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Investigating the backstage of audit engagements: the paradox of team diversity

Investigating the backstage of audit engagements: the paradox of team diversity
Investigating the backstage of audit engagements: the paradox of team diversity
Purpose – There has been very little qualitative “fieldwork” of audit practice. This is especially the case in relation to investigations into how audit engagements proceed. The purpose of this paper is to engage with audit practice in order to explore and explain the internal dynamics and paradoxical conditions within audit engagement teams. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts a qualitative methodology, framed around an intensive case study that involves several methods of data collection and analysis including interviews, observation and document analysis. The authors observe audit team practices, work programmes and organisation including observations of individual and teams involved in audit engagements. Findings – Using the lens of paradox theory,the authors explore the backstage of audit work,where audit teams arechallengedwithrecurringcontradictoryrequirementsandopposingdemands.Theauthorsprovideinsighton the complexity associated with inadequate resourcing and planning that tend to stimulate the emergence of paradoxes in audit engagement work in a government audit context. As a result, the authors identify the occurrence of cascading reduced audit quality practices (RAQP) as the teams respond to the paradoxes they face. Originality/value – The authors reveal the interlinked and cumulative coping strategies, namely, downplaying responsibility and downscaling audit processes. These strategies are performed concurrently by team leaders and audit members to manage paradoxical tensions. The authors also identified superficial audit supervision as another type of RAQP performed by team leaders.
0951-3574
378-400
Amyar, Firdaus
dcfdd3be-605e-491b-81bf-1ab41bb2f79c
Hidayah, Nunung Nurul
f57c537d-8eec-4097-b209-d98a280469b1
Lowe, Alan
009783b7-4c42-4309-afaa-418765aedb6a
Woods, Margaret
840a8c1b-e0a9-4015-97d1-6a492117c4da
Amyar, Firdaus
dcfdd3be-605e-491b-81bf-1ab41bb2f79c
Hidayah, Nunung Nurul
f57c537d-8eec-4097-b209-d98a280469b1
Lowe, Alan
009783b7-4c42-4309-afaa-418765aedb6a
Woods, Margaret
840a8c1b-e0a9-4015-97d1-6a492117c4da

Amyar, Firdaus, Hidayah, Nunung Nurul, Lowe, Alan and Woods, Margaret (2019) Investigating the backstage of audit engagements: the paradox of team diversity. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 32 (2), 378-400. (doi:10.1108/AAAJ-08-2016-2666).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Purpose – There has been very little qualitative “fieldwork” of audit practice. This is especially the case in relation to investigations into how audit engagements proceed. The purpose of this paper is to engage with audit practice in order to explore and explain the internal dynamics and paradoxical conditions within audit engagement teams. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts a qualitative methodology, framed around an intensive case study that involves several methods of data collection and analysis including interviews, observation and document analysis. The authors observe audit team practices, work programmes and organisation including observations of individual and teams involved in audit engagements. Findings – Using the lens of paradox theory,the authors explore the backstage of audit work,where audit teams arechallengedwithrecurringcontradictoryrequirementsandopposingdemands.Theauthorsprovideinsighton the complexity associated with inadequate resourcing and planning that tend to stimulate the emergence of paradoxes in audit engagement work in a government audit context. As a result, the authors identify the occurrence of cascading reduced audit quality practices (RAQP) as the teams respond to the paradoxes they face. Originality/value – The authors reveal the interlinked and cumulative coping strategies, namely, downplaying responsibility and downscaling audit processes. These strategies are performed concurrently by team leaders and audit members to manage paradoxical tensions. The authors also identified superficial audit supervision as another type of RAQP performed by team leaders.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 27 April 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 February 2019
Published date: 18 February 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 434632
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434632
ISSN: 0951-3574
PURE UUID: aca11c38-71c0-488d-9db8-caec297aa7e6
ORCID for Nunung Nurul Hidayah: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3178-4584

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Date deposited: 04 Oct 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:42

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Contributors

Author: Firdaus Amyar
Author: Alan Lowe
Author: Margaret Woods

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