306-465 Advanced Auditing

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Objectives:

On completion of this subject, a student should:

• have developed an understanding of how auditing practice and theory at both the macro and micro levels influence audit quality;

• be able to apply alternative paradigms to explain behaviour as it relates to auditing;

• have developed an understanding of and be able to critically assess the research designs and methods used in the auditing literature;

• be able to develop research ideas that may result in contributions to the auditing literature and which may be used in honours projects, research essays or theses for higher degrees.

Content:

This subject involves an appraisal of the theoretical and empirical literature relating to auditing. In so doing, it draws extensively, but not exclusively, on studies carried out within the costly contracting (agency), capital market and behavioural paradigms. It commences with an examination of the demand for and supply of auditing (and related) services at the market level, progressing to analysis of the same forces at the public accounting firm level. A brief examination of the impact of the profession at the market, firm and individual level is then made before examining, in some depth, research involving individual auditor judgement.

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