Prof. dr. Ann Vanstraelen

Professor

Ann Vanstraelen is Full Professor of Accounting and Assurance Services at Maastricht University and serves as Head of the department of Accounting and Information Management. She is member of the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences). Membership is for life.Ann Vanstraelen is recognized as one of the leading researchers and key innovators in the fields of auditing and accountancy. Over the past decades, these disciplines have evolved into vibrant international research areas, responding to the growing demand for reliable data and assurance in both the corporate and public sectors. Vanstraelen’s work spans financial reporting and governance issues, as well as the reliability of sustainability reporting, an area in which she has pioneered new research directions. Her contributions have not only advanced academic understanding but also influenced practice, shaping how organizations approach transparency and accountability in an increasingly complex business environment.She coordinates the multidisciplinary research theme “Culture, Ethics and Leadership”. She earned her PhD at the University of Antwerp. Her research interests relate to the broad field of auditing and assurance services, governance, corporate reporting and disclosure, with a specific focus on the quality of accounting and auditing practices.

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.

Read PDF
More Info
4th FAR International Conference booklet
The fourth annual conference of the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR) was held in June 2019. The theme of the conference was ‘Evidence-informed policy making for the future of the auditing profession’. Therefore, the central question during all the presentations of this conference was: how can evidence-based auditing sector policy making be implemented? We are happy to offer you this conference report, which summarizes the keynote speeches and the FAR project presentations of preliminary research findings.  
Read PDF
More Info
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.  
Read PDF
More Info
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.  
Read PDF
More Info
Auditors’ Professional Skepticism: Traits, Behavioral Intentions, and Actions
This study examines what drives auditors’ professional skepticism, a critical factor for audit quality. Using data from 663 auditors across six Dutch firms, the research explores how individual differences (such as gender, experience, and knowledge) and personality traits (Big Five and Dark Triad) influence skepticism.
It also applies the Theory of Planned Behavior to link skepticism traits with attitudes, social norms, and perceived control, showing how these factors shape intentions and actual skeptical actions during audits.
Key findings reveal that social pressure (subjective norms) is the strongest predictor of skeptical behavior, and that traits like conscientiousness, openness, and narcissism are positively associated with skepticism, while psychopathy and high agreeableness reduce it.
The study offers practical insights for audit firms and regulators on fostering a culture that promotes skepticism and improving interventions to enhance audit quality.
Read PDF
More Info
Professional Skepticism Traits and Fraud Brainstorming Quality
Auditing standards emphasize that fraud detection is an important objective of an audit and require the exercise of professional skepticism (PS) and a discussion among the engagement team to prevent and detect fraud. The purpose of this study is to examine whether professional skepticism is a driver of fraud brainstorming quality. We investigate the relationship between fraud brainstorming quality, using the measure of Brazel et al. (2010), and auditor’s professional skepticism traits. Using proprietary data from Dutch audit firms on 125 engagements, we find that neutral trait skepticism and professional moral courage of the partner have a significant effect on fraud brainstorming quality. We observe a higher attendance rate and contribution of specialists, more extensive discussion, longer preparation, and longer sessions for engagements led by partners with high neutral trait skepticism and high moral courage. We find no significant results for partners with a high presumptive doubt trait. Additional cross-sectional analyses show that the effect of professional skepticism on FBQ depends on situational, organizational conditions.  
Read PDF
More Info
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.

