The Importance of Conscientiousness to Audit Quality: Engagement Partner Graduate Thesis Typos and Audit Adjustments

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: He, Xianjie; Pittman, Jeffrey; Sun, Shuwei; Zhuang, Zili
• 署名单位: Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics; Memorial University Newfoundland; Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; Shanghai University of International Business & Economics; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826; 1558-7967
• DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2024-0397
• 发表日期: 2026-05
• 页码: 281-313
• 关键词: auditor conscientiousness; audit adjustment; thesis typos; engagement partner personal attributes; big 4; JOB-PERFORMANCE; personality; earnings; contagion; IMPACT; leadership; OWNERSHIP; Managers; proxies

摘要

Relying on the frequency of typos in engagement partners' graduate theses to measure their conscientiousness, we find that more conscientious partners conduct higher-quality audits, evident in that they are more likely to require an audit adjustment. Our core results hold for both upward and downward adjustments, implying that being conscientious is not equivalent to being overly conservative. Consistent with DeAngelo's (1981) theory, cross-sectional evidence suggests that the role that partner conscientiousness plays in audit quality comes through both the auditor competence and independence channels. Additionally, we find that the frequency of partner thesis typos is negatively associated with auditor effort. Collectively, our evidence implies that engagement partner conscientiousness plays a major role in shaping audit outcomes.