The Effect of Religious Beliefs on Professional Skepticism and Auditors' Assessment of the Risk of Material Misstatement: With the Approach of Levels of Religiosity from the Perspective of Islam

According to the agency theory, managers have many incentives to have their audit reports presented with a favorable opinion; they are looking for auditors who will behave according to their wishes and have less professional skepticism about financial statements. Expectations can lead to buying the auditor's opinion and increase the possibility of distortion and fraud in financial statements (Fakhari and Amiri, 2019). In response to the increasing complexity, the auditing profession expects to minimize material misstatements in financial statements by exercising professional skepticism among auditors (Nolder and Kados, 2018). Hurtt (2010) defines professional skepticism as an attitude of constant pessimism and the habit of delaying an opinion until one obtains sufficient information and evidence and believes that when the auditor has doubts about the reliability of the information provided by the owner, has doubts and wants to look for more signs. Therefore, he can search for more information and conduct additional investigations to create a sufficient basis for better judgments. Professional doubt is a behavioral issue, and from a theoretical point of view, it explains what is known as the underlying principle in the fundamental principles of auditing and assurance (Hosseini et al., 2014). Religiosity and religious beliefs are among the most important behavioral factors that can influence the behavior of accountants and auditors, and professional doubt is no exception to this rule (Khoshbakht et al., 2022). According to the theory of McDaniel and Burnett (1990), religiosity means belief in God, along with the commitment to follow the principles defined by God. The goal of teaching religion and performing rites and rituals is to create moral transformation in human beings. According to the theory of religious ethics, religion is connected with ethics, and religion is the source of ethics; therefore, religiosity can drive moral behavior (Mahdavi et al., 2022). On the other hand, ethics in auditing causes the professional doubt of the auditor to increase because he reasons carefully in the auditing process and has a deep view of and even beyond those issues. In other words, ethics, which results from religion, will increase the auditor's exploratory search to obtain the required evidence and improve professional doubt (Birjandi et al., 2018). Among the behavioral factors that can affect the prevention of fraudulent financial reporting by accountants and the evaluation of auditors is the level of belief and adherence of accountants and auditors to their moral and religious principles (Khoshbakht et al., 2022). Therefore, it can be expected that religious beliefs significantly affect the relationship between professional doubt and distortion risk assessment. Based on this, the present study aims to investigate the effect of professional doubt on the auditors' assessment of the risk of material misstatement, emphasizing the moderating role of religious beliefs with an Islamic approach. The current research is practical in terms of its purpose and quasi-experimental and survey in terms of research nature. The time domain of the research is 2022. This research uses a scenario-based questionnaire to test the research hypotheses. The standard questionnaire is taken from Hosseini et al.'s research (2017). In order to control the effects caused by severe economic fluctuations, the audit period of the scenario of 2015 has been considered, and to compare the results of the research with previous research such as Hossein et al. has been used in the Tehran Stock Exchange so that the numbers and figures of the scenario in terms of salable product, receivables collection period, etc. are consistent with Iran's economic environment. The second part raised questionnaires related to professional doubt and religiosity. To measure the variable of professional doubt, the 30-question questionnaire of Hurtt (2010) was used as a five-point Likert scale, which includes six dimensions of questioning mind, pause in judgment, knowledge search, interpersonal understanding, self-confidence and self-assurance. To measure the variable of religiosity according to the standard questionnaire of Khodayari Fard et al. (2009) and the localized model of Allport and Ross (Shojaizand, 2010), in the form of a 25-question questionnaire including 13 items for faith, 6 items for piety and 6 items for certainty was used. Finally, the participant's demographic information was asked in the third part of the questionnaire. The statistical population of this research is auditors working in the auditing profession, and using Cochran's formula, 384 people were selected as the research sample. In order to collect the required sample, 460 questionnaires were distributed in person and electronically. Among them, 384 complete questionnaires were extracted without defects, and finally, the data were collected using the structural equation method and SmartPL software. S was analyzed. The variables used in this research are divided into three categories: independent, dependent and moderator. The independent variable of the research is professional doubt, the dependent variable of the research is the auditors' assessment of the risk of significant distortion, and the variables of religiosity with three degrees of faith, piety and certainty are the moderating variables. The results of structural equation model analysis showed that the significance value of all hypotheses is greater than 1/96, which is significant at the 95% confidence level. Therefore, the hypotheses of the research are confirmed. The standardized path coefficient of the assumptions is also greater than 0/4, which shows the factors' positive effect on assessing the risk of significant distortion. The coefficients of the path with a value of 0/83 showed that among religious beliefs, faith has the greatest effect on professional doubt and, finally, on the evaluation of the risk of significant distortion, which is completely consistent with the verses and traditions in the field of faith, because the first order of religiousness is faith that the rest of the levels appear after it. The influence coefficient of certainty and piety, with values of 0/69 and 0/65, respectively, show the second and third rank for these variables in influencing the evaluation of the risk of significant distortion. This change in ranking for certainty and piety in the research findings is different from religious sources because certainty is the opposite of doubt, which will have a significant effect on the professional doubt of auditors, and from this aspect, it is more important than piety in auditing. The first hypothesis examined the moderating effect of religious beliefs on the relationship between professional skepticism and assessing the risk of significant distortion. The results showed that religious beliefs positively affect the relationship between professional skepticism and material misstatement risk assessment, and the higher the auditors' commitment to religious beliefs, the higher the quality of material misstatement risk assessment. The result of the first hypothesis is consistent with the research results of Kargarkamvar et al. (2023), Adil et al. (2022) and Mahdavi et al. (2022). It confirms the research of Peransanti and Yulianto. Next, religious beliefs were examined in the three sections of faith, piety and certainty in the form of the second to fourth hypotheses. The results of the considered hypotheses were confirmed. By winning first place for faith in religious beliefs, it showed faith in God, faith in resurrection and auditing even the smallest actions and behaviors, and faith in the punishment with a positive effect on professional doubt, accuracy and sensitivity of auditors in evaluation. It raises the risk of material misstatement. Certainty with the second rank is effective in this connection. Certainty is the opposite of skepticism, and auditors with faith will be cautious in applying judgment in doubtful situations so that they do not reach the level of certainty through scientific and objective examination. Therefore, auditors with a higher degree of certainty in religious beliefs will be more successful in assessing the risk of material misstatement due to higher professional skepticism. Finally, with the third rank, piety positively affected the relationship between professional doubt and assessing the risk of significant distortion. Pious auditors by avoiding things contaminated with sin, fraud and suspicion and insisting on the truth in speech, observing trust, and adhering to covenants, the result of which, according to the verses of the Holy Quran, is solving problems and getting rid of worldly doubts; They will exercise higher professional skepticism that results in a more material misstatement risk assessment. The results of the second to fourth hypotheses are consistent with the religious teachings according to the verses and traditions and align with the research results of Atrat Dost et al. (2021) and Pourmehdi et al. (2021).