Dr. Ulrike Thürheimer

Assistant Professor

Dr. Ulrike Thürheimer is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. She holds a PhD from Maastricht University and previously worked at UNSW Sydney. Her research examines the economics and regulation of auditing and assurance, the value auditing provides, and the factors that shape audit quality. Her work is frequently informed by regulatory initiatives, standard-setting activities, and emerging developments in the audit market.She has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Accounting Research, including work on national public audit oversight boards, group audits, and the audit market. Ulrike regularly speaks at international conferences, and frequently serves as a reviewer for top accounting journals.Her current projects explore how audit inputs, processes, and contextual factors influence audit production and quality.

PhD Dissertation – Context matters: Essays on factors affecting the supply of audit quality and audit outcomes
Audit quality is influenced by the context in which the audit was conducted. This dissertation examines research questions that are of concern to the audit profession, regulators and standard-setters, and the public at large. The first study demonstrates that in line with concerns of regulators and standard-setters, audit quality problems are prevalent in group audits involving component auditors, regardless of whether these components are part of the principal auditor’s network or unaffiliated, and despite a standard-setting effort to address this concern. The second study provides evidence of audit quality improvements after commencement of inspection by public oversight boards in jurisdictions worldwide. This study further describes differences in inspection characteristics and finds that audit quality improvements are driven by inspection systems that disclose inspection results. The third study investigates whether different incentives for auditors affect auditor behaviour and audit outcomes jointly. This study shows that two forms of regulatory risk and litigation risk jointly affect auditor behaviour, and that both risks reinforce each other.  
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FAR Masterclass Report (NL): Masterclass on Identification and negotiation of audit findings

Deze FAR Masterclass over de rechtstreekse invloed van de auditor op de kwaliteit van de jaarrekening gaf ons een uniek inkijkje in de ‘black box’ van de audit. We doken in de wereld van controleverschillen en – minstens zo interessant – de gesprekken en onderhandelingen daarover met de gecontroleerde partij.

Maar hoe gaat dat eigenlijk in zijn werk? Hoe signaleren auditors controleverschillen? En als ze die eenmaal hebben vastgesteld, hoe brengen ze die dan ter sprake bij hun klant?

Een sessie die niet alleen inhoudelijk sterk was, maar ook liet zien hoeveel invloed de auditor écht heeft op de uiteindelijke kwaliteit van de jaarrekening.

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Audit Production
Production is the process by which inputs are transformed into outputs through factors of production. In the case of an audit, audit effort (labor and time) is expended to produce assurance over client financial statements (O’Keefe, Simunic, and Stein 1994). As is typical for services, labor is the most important factor in the production of audits. Although audit production is crucial to understanding the economics of auditing, the literature on audit production is sparse due to the difficulty of observing and measuring the factors of production. Specifically, the lack of access to internal audit firm information makes it difficult for researchers to observe and measure production inputs. Moreover, the credence good nature of an audit makes it difficult to observe audit output (i.e., the level of assurance).  
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Audit Production
Production is the process by which inputs are transformed into outputs through factors of production. In the case of an audit, audit effort (labor and time) is expended to produce assurance over client financial statements. As is typical for services, labor is the most important factor in the production of audits. Although audit production is crucial to understanding the economics of auditing, the literature on audit production is sparse due to the difficulty of observing and measuring the factors of production. Specifically, the lack of access to internal audit firm information makes it difficult for researchers to observe and measure production inputs. Moreover, the credence good nature of an audit makes it difficult to observe audit output (i.e., the level of assurance).
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What do we know about audit quality?
This special issue of MAB has been developed in collaboration with the Foundation for Auditing Research and is based on papers and discussions at the FAR conference at Nyenrode University (May 2016).  
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6th FAR International Conference booklet

On June 21, 2021, the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR) organized its annual conference. Forced by the global health conditions the conference was organized online. That did not stop professionals and practitioners from signing up, for we welcomed 200 audit research enthusiasts, from all over the world. The audience was comprised of 50 percent academic researchers, 35 percent were practicing auditors and the other 15 percent were a mix of regulators, standard setters, and other interested parties.

The conference consisted of four sessions. The first three presentations were related to FAR studies. The fourth study was about a recent integrity study, based on American data.
The overarching theme of the conference was ‘The Human Factor’, stressing the important fact that human influence can lead to both improvements as well as deterioration of audit quality.

