Justification of Decisions in Auditing

A recent study examined how 2 aspects of the audit environment - the audit review process and the type of evidence available - influence the way auditors justify their audit-planning decisions. Overall, the results indicate that these 2 factors do influence auditors' justifications. Consistent with expectations, auditors receiving inconsistent or no evidence documented more justifications in their planning memos than those who received corroborating evidence. It was also found that auditors receiving inconsistent evidence were more likely to mention this information than auditors receiving corroboration.