An Investigation of the Attributes of Top Industry Audit Specialists

Mohammad J. Abdolmohammadi · D. Gerald Searfoss · James Shanteau

53 citations0/0 files storedBehavioral Research in Accounting

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Abstract

Prior research in psychology and auditing has established that in addition to ability, experience, and knowledge, many other attributes such as confidence and communication skills are also important to expertise. The literature also suggests that the importance of various expert attributes differ by professional rank. This study extends this literature by providing evidence on an expanded list of attributes of top industry audit specialists (TIASs). Specifically, the study elicited data from 114 senior audit partners known to be TIASs by a Big 6 accounting firm. These subjects generated an extensive list of attributes of TIASs in an open-ended questionnaire and assessed their importance. They also assessed the importance of each attribute in a 25-item pre-defined list. Our findings confirm the importance of many attributes reported in the expertise literature that can be classified as judgment/technical expertise. Our study also identifies detailed attributes related to characteristics that can generally be classified as personality and social attributes. For example, we present evidence on the importance of many attributes that can be classified as leadership (e.g., “respected”), marketing (e.g., “marketing focus”), and accepted-as-authority (e.g., “recognition”) characteristics. The findings are robust and applicable to various industry specializations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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References

1987Dimensions of Consumer Expertise 2014The Nature of Expertise 1989Behavioral research in accounting 1993Determinants of judgment performance in accounting settings: Ability, knowledge, motivation, and environment 1990Determinants of Auditor Expertise 1999What Do Industry-Specialist Auditors Know?2002The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 1997Tacit Managerial versus Technical Knowledge As Determinants of Audit Expertise in the Field

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