“Factors Influencing the Professional Skepticism: A Conceptual Framework

Professional skepticism is one of the critical elements of the audit process. The level of professional skepticism among auditors is influenced by various factors, especially in an atmosphere characterized by the growing prevalence of financial fraud across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of personal and situational characteristics on professional skepticism of external auditors. It identifies personal and situational characteristics that significantly affect professional skepticism and presents a conceptual framework to integrate these factors. The literature review in this paper explores professional skepticism in auditing, focusing on its relationship with personal and situational characteristics that affect it. When evaluating professional skepticism of auditors, it is important to take into account both personal characteristics (gender, experience, knowledge, ethical ideals, personality traits), and situational characteristics at the auditing firm level (size, team-oriented leadership, emphasizing the importance of professional skepticism) as well as client firms (internal control systems, overoptimistic management assertions, and time budget pressure). There exists a considerable body of literature; however, research on the impact of these factors on the skepticism of external auditors remains scarce.