Robert Knechel
W. Robert Knechel, Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar.

Do audit inspections improve audit quality?

As audit regulation has matured, one might expect that the collective inspection of audits over many years will have fostered an increase in audit quality. However, audit quality as seen through the inspector’s lens—volume of findings—has not necessarily improved to the extent one would expect given the huge investments made by regulators and audit firms. 

But, why? W. Robert Knechel, Distinguished Professor and Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar in the Fisher School of Accounting, explains in this piece published by the International Federation of Accountants