Aflevering Farview #7 - Justin Leiby – On Empathy In Auditing And The Effects Of Expert Status

In the seventh episode of FARview, our guest is Justin leiby. He is an associate professor of accountancy at the University of Illinois. His research interests are primarily in the area of auditing, focusing on social aspects of auditing, like social status and empathy. One of Dr. Leiby’s main research and teaching interests is the role of empathy in auditing, which is covered in the first part of this podcast. In the second part of the podcast, Dr. Leiby talks about his current FAR-project (with Anna Gold and Kathryn Kadous) ‘The effects of expert status on the audit of complex estimates’. Key take-aways: •We will benefit society and ourselves much more effectively if we view the world, at least partially, through an empathic lens. This also holds for auditing, of course. •Companies, and the old guard at companies who have been very resistant to the idea of remote work, are being slowly persuaded that remote work can be effective. •Auditors disagree with the client when a high-status expert disagrees with the client. This is encouraging. We also found that the auditors did not go along with the high-status expert when the expert agreed with the client and did not provide a good argument for their agreement. •Auditors know that competence and status are not always the same thing, but they also seem to know that competence is not enough. Profilepage of Dr. Leiby: https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/profile/justin-leiby Video link: https://youtu.be/8eFbXvkOgN0 For more information concerning the project, please refer to: https://foundationforauditingresearch.org/en/news/far-working-paper-does-status-equal-substance-the-effects-of-specialist-social-status-on-auditor-assessments-of-complex-estimates/ Royalty Free Music from Bensound