Professional Skepticism and Audit Quality

When any corporation collapses suddenly, it raises doubt about the professional scepticism of their auditors’ ability to perform the audit and assurance function. The stakeholders value the audit of the financial statements because it enhances the intended user’s degree of confidence in the financial statements. But to instil this confidence, a high-quality audit that features the exercise of professional scepticism cannot be overemphasized.

Auditors will have to think of the future of auditing in artificial intelligence and in a blockchain environment, the audit of big data that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis and the professional scepticism that we need to maintain as a pivot of the auditing profession to meet the audit needs of audit in the future. Accounting and auditing knowledge will continue to be a baseline, but professional scepticism will lie at the heart of a quality audit. We will continue to carry out the attestation function as the risk of misstatement due to fraud and errors will persist.

This risk may be heightened using sophisticated technology-based tools by highly techsavvy minds deliberately seeking to committing fraud. In such a scenario, it is important to recapture the importance of professional scepticism as an essential part of the auditor’s mindset to understand the reasons why approaching an audit with an attitude of professional scepticism is becoming increasingly important.