The impact of audit review and related accountability on auditor performance: Evidence from an emerging economy

Abstract

This study aims to examine the role of accountability in audit review over auditors’ performance in an emerging setting which suffers from the ineffective implementation of the regulatory framework. An experiment was conducted where anticipation of audit review is being manipulated. Participants are senior auditors working in an audit firm with international affiliation. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: review (accountable), or no review (non-accountable) to assess control and fraud risk and determine the type of the audit report. The results show that anticipation of audit review and related accountability feeling has no significant impact on auditors’ performance toward either risk assessment or reporting decisions. However, the performance of the review group’s participants was closer to that of a benchmark, and they were also more conservative in their fraud risk assessment compared to the no-review group. The findings suggest that less regulatory environments do not introduce sufficient pressure or monitoring over auditors to enhance their performance. The findings have implications for regulators and the accounting profession concerned with monitoring and promoting auditor performance.