HOW WILL YOUR STUDY CONTIBUTE TO THE EXISTING BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

The study will extend the literature on the characteristics of professional skepticism. It will adopt the
three evidence-related indicators of professional skepticism by Hurtt (2010) specifically the
questioning mind, the search for knowledge and the suspension of judgement. Although some
researches have already measured the skeptical behaviors of auditors, only few have attempted to
use Hurtt PS model (Siew, Zen, Afiq, Hui, Ying, & Mary, 2018).

This study will measure the relationship between professional skepticism and auditor’s judgement.
This study will help determine whether auditor’s judgement and decisions are affected by the
professional skepticism in connection with PCAOB’s claim. If so, this will help regulators to implement
policies that will increase professional skepticism to an extent of sufficiently obtaining evidences to
also facilitate auditor’s accurate judgement. And if not, then the regulators will be able to divert their
attention to other causes of audit deficiency other than professional skepticism (Nolder 2012).

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?

We choose this topic because we find it relevant to our field. As an accountancy student, we are
supposed to maintain professional skepticism all the time. This will guide us and help us be familiar
with the characteristics of professional skepticism so that we can properly apply it in the future.

Aside from that, as future accountants and auditors, we are going to make judgments and decisions in
the future to help our respective industries, so this will help us identify the factors that could affect
our judgements.

We are also trying to aid audit deficiency and failure by examining its most observable cause which is
the lack of professional skepticism.

WHAT IS YOUR STUDY ALL ABOUT?

Our study will revolve around the relationship between professional skepticism and auditor’s
judgment. According to Subianto (2018), studies related to audit practice have emphasized the
importance of auditor’s professional skepticism in improving the quality of an audit. Similarly, Gao &
Zhang (2017) said that auditor’s judgement is seen as a relevant factor in determining audit quality.
Since both professional skepticism and auditor’s judgement have an effect on the quality of the audit
practice, an understanding of the relationship between the two is important to better improve audit
quality and reduce audit failure. This will also identify any association between professional
skepticism and auditor’s judgement.

WHAT THEORIES AND CONCEPTS DID YOU USE?

Attitude theory

This theory is geared on the premise that attitude influences individuals’ judgments. This is also
supported by Ajzen (2005) by stating that behaviors and judgement of an individual stems from
attitudes or traits.

Hurtt’s Professional Skepticism Model

This study will adopt Hurtt’s Professional Skepticism Model (HPSM).

Hurtt (2010) concluded that traits that indicate a skeptical mind as an originator to making a
skeptical judgement are when an individual: (a) exercises autonomy in making decisions without being
affected by any internal and external influences; (b) has self-esteem characterized by belief in self-worth
and ability to express one’s own opinion; (c) has a questioning-mind to question the validity of collected
evidence; (d) suspends judgement until obtaining an appropriate level of evidence on which to base a
conclusion, and to avoid bias traps; (e) searches for knowledge out of curiosity or interest to reduce
uncertainty; and (f) seeks interpersonal-understanding about what motivates or incentivizes others to
act in certain ways.

Three out of six characteristics of PS will be used as the indicators, the questioning mind, search
for knowledge and suspension of judgement.

Banaji and Heiphetz (2010)

Whether or not the professionally skeptical attitude manifests itself in auditor’s judgments and
decisions depend on the strength of the attitude which varies based on person, situation and attitude
moderators.

WHAT RESEARCH VARIABLES DID YOU USE?

Variables

A. Independent Variable – Professional Skepticism

Indicators:

1. Questioning mind
 2. Search for Knowledge

3. Suspension of Judgment

B. Dependent Variable – Auditor’s Judgment

DID YOU BRIDGE ANY GAP FORM YOUR STUDY?

Audit deficiencies are often perceived as a result of auditor’s inability to produce sufficient
evidence to support an audit opinion (Nolder 2012). The insufficiency of evidence is said to be
influenced by the auditor’s lack of professional skepticism (PCAOB 2020). On the other hand, an audit
judgement is derived from the evidences gathered (Kenton 2020).

Even with the numerous studies conducted related to audit, only few has dealt with the
relationship of professional skepticism and auditor’s judgement. Prior research on professional
skepticism focused mainly on audit detection fraud (Schaefer & Brazel, 2017) while prior studies on
auditor’s judgement are concentrated in determining its impact to audit quality (Gao & Zhang, 2017).