Enhancing the Quality of Audit Enquiry

and two anonymous auditors for their helpful comments. ABSTRACT Previous field research suggests that there is an increasing need for auditors to rely more extensively on enquiry based evidence. This study investigates how using various theory-and practice-based based interventions can lead to a more rigorous enquiry process. Based on psycholo gy theory on planning and on goal setting, as well as empirical findings in the auditing literature, I propose that both simple instructions to plan and assigning a specific enquiry goal could improve the rigor of auditors' enquiry process. A 2x2 plus one between-subjects experiment will be conducted to examine auditors' performance in an enquiry task. Auditors' performance will be measured by variables reflecting the level of activities, the nature of interview questions, and the propriety of organizing, analyzing and coordinating activities in enquiry. This study also extends prior field research by developing and testing a checklist that could be applied to improve the quality of auditors' enquiry process.