This study examines the role of an individual auditor’s cognitive ability in delivering high-quality audits. Our results from analyzing data from Sweden show that audit partners’ IQ scores obtained from psychological tests are positively related to both audit reporting accuracy and the financial reporting quality of their client firms. These results show that although audit services are standardized through various control mechanisms and audits are conducted by teams rather than by individual auditors, cognitive ability of audit partners responsible for the audit is still important in delivering high-quality audit services.

Henrik Nilsson
Professor, Business Administration
Stockholm School of Economics
Stockholm, Sweden