Factors affecting auditors’ professional skepticism in financial statement audit - Study in Ha Noi, Viet Nam

Abstract

Maintaining appropriate professional skepticism is important for an auditor when performing a financial statement audit. To bring critical recommendations from this study, we used the database provided by 163 audit staff and auditors in Hanoi city. The research method of in-depth interview and data analysis through SPSS 26.0 was used to reach the proposed research objectives. The result shows that factors affecting professional skepticism include: auditor competence, auditor personality (positively impact on professional skepticism); relationship between auditors and clients and time pressure (negatively impact on professional skepticism). Since then, the research gives solutions to maintain and enhance the professional skepticism of auditors in Ha Noi, Vietnam.