Remote Audits and Professional Skepticism: An exploratory Study
Résumé
In recent times, the phenomenon of remote audits has been on a steady increase and reinforced by the recent COVID 19 pandemic. Previous studies have notably sought to understand the effect of remote audits on audit efficiency and coverage. In this study, we explore the impact of the remote audit on professional skepticism, a marker of audit quality. Using a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews, we find that the remote audit negatively impacts professional skepticism through the effect of media richness. Again, we find that a measure to bolster the overall level of skepticism for the audit team in the remote audit setting is through better support and guidance of junior level staff.