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Audit Committee Involvement and Audit Quality
The audit committee is a key feature of contemporary corporate governance. Despite ever-tightening regulation concerning its independence and expertise, it still is unclear why some audit committees underperform, and how this impacts the effectiveness of the external audit. We argue that, next to having the appropriate skills, audit committee involvement in the audit process is crucial for its effectiveness. Communication, trust, and support between the audit committee and the external auditor, as well as the power and leadership of the audit committee are key features which may affect how the audit committee deals with disagreements between management and the auditor, and to what extent it will critically challenge both parties. However, these “soft” dimensions are understudied, and more insight is valuable for practitioners, academics, as well as regulators on what triggers audit committee involvement, and how this feeds back into the audit process. We aim to demonstrate that an active, involved audit committee is able to create synergies with the external auditor, which can streamline the audit process and enhance audit quality.  
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Audit Committees and Audit Quality
The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the academic literature on the relationship between audit committees (ACs) and audit quality (AQ). The starting point for our review is the most recent comprehensive overview of literature on corporate governance research in accounting and auditing by Carcello et al. (2011a). We start from their findings and conclusions, and add our review of studies on the relationship between ACs and AQ for the most current period, starting with 2011. In doing so, we draw from the IAASB (2014) conceptual framework on AQ that presents the key input, process and output factors that contribute to AQ.  
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The drivers and impact of audit committee involvement on audit quality
The audit committee is an important component of current corporate governance. Despite increasingly strict regulations regarding independence and expertise, it remains unclear why some audit committees underperform and how this affects the effectiveness of the external audit. We argue that, in addition to having the right skills, the audit committee’s engagement in the audit process is crucial for audit effectiveness. Communication, trust, support, power, and leadership are key characteristics that can influence how the audit committee handles disagreements between management and the auditor, and to what extent the committee will critically challenge both parties. These “soft” dimensions have not yet been sufficiently studied. More insight is needed for practitioners, academics, and regulators on how audit committee engagement can be encouraged and how this engagement impacts the audit process. We aim to demonstrate that an active and engaged audit committee can create synergy with the external auditor, where both parties trust and support each other. This synergy can elevate the audit process and audit quality to a higher level.
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De betrokkenheid van het auditcomité op de auditkwaliteit
Het auditcomité is een belangrijk onderdeel van de huidige corporate governance. Ondanks de steeds strenger wordende regelgeving op het gebied van onafhankelijkheid en expertise, is het nog steeds onduidelijk waarom sommige auditcomités onderpresteren en hoe dit de effectiviteit van de externe accountantscontrole beïnvloedt. Wij stellen dat, naast het hebben van de juiste vaardigheden, de betrokkenheid van het auditcomité bij het auditproces cruciaal is voor de effectiviteit van de audit. Communicatie, vertrouwen, ondersteuning, macht en leiderschap zijn belangrijke kenmerken die van invloed kunnen zijn op de manier waarop het auditcomité omgaat met meningsverschillen tussen het management en de accountant, en in hoeverre het auditcomité beide partijen kritisch zal uitdagen. Deze ‘zachte’ dimensies zijn nog onvoldoende onderzocht. Er is meer inzicht nodig voor de praktijk, academici en toezichthouders over hoe de betrokkenheid van het auditcomité kan worden gestimuleerd en hoe de betrokkenheid het auditproces beïnvloedt. Wij willen aantonen dat een actief en betrokken auditcomité in staat is om synergie te creëren met de externe accountant, waarbij beide partijen op elkaar vertrouwen en elkaar steunen. Die synergie kan het auditproces en de auditkwaliteit naar een hoger niveau tillen.
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Audit committees and audit quality – a review of the literature
The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the academic literature on the relationship between audit committees (ACs) and audit quality (AQ). The starting point for our review is the most recent comprehensive overview of literature on corporate governance research in accounting and auditing by Carcello et al. (2011a). We start from their findings and conclusions, and add our review of studies on the relationship between ACs and AQ for the most current period, starting with 2011. In doing so, we draw from the IAASB (2014) conceptual framework on AQ that presents the key input, process and output factors that contribute to AQ.
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