Explanation and development of an identity pattern in audit judgment

Auditors, as the experts of a professional career, hold the responsibility of reporting on financial statements, which requires auditors to make impartial judgments. On the other hand, Identity is important, yet distinct, identities in an audit setting with opposing influences on independent and objective auditor judgments that one of these identities is professional identity cause to improve unbiased auditors judgments. Thus, the aim of current research is primarily concerned with developing an identity pattern in audit judgment using exploratory mixed method. The qualitative section of the study is founded on the premises of grounded theory. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview conducted with 16 partners of audit firms, directors of Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants and managers of Iranian Stock Exchange, which all were selected via snowball sampling method. The central category of identity in audit judgment was analyzed with respect to the four dimensions of individual characteristics, knowledge, skill, experience and characteristics of the audit firm, then is designed regarding the causal conditions, context conditions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences, and the final model was developed. In the quantitative section, the research hypotheses were developed, and a questionnaire was developed and the sent to 194 partners of auditors who had not participated in the qualitative section. To collect and analyze the data, the structural equation model and PLS software were adopted. The results of the quantitative section showed that environment condition effect on identity in audit judgment and silence and strength of professional identity. Also, identity in audit judgment effects on silence and strength of professional identity. Finally, silence and strength of professional identity effects on audit quality level and major and national consequences.