The impact of auditor interactions on audit quality

The judgment and decision-making literature in auditing largely focuses on individual auditor judgments. However, auditors do not work in isolation. They interact with other auditors in audit engagements and with other participants in the financial reporting process. For this reason, scholars have called for more research on how the people, tasks, and environment that auditors interact with influence their performance and hence, the audit quality of their work.

This review identifies three specific issues related to these influences that, we believe, warrant additional research and consideration. The first two issues relate to between-auditor interactions within the audit firm. The third issue relates to interactions with groups outside the firm.