IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v17y2024i2p73-d1337838.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing the Factors That Affect Auditor’s Judgment and Decision Making in Lebanese Audit Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Bilal Adel Moustafa Abdallah

    (Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 11-5020, Lebanon)

  • Mohamed Gaber Ghanem

    (Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 11-5020, Lebanon)

  • Wagdi Hamed Hijazi

    (Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 11-5020, Lebanon)

Abstract

The exercise of audit judgment is essential because it is impractical to perform an audit on all types of evidence. These types of evidence are considered in forming an opinion on audited financial statements, making audit judgment a determinant of the audit’s outcome. The objective of this research is to analyze the factors that affect an auditor’s judgment and decision making (JDM) during an audit. This study used an exploratory research design, with the factor analysis approach as its methodology. However, the data were collected using the questionnaire method. The questionnaire was sent to all member auditors of the Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants (LACPA). A total of 310 completed questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The data analysis findings indicate that the auditor’s JDM throughout the audit process is affected by three factors: personal, task, and environmental factors. The auditor’s personal factor becomes the dominant factor because it has the largest eigenvalue of 7.949. These findings demonstrate the complex and diverse nature of auditor judgment, highlighting the significance of considering audit JDM factors. Therefore, auditors may improve their abilities to make informed and effective judgments throughout the audit process by acknowledging the importance of personal, task, and environmental factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Bilal Adel Moustafa Abdallah & Mohamed Gaber Ghanem & Wagdi Hamed Hijazi, 2024. "Analyzing the Factors That Affect Auditor’s Judgment and Decision Making in Lebanese Audit Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-25, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:2:p:73-:d:1337838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/2/73/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/2/73/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Stephen K. Asare & Anna M. Cianci, 2009. "The effect of goals on auditors' judgments and their perceptions of and conformity to other auditors' judgments," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(8), pages 724-742, September.
    3. Lord, Alan T. & Todd DeZoort, F., 2001. "The impact of commitment and moral reasoning on auditors' responses to social influence pressure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 215-235, April.
    4. Johnson, Eric N., 1995. "Effects of information order, group assistance, and experience on auditors' sequential belief revision," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 137-160, March.
    5. Vicky Arnold & Philip A. Collier & Stewart A. Leech & Steve G. Sutton, 2004. "Impact of intelligent decision aids on expert and novice decision‐makers’ judgments," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 44(1), pages 1-26, March.
    6. Takiah Mohd Iskandar & Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, 2011. "Assessing the Effects of Self-Efficacy and Task Complexity on Internal Contral Audit Judgement," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 7(1), pages 29-52.
    7. DeZoort, Todd & Harrison, Paul & Taylor, Mark, 2006. "Accountability and auditors' materiality judgments: The effects of differential pressure strength on conservatism, variability, and effort," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 373-390.
    8. Butt, Jane L. & Campbell, Terry L., 1989. "The effects of information order and hypothesis-testing strategies on auditors' judgments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 14(5-6), pages 471-479, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Koch, Christopher & Weber, Martin & Wüstemann, Jens, 2007. "Can auditors be independent? : Experimental evidence," Papers 07-59, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    2. Rajni Mala & Parmod Chand, 2015. "Judgment and Decision‐Making Research in Auditing and Accounting: Future Research Implications of Person, Task, and Environment Perspective," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 1-50, March.
    3. Pruijssers, Jorien Louise & Singer, Gallia & Singer, Zvi & Tsang, Desmond, 2023. "Social influence pressures and the risk preferences of aspiring financial market professionals," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Corinna Ewelt-Knauer & Anja Schwering & Sandra Winkelmann, 2022. "Doing Good by Doing Bad: How Tone at the Top and Tone at the Bottom Impact Performance-Improving Noncompliant Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 609-624, January.
    5. Sammy Xiaoyan Ying & Chris Patel & Aeson Luiz Dela Cruz, 2023. "The influence of partners' known preferences on auditors' sceptical judgements: The moderating role of perceived social influence pressure," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3193-3215, September.
    6. Sammy Xiaoyan Ying & Chris Patel, 2015. "The Influence of Partners? Views on Chinese Auditors? Judgments Related to Professional Scepticism," Proceedings of Business and Management Conferences 2304228, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    7. Matthias Mahlendorf, 2015. "Allowance for failure: reducing dysfunctional behavior by innovating accountability practices," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 655-686, August.
    8. Desai, Renu & Desai, Vikram & Libby, Theresa & Srivastava, Rajendra P., 2017. "External auditors' evaluation of the internal audit function: An empirical investigation," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 1-14.
    9. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    10. Yoon, Junghyun & Lee, Hee Yong & Dinwoodie, John, 2015. "Competitiveness of container terminal operating companies in South Korea and the industry–university–government network," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-14.
    11. Sousa, Carlos M.P. & Bradley, Frank, 2008. "Antecedents of international pricing adaptation and export performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 307-320, July.
    12. Son K. Lam & Thomas E. DeCarlo & Ashish Sharma, 2019. "Salesperson ambidexterity in customer engagement: do customer base characteristics matter?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 659-680, July.
    13. Danilo Soares‐Silva & Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes & Alexandre Cappellozza & Cristiano Morini, 2020. "Explaining library user loyalty through perceived service quality: What is wrong?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(8), pages 954-967, August.
    14. Van Wijk, Raymond & Nadolska, Anna, 2020. "Making more of alliance portfolios: The role of alliance portfolio coordination," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 388-399.
    15. Jarle Aarstad & Olav Andreas Kvitastein & Stig-Erik Jakobsen, 2019. "What Drives Enterprise Product Innovation? Assessing How Regional, National, And International Inter-Firm Collaboration Complement Or Substitute For R&D Investments," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(05), pages 1-25, June.
    16. Jonathan H. Reed, 2022. "Operational and strategic change during temporary turbulence: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 589-608, June.
    17. Tarifa Fernández, Jorge & de Burgos Jiménez, Jerónimo & Céspedes Lorente, José Joaquín, 2018. "Absorptive capacity as a confounder of the process of supply chain integration," MPRA Paper 120125, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.
    18. Dirk Boehe & Luciano Barin Cruz, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Product Differentiation Strategy and Export Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 325-346, February.
    19. Aziz Barhmi & Omar Hajaji, 2023. "Multidisciplinary Approach to Supply Chain Resilience: Conceptualization and Scale Development," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(5), pages 43-69.
    20. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:2:p:73-:d:1337838. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.