Question: In Zoe-Vonna Palmrose's article "PCAOB Audit Regulation a Decade after SOX: Where it Stands and What the Future Holds," she discussed the importance of AuditorSkepticism and the emphasis of this concept on PCAOB initiatives. In fact, it would appear that in many of the cases that we read in this course, the auditors lacked exercising "Professional Skepticism." The attached articles, "A Model and Literature Review of Professional Skepticism in Auditing" by Mark W. Nelson from Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Volume 28 Number 2 (2009), pp. 1 - 34, and "Development of a Scale to Measure Professional Skepticism" by R. Kathy Hurtt from Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Volume 29 Number 1 (2010), pp. 149 - 171 provide an overview of and a model for auditor skepticism.

A Model and Literature Review of Professional Skepticism in Auditing.pdf

Development of a Scale to Measure Professional Skepticism.pdf

Required: 1. Define professional skepticism and discuss why it so important to the practice of auditing.

2. Summarize the Nelson article including the major literature, findings and conclusions. In addition, integrate how the work done by Hurtt utilized this research in the development of her model and evaluate this research as it may be applied in today's audit environment and in the work of the PCAOB in establishing audit standards.

3. Please see the following article by Ken Tyslac from the Journal of Accountancy and comment on the AICPA'sintent to test professional skepticism on the CPA exam.