FAR Masterclass Report - 9 October 2019: Masterclass by Kris Hardies and Sanne Janssen on Professional Skepticism
On October 9 2019, Kris Hardies and Sanne Janssen presented their FAR-masterclass on professional skepticism. Professional skepticism is an important topic, which is high on the agenda of regulators and policy makers. A lack of professional skepticism appears to be related to insufficient audit quality. In this masterclass, the importance and difficulties were discussed of applying professional skepticism during an audit. In addition, some insights from current research were presented. Furthermore, potential ways to improve professional skepticism were considered.
Authors
Kris Hardies obtained his Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2011, worked at the University of Florida in 2012 and is currently an associate professor at the Universiteit Antwerpen where he teaches accounting and auditing at the BSc and MSc level. His research interests include professional skepticism, personality and individual differences, capital markets and firm behavior, and gender inequality. His recent research focuses on the effects of personality and individual differences among auditors on audit quality. His work has been published in journals such as Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Accounting Horizon, European Accounting Review, International Journal of Auditing, and Economics Letters.
PhD Researcher at University of Antwerp & Maastricht University