Postgraduate Research Opportunities: Pro Forma

Project title: Impact of Individual Auditors and Their Beliefs on Auditor-Client Relationships and Audit Quality

Deadline: 3^rd April 2024

Duration: 36 months

Funding: Funded

Funding towards:

Home fee

Stipend -UKRI stipend rate for UK students.

Funding details: Fully-funded scholarship for 3 years covers all university tuition fees (at UK level) and an annual tax-free stipend. International students are also eligible to apply, but they will need to find other funding sources to cover the difference between the home and international tuition fees. Exceptional international candidates may be provided funding for this difference. 

Number of places: 1

Eligibility: Applicants should be highly motivated individuals with an excellent academic background. A minimum of a 2.1 at the Bachelor's level (or equivalent) is required. Candidates need not be Business majors, though they should have a strong interest in, and some experience with, accounting, finance, or economics. Having either a strong quantitative background or work experience in accounting will be helpful. The project requires the student to possess advanced quantitative training, which is essential for conducting rigorous academic research, as well as a profound understanding of auditing principles and practices.

If English isn't your first language, you'll need an IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent with no individual element below 5.5.  

Study modes eligibility: Full-time

Project Details: Following the collapse of Arthur Andersen, a 'Big 5' accounting firm implicated in Enron's significant audit failure and the largest bankruptcy reorganization in U.S. history until the early 2000s, there has been a structural change in the audit market. Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing focus on the auditor’s independence in the financial reporting process and monitoring. “The Big Four accounting firms have admitted hundreds of violations of regulations designed to protect the independence of their audit work, following the introduction of new disclosure rules in the US.” [1] However, the audit process remains obscure beyond the audit opinion, necessitating further academic research for a more comprehensive understanding of the process (e.g., Maksymov et al., 2023).

Mounting empirical evidence suggests that individual auditors can significantly impact audit outcomes (e.g., Gul, Wu, and Yang, 2013). However, the systematic, incremental effects of individual auditors need further investigation. For example, while beliefs have been demonstrated to play a crucial role for other participants in the capital market, it remains unclear whether auditors' beliefs, when interacting with other stakeholders, facilitate or impede the audit process. This project aims to address these gaps in the existing literature.

Primary Supervisor: Dr. Sheng Li

Additional Supervisor/s: Dr. Patrick McColgan

Contact Details: sheng.li@strath.ac.uk  

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/a3bdf4fc-151c-436f-aeb9-b5e9b4d60d23

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