Read PDF
More Info
Team learning behaviors in virtual engagement teams
When teams are the prime unit of working and learning in organizations – such as is the case in accountancy firms – they face many challenges to use their potential and achieve their goals. Their business environment can be characterized by complexity and ambiguity. This requires teams to engage in team learning behaviors that allow team members to share their skills, knowledge, information, and point of view to modify team’s habits and work procedures depending on what is required. Understanding how team learning behaviors affect virtual engagement teams is the central research question in the FAR project “Virtual Audit Teamwork: working, learning, and delivering high audit quality virtually.” The purpose of this literature review is twofold: On the one hand, the research team aims to provide an overview of available insights on remote work and virtual teamwork in the auditing profession. On the other hand, the team strive to provide an overview of available literature on team learning behaviors in virtual teams to identify drivers and facilitate conditions of team learning in virtual teams. A systematic review of how team learning behaviors are affected by virtual teamwork is still missing, and we know little about how these insights relate to the auditing profession.  
Read PDF
More Info
Does Personality Relate to Job Performance of Partners and Managers?
Recent audit partner research finds that variation in partner characteristics affects the quality of audit engagements. Most of this research uses publicly available data on partner demographics such as age, gender, experience, industry expertise, and workload (busyness). In contrast, our study uses validated survey instruments to measure the personality traits of Dutch audit partners and managers. Contrary to what one might think, there is wide variation in the personality traits of auditors – they’re not homogenous. The organizational behavior (OB) literature documents the importance of personality in explaining job performance. Consistent with the OB literature, we find that personality traits do have a significant association with the job performance of audit partners and managers,  as assessed by audit firms in their annual performance reviews. There are direct effects of some personality traits on performance such as “extraversion” which is positively associated with performance. There are also indirect effects on performance in which personality traits affect job skills (technical, commercial, leadership) and these job skills, in turn, affect job performance. The study has implications for hiring, and for targeted training to better manage the effects of diverse personality traits among auditors. Finally, there are implications for diversity. As people move from manager to partner, there is a narrowing of personality traits, and extroverted individuals are more likely to be rewarded and promoted to partner. Yet firms say they want diversity in their firms, and we argue that personality traits are an important dimension of diversity that firms need to explicitly manage.
Read PDF
More Info
Does Personality Relate to Job Performance of Audit Partners and Managers?
We investigate if personality traits are associated with the skills and job performance of experienced auditors. Based on survey and internal audit firm data from 1,600 Dutch auditors from the Big 4 and six mid-sized audit firms, we first provide descriptive evidence of significant variation in auditors’ personality traits. Personality traits vary between Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors, and auditors become increasingly homogenous in higher function levels. Next, we find that personality traits predict distinct skills (commercial, technical, and leadership) that are part of the auditor’s job. The tension that exists between the commercial and technical aspects of the audit is also reflected in opposing personality profiles that are beneficial for each of the skills. Finally, audit firm assessments of job performance are associated with personality, both directly, and indirectly through their effect on skills. Collectively, these results contribute to our limited understanding of personal characteristics and auditor performance.  
Read PDF
More Info
Audit Partner-Manager Dyadic Fit and Audit Team Functioning
This paper investigates the formation of audit partner-manager pairings (dyads) and the consequences of this formation on the functioning of the engagement team. Prior literature mainly focuses on the role of one leader alone, while in practice, an audit team is usually led by two key figures. This dual-leadership structure and its potential effect on the team are largely unexplored. We draw on the theory of homophily to develop predictions, and test them using data from 221 engagement teams and their leaders. The analyses suggest that partners and managers that form a dyad are more similar in terms of their skills and leadership behavior than other random matches based on the available pool of auditors. However, the similarity is not necessarily beneficial for the functioning of the engagement team. Only when the partner and manager are both highly skilled and demonstrate strong leadership does the similarity result in a better functioning team. Otherwise, a complementary match is associated with better team dynamics. The findings on the role of partner-manager dyads in guiding an engagement team can inform audit firms on how to better compose and manage their audit teams.  
Read PDF
More Info
Partner-Manager Voice Modeling Behavior, and the Effects of Mixed Messages on Audit Teams
Team science research in the organizational behavior (OB) literature shows that successful teams must elicit “voice” from its members, i.e., the willingness to speak up and share information with the team. We propose a framework that recognizes when leaders exhibit their own “voice” behaviors, it creates psychological safety for the team – i.e., it allows team members to feel safe and encouraged to speak up about important audit matters. Analysis of data from 127 audit engagement teams with 754 auditors indicates the following. First, there is a positive and dominant effect on an audit team’s psychological safety (and ultimately on team voice climate and team performance) when managers engage in voice role modeling behavior. However, when the manager is also seen to engage in negative counterproductive behaviors, such as taking “short cuts” during the audit, the positive effects of his / her voice modeling behaviors are lost. This finding shows the importance of avoiding “mixed messages” from the manager, as this leads audit team members to question whether it is safe to speak up. Second, our findings reveal that when the partner and manger differ in emphasizing voice behaviors (one high, one low), these mixed (inconsistent) messages did not diminish perceived team psychological safety. Thus, if at least one leader (either the partner or the manager) is enacting high levels of voice role modeling behavior, the team still has high psychological safety and team voice climate. The results emphasize the need for leadership training to help partners and managers demonstrate, through their own “voice” leadership behaviors, that there is an environment of psychological safety that enables voice for the audit team. However inconsistent signals from team leaders can potentially compromise the team’s sense of psychological safety.
Read PDF
More Info
← PreviousPage 1 of 3Next →
No related news.

Filter projects: 

Project Lead
Theme Filter
University Filter
1 - 10 of 52 projects