharing with the 10 participating firms, within a legal framework and via a proper security infrastructure.
Both on practical as well as on cooperation level, Olof gave the audience insight into the challenges they faced and how these were overcome. To make the FAR model work in the US, two conditions are key: first of all, a sense of urgency for the need
of knowledge transfer between science and practice, second; financial support and data from the audit firms. With these conditions in place, and FAR’s experiences shared, it would be possible to implement the FAR model and infrastructure in the US,
Olof Bik concluded.

Willem Buijink represented the FAR board in Istanbul, Turkey at the 16th conference of the Fédération des Experts Comptables Méditerranéens (FCM). He gave around 100 participants from countries around the Mediterranean Sea insight into the purpose of
the FAR in the Netherlands and the way in which FAR operates. Through one of the conference’s focal points, he discussed some of the current FAR projects and explained how they relate to audit quality. Similar to Olof Bik, in conclusion he pointed
out that the FAR Model is very much an exportable model to other countries.

FAR Chair Henriette Prast, accompanied by Willem Buijink also explored the possibilities of exporting the FAR Model during the 7th Workshop on Audit Quality in Maiori, Italy. The workshop organizers of Bocconi University were particularly interested in
the FAR Model in order to further enhance their well-established connections to practitioners and the Big 4 audit firms in Italy.

Assessing the EU Audit Directive
The EU Audit Directive contains a series of requirements governing every statutory audit in the EU. Accountancy Europe is involved in reviewing the EU Audit Directive 2014. The people in charge of this assignment asked Judith Künneke on input how scientific research helps to evaluate whether the directive is actually effective. Accountancy Europe expressed interest in collaboration with FAR, ultimately depending on the EU Commission’s decision to include scientific research as a tool to assess the directive.

FAR continues to contribute to the discussions and the debates abroad. If you are interested in inviting a FAR Representative to an event in your country, please contact Judith Künneke at judith.kunneke@foundationforauditingresearch.org.

Research Masterclass 6 December 2018

On 6 December 2018, the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR) will be hosting a Research Masterclass by Robert Knechel, Professor of Accounting at the University of Florida and academic board member of the FAR, about “The (changing) economic perspectives on auditing”.

Please click here for more information and registration.

Leading academic Jere Francis accepts FAR Chair in Auditing Research

Leading American researcher and Professor Jere Francis has accepted the FAR Chair in Auditing Research at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics for a period of four years. As part of this chair position, Professor Francis will conduct scientific research on the quality of audits. He will also boost auditing education in the Netherlands with the help of several PhD students.

Knowledge dissemination The Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR) created the chair position to further expand on fundamental scientific research in the field of auditing. FAR has made several PhD positions available to Dutch students as part of this chair position. In addition to conducting fundamental research, the objective is to encourage the dissemination of knowledge within both the scientific and practical communities. The chair has two sponsors: FAR and the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics.

Please click here for the full press release.

FAR 2018 International Conference Summary

Auditors must do a better job, but clients and other players in the audit profession will also have to fulfill their responsibility in order to enhance audit quality. These are just two take-aways of the 3rd International Conference of the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR). Culture and behavior play a significant role when it comes to improving quality, as do diverse teams that provide psychological safety and room for reflection, bolstered by appropriate, positive performance incentives.

For the full conference summary click here.

Missed this year’s conference? Then make sure to save the date for the 2019 FAR International Conference on June 3 and 4 at Nyenrode Business Universiteit.

MAB Special Issue: Moving the Audit Profession Forward
The 3rd International Conference of the Foundation for Auditing Research took place in June 2018 at Nyenrode Business Universiteit. The theme of the conference was “Moving the Audit Profession Forward – New Research and Best Practices”. As in prior years,
the MAB (Maandblad Voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie) reported on the most important presentations and discussions in a special MAB issue.
Please click here if you wish to read more.

Pre-announcement: Call for Papers 2019
We are proud to inform you that FAR will be announcing its 4th Call for Research Project Proposals (2019) by mid-December 2018. Academics working in the field of auditing and academic researchers are encouraged to file their proposals.
FAR supports projects using multiple research approaches and methods. A strong focus of the program is to expand the understanding of the theoretical substance of auditing by making available archival empirical data collected from audit firms, while the
participating audit firms have also agreed to cooperate with survey research, interviews, experiments, and case studies.
Keep an eye on the FAR website for the 2019 Call.

FAR 2017 Annual Report
We are happy to present FAR’s 2nd Annual Report for the financial year from 1 January 2017 till 31 December 2017. We are proud to show that good progress has been made in opening the “black box” of auditing – and thereby for innovative research through
cooperation between academics and audit practitioners.
In 2016 we laid the fundament for the Foundation for Auditing Research: the research, data, and legal infrastructure. 2017 was needed to find out how the structured and reliable gathering of research data works best in practice and how much it actually
involves. Thanks to the enormous efforts made by the affiliated audit firms in unlocking data, as well as the considerable patience exercised by the research teams, we are reaching the tipping point of the learning curve of actual delivery of research
data – based on which we expect to be able to share our first research results in the near future. We have already been able to share intermediate findings at our 2018 International FAR Conference on 5 and 6 June 2018.
This demonstrates that the auditing profession is serious in its endeavors to obtain academic insights to help strengthen the continuous improvement of the profession as a whole.
We are excited about the foundations that have been laid and the learning curve we are in to make further major steps in the coming period towards academic research into the drivers of audit quality.

Please click here for the full report.