The effect of brainstorming guidelines on individual auditors’ identification of potential frauds

Abstract

Revised auditing standards and a focus by regulators on the detection of financial statement fraud have resulted in calls for research to examine alternative forms of fraud brainstorming. We examine the effect of using extended brainstorming guidelines, developed in the psychology literature as part of facilitator training, on auditors’ individual brainstorming performance prior to attending the team brainstorming meeting. We find that these additional brainstorming guidelines help auditors identify a greater quantity and quality of potential frauds. Our findings suggest an easy to implement approach to enhance auditors’ performance in fraud brainstorming. JEL Classification: C91; C92; M42