Preliminary Evidence on the Impact of the Felt Presence of Peers on Auditor Skeptical Judgment and Action in a Remote Work Setting

Abstract

The increased prevalence of remote work is causing auditors to work more often in isolation. To address this, firms are using virtual audit rooms in an attempt to mimic the traditional social environment of auditing. Social Facilitation Theory predicts that auditors’ adherence to team guidance is increasing to the extent of felt presence of others. I examine how physical and virtual presence of the audit team, compared to working alone, facilitates the incorporation of team guidance encouraging skepticism. I predict that auditors engage in this behavior most frequently in the physical presence of their team, somewhat less frequently in the virtual presence of their team, and least frequently when working alone. For skeptical actions, results do not support these expectations. However, for skeptical judgments, participants view audit evidence more skeptically when in the virtual presence of peers compared to alone. Low statistical power may limit the generalizability of the results. Data Availability: Data are available from the author upon request.