FAR Practice Note - Auditing: Lifelong learning (ENG)
It is essential that auditors continuously learn. The need for continuous learning is fostered by the changing expectations from society and stakeholders, rapid technological developments, and the increasing complexity of information systems. Auditing regulators and oversight bodies are concerned that certain aspects of the auditing profession may form barriers to effective learning. To gain a better insight in how auditors can effectively learn, it is important to identify and distinguish the different learning processes in the auditing profession. Based on our recent literature review we differentiate between seven learning processes. In this FAR Practice Note, we highlight the most important insights from the academic literature for each learning process. Based on this, stakeholders can develop tools to facilitate auditor learning processes in practice.
Authors
Christian Peters is Assistant Professor in Accounting at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He received his BSc (Honors, IBA), MSc (Accountancy), MPhil (Business), and PhD (Accounting) from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.
His research interests focus on the judgment and decision making of auditing professionals, where he focuses on how operational and contextual features of the auditing environment affect auditors' judgment performance. As a secondary research interest, Christian is interested in the disclosures on and consequences of corporate tax avoidance. His research has been covered by various news outlets, including The Financial Times.
Christian teaches Assurance and Auditing and won the Excellent Lecturer Award at Tilburg University.
Kathryn Kadous is the Schaefer Chaired Professor of Accounting and the Director and Associate Dean of the Ph.D. Program at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. She earned a PhD from the University of Illinois. Prior to that, she worked as an auditor and controller. Professor Kadous' research considers judgment and decision-making issues in auditing and accounting. Her current research is focused primarily on using psychology theory to improve auditor decision making and on identifying the antecedents of auditor skepticism. Professor Kadous' research has been published in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, The Journal of Behavioral Finance, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory.
Professor Kadous has served two terms as an editor for The Accounting Review and two terms as an editor for Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. She serves on several editorial boards and has served on various research and publications related committees and tasks forces for the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the Auditing and Accounting, Behavior, and Organizations Sections of the AAA. She is currently Vice-President (Academic) of the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association.