Facilitating Judgment Research on Novice Auditors: Academic Perceptions and Auditor Insights into the Work of Novices

Abstract

Recent environmental changes have led to novice auditors performing tasks traditionally performed by experienced auditors. Yet, our knowledge of novice auditor task responsibilities has not been updated, and research exploring novice judgments does not constitute a large subset of published auditor judgment research. This study facilitates meaningful research on novice auditors by first understanding the perceptions of 113 academics about this type of research. Academics report less than optimistic views regarding the publication likelihood of these studies and express concerns about peers’ views on the importance of novice work and justifying novice participants during the review process. We then inform the study of novices by providing evidence from over 100 audit interns and 30 supervisors on the procedures that interns perform. Supervisors report asking interns to perform tasks historically assigned to higher-ranked auditors including reviewing the work of shared services center staff and performing work in higher-risk accounts such as revenue. To address academic concerns regarding appropriate justifications for novice participants, we use the Kinney Three Paragraphs (and more) approach (Kinney, 2019) to provide insight into key decision points in the participant selection process. In these ways, this study aims to facilitate future research on novice auditors.