The process of selecting and appointing an auditor is complex. A robust, objective and transparent auditor selection process is, however, essential to preserve auditor independence and ensure audit quality.

We will conduct the first large scale archival research to investigate how audit firms/audit offices allocate lead auditors to their clients, and whether such decisions affect the performance of lead auditors.

In this study, we examine whether the use of an (inflexible) work program and encouraging auditors to identify value-added insights during the course of the audit impairs their judgments (i.e., fraud detection and identification of appropriate follow-up audit procedures), thereby inadvertently decreasing audit quality.

The study is aimed at investigating two interrelated themes: (1) Understanding the relevance of internal control quality for audit quality, and (2) identifying an information channel that (may) allow auditors to more accurately and efficiently assess internal control quality.

The study has three main objectives: (1) assess the current state, best practices, and potential innovations that could occur in relation to audit committee support for the audit engagement team and its effects on the application of professional skepticism

The key objectives of the project are to understand, in the Dutch context: (1) the determinants of audit committee involvement with a particular focus on audit committee leadership, social cohesion of the audit committee and its fit in the overall board.