Abstract
M.Com. (International Accounting)
Recent audit and corporate failures have brought the South African accountancy profession under scrutiny. Calls have been made for accountants and auditors to be more vigilant in discharging their responsibilities. There has been reportage on auditors’ lack of application of professional scepticism. Calls have also been made for general accountants to start or to improve upon their application of professional scepticism. Therefore, accountants and auditors must improve on their application of professional scepticism.
The development of professional scepticism must start at university level. The purