The Relationship between Auditor's Thinking Styles and Professional Skepticism: Who Should We Hire?

This study aimed to examine the association between auditors' experience, Type I and Type II thinking styles, and level of professional skepticism. The Theory of Cognitive Development was used to analyse the framework surrounding thinking style, experience, and professional skepticism. A questionnaire was developed based on Sternberg & Wagner (1991) and Hurtt (2010) and 140 responses were collected from senior auditors in the Klang Valley and analysed using ANOVA. Findings demonstrated that professional skepticism demanded auditors with conservative thinking and lower cognitive complexity rather than auditors with higher cognitive complexity or inventiveness. This reflected that senior auditors should have a healthy dose of skepticism as well as a range of thinking styles, particularly the Type II style to succeed in the audit industry. However, there was no correlation between auditors' experience and the level of professional skepticism, which may conflict with past research that discovered a positive association between auditor working experience and professional skepticism. The findings add to academics' and audit regulators' understanding of the importance of using professional skepticism and proper thinking styles in every audit engagement. It also provides insights to the management team to ensure that the most qualified auditors are hired in their organisation.