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An Evaluation of Methods for Teaching Auditing Students Auditor Independence Compliance Rules

Dawn Anderson
Donald (Don) Wengler

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting

ISBN: 978-1-83867-670-4, eISBN: 978-1-83867-669-8

ISSN: 1574-0765

Publication date: 16 October 2020

Abstract

Auditing textbooks include summary level coverage of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct, but textbook coverage is too brief to support a strong understanding of auditor independence. Independence rules have the force of professional law for the independent auditor (PCAOB, 2015). Threats to firm independence can arise from events and circumstances such as investments in the client, loans from the client, past-due fees, contingent fees, deposits in the client, gifts and job offers. Student test results from a five-year rotation of alternative auditor independence lecture support materials demonstrate that using the actual AICPA Code of Professional Conduct reduces student performance. However, this drag on student performance was mostly offset by the positive impacts of simultaneous use of an independence decision tree developed for this chapter and tested as a teaching material for classrooms use.

Keywords

  • AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
  • Auditing course materials
  • Auditor independence
  • Cognitive load theory
  • Decision aid learning
  • Decision tree

Citation

Anderson, D. and Wengler, D.(. (2020), "An Evaluation of Methods for Teaching Auditing Students Auditor Independence Compliance Rules", Baker, C.R. (Ed.) Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting (Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 179-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1574-076520200000023010

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

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