۱- Introduction

۲- Background

۳- Terminology and methodology

۴- Previous theoretical and empirical literature

۵- Citation analysis

۶- Conclusions

References

Abstract

Research on International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) would greatly benefit from a research framework that categorizes the research streams related to ISAs and suggests areas for future research. This paper reviews the current research related to ISAs and develops a framework for analysis going forward. We identify seven main research streams: the development and history of ISAs; adoption of ISAs; association between national auditing standards and ISAs; financial reporting quality; audit reports; audit efficiency; and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) compliance. For each research stream, the main results are summarized. At the conclusion of our literature reviews for each research stream, we suggest areas requiring further examination.

Introduction

Researchers are increasingly focusing on International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), and prior research suggests that ISAs are as essential as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in ensuring that a country’s financial system is sound and stable (Boolaky & Omoteso, 2016; Boolaky & Soobaroyen, 2017; Fraser, 2010). However, no comprehensive review of ISA research currently exists. This paper develops such a review to analyze the knowledge from ISA research, revealing, for example, that the results for many drivers of adoption of ISAs are consistent across studies. This synthesis also suggests that ISAs are positively affecting financial reporting quality, and audit efficiency is more observable when the audit is conducted using ISAs. ISAs promote auditor behavior that contributes to effective audits (e.g., Burns & Fogarty, 2010). For instance, ISAs have wider implications for increasing auditor skepticism. When examining IFRS compliance, prior studies indicated that there is an association between IFRS compliance and the use of ISAs. In addition, previous studies revealed that even when ISAs are adopted, several countries’ audit reports are not perfectly conforming to the content and structure of reports standardized by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) (e.g., Fakhfakh & Fakhfakh, 2010). This can be due to the inconsistent implementation of ISAs. This literature synthesis has three primary objectives. The first is to provide a comprehensive overview of current academic knowledge about ISAs. The second is to identify key topics and issues that appeared in the previous literature. Finally, the third objective is to suggest fruitful future research opportunities. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents relevant background information on the topic. Section 3 presents the definition of ISAs and explains the method used to conceptualize this synthesis.