The Effect of Team Cohesion, Goal Clarity, and Client Knowledge on Auditor Performance

Auditor performance is shaped by collaborative working conditions, clear engagement objectives, and knowledge of client operations. Yet the combined associations of these social, motivational, and knowledge-based factors with individual auditor performance remain insufficiently examined. This study aims to examine the relationships of team cohesion, goal clarity, and client knowledge with auditor performance among external auditors in Jakarta, Indonesia. The study employed a quantitative explanatory approach using a cross-sectional survey. The target population comprised external auditors working at audit firms in Jakarta with at least two years of professional experience. Using purposive sampling, 98 eligible respondents were included in the analysis. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires measuring team cohesion, goal clarity, client knowledge, and auditor performance. Descriptive statistics, instrument validity and reliability tests, classical assumption tests, and multiple linear regression were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The regression results show positive and statistically significant associations between auditor performance and team cohesion (β = 0.276, p = 0.003), goal clarity (β = 0.293, p = 0.001), and client knowledge (β = 0.281, p = 0.002). Goal clarity has the largest standardized coefficient, while the three predictors jointly explain 28.6% of the variance in auditor performance (R² = 0.286). These findings suggest that audit firms may support auditor performance through stronger team coordination, clearer task objectives, and systematic sharing of client-specific knowledge. Because the evidence is cross-sectional, the results indicate associations rather than causal effects.