A study on auditor attributes affecting the judgment and approach towards risk

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to explain if certain auditor attributes affect Swedish auditors judgment and approach towards risk. The chosen methodology for this study is an explanatory method with a deductive approach. The method has been commonly used in previous researches in the field of audit risk judgment. With this approach, hypotheses has been formulated and then later tested towards empirical data and existing theories. The data has been collected through a quantitative survey method, which included a questionnaire sent to a selection of auditors in Sweden. The theoretical perspective is based on the audit risk model and behavioral research such as audit risk judgment and decision- making theories. Certain auditor attributes, which may influence the auditors’ risk judgments, have been chosen as the base for the formulation of hypotheses for this study. The empirical data has been gathered through a questionnaire that included four different cases concerning audit risk judgment. The questionnaire was distributed to the sample of the study. The answers of the participants were then aggregated into a risk profile for the individual auditor. The findings of the study demonstrate that auditors are a homogeneous profession with a high level of socialization. A high level of consensus regarding values and professional beliefs characterizes the audit profession. The size of the audit firm showed significant influence over the auditor’s risk approach, followed by age and social pressure.