ABSTRACT

Professional scepticism forms an integral part of a professional accountant’s skill set and is fundamental to their training. Recent revisions to IESs 2, 3, 4 and 8 reflect changes in the market expectation in relation to professional scepticism. In this paper, we answer calls for additional research into professional scepticism by investigating its role and training beyond audit. We also consider the important role that education can play in developing the trait professional scepticism. Through semi-structured interviews of academics, employers and the professional bodies, we find that professional scepticism is not considered a specific learning outcome nor is its development specifically evaluated. Despite being relevant across different accounting roles, educators do not consciously embed professional scepticism within accounting units other than auditing. We provide examples of how professional scepticism is addressed in the accounting curriculum and consider whether employers’ expectations are being met.

摘要

专业怀疑是专业会计师技能的一个组成部分，是他们培训的基础。最近对 IES 2、3、4 和 8 的修订反映了与专业怀疑相关的市场预期的变化。在本文中，我们通过调查其在审计之外的作用和培训，回应对职业怀疑主义进行额外研究的呼吁。我们还考虑了教育在培养职业怀疑主义特质方面的重要作用。通过对学者、雇主和专业团体的半结构化访谈，我们发现专业怀疑主义不被视为特定的学习成果，也没有对其发展进行专门评估。尽管与不同的会计角色相关，教育工作者不会有意识地将职业怀疑主义嵌入审计以外的会计部门。我们提供了如何在会计课程中解决职业怀疑的例子，并考虑是否满足雇主的期望。