The Effect of Job Pressure and Professional Skepticism on Auditor's Judgment

Nowadays, the audit profession is a difficult and stressful job because of responding emotionally to various job pressures including organizational and environmental pressures, expected to affect auditors' judgment and affect the quality of their work. This study examines the impact of job pressure and professional skepticism on the auditor's judgment. The study statistical population consisted of auditors working in the audit organization and audit firms of the Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants and the sample consisted of 384 questionnaires distributed and collected in 2021. The research hypotheses have been tested by using the structural equation modeling of partial least squares method. Findings show that time budget pressure and client incentive pressure have a significant negative effect on auditor's judgment and professional skepticism have a significant positive effect on auditor's judgment. The results indicate that the effect of time budget pressure as an organizational criterion and client incentive pressure as an environmental criterion have an impact on auditors’ judgment and their quality of work, and auditors with higher professional skepticism will have a fairer judgment. This research can help to develop the theoretical literature in the field of auditing and identify the negative role of job pressure and positive professional skepticism on auditors' judgment.