This study examines the impact of an early‐stage conversation with a management's expert on auditors' decisions within the context of auditor–client relationships. We conducted a 2 × 2 between‐subjects experiment with 69 experienced auditors in Australia. Our results suggest that an early‐stage conversation can adversely affect perceived client flexibility towards proposed audit adjustments, particularly under contentious client conditions. Our results further indicate that an early‐stage conversation results in auditors relaxing, which otherwise might be a more contentious approach towards difficult clients. While we do not find direct evidence that auditors succumb to pressure and accept the work of the management's expert without any changes, our results suggest that auditors are willing to propose an adjustment that meets the interests of both auditor and client.

中文翻译：

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外部审计师对管理层专家的依赖：早期对话和过去的审计师与客户关系的影响

本研究考察了在审计师与客户关系的背景下，与管理层专家进行早期对话对审计师的决定的影响。我们对澳大利亚的69名经验丰富的审核员进行了2×2的主题间实验。我们的结果表明，早期对话可能会对客户对拟议审计调整的灵活性产生不利影响，尤其是在有争议的客户条件下。我们的结果进一步表明，早期对话会导致审核员放松，否则这可能是对困难客户更具争议性的方法。虽然我们没有发现直接的证据表明审计师会屈服于压力并接受管理层专家的工作，但没有做出任何更改，