Budgeting Audit Time: Effects of Audit Step Frame and Verifiability
研究发现审计步骤通常以正面框架表述，可能导致时间预算不足；通过实验表明，将步骤改为负面框架能增加时间预算，尤其对可验证性低的步骤，有助于提升审计质量。
ABSTRACT Auditors must ensure that their audit plans budget sufficient time for key audit steps. Research has shown that insufficient audit time budgets can be detrimental to audit quality. We examine whether framing audit steps negatively (e.g., assess whether management's assumptions are not appropriate) increases time budgets—particularly for steps in which the auditor perceives that performance quality is less verifiable, and thus most at risk of being performed with low quality. First, we report the results of analyses indicating that, in practice, audit steps are predominantly framed positively, potentially resulting in smaller time budgets. We then report the results of an experiment in which 50 experienced audit managers budget time for an audit program that tests a Level-3 fair-value estimate. Prior research and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections indicate that this is a challenging audit area, vulnerable to allegations of low audit quality. The results support our predictions and suggest that reframing audit steps negatively would increase audit time budgets—an audit quality indicator—particularly for less-verifiable steps.