Auditor reputation has reached a critical point worldwide. There is currently a
significant amount of discussion on improving the quality of audits, especially in terms of
issued audit reports, through the implementation of new methods and regulations. National
and international suggestions regarding reorganisation of auditing focus on ensuring thatauditors are independent of their clients, are highly qualified and perform their work in
accordance with high technical standards
ordance with high technical standards.
The auditor’s judgment process has been subjected to extensive study since Ashton’s
seminal work in 1974. In general, the results of audit judgment research are consistent
with those of prior psychological research. The literature review revealed that much of
this research suggests that audit judgment can be improved through the use of decision
aids. The purpose of our research was to analyse the effect of a joint audit on the auditor’s
report. The area of study concerning the joint audit is relatively untouched, in contrast to
that concerning general group decision making in accounting, and there has been little
empirical research on the joint audit. As Francis et al. (2009) acknowledged in their paper,
“…we do not know if the joint audit requirement in France is more efficient or effective
than the single audit approach used in the rest of the world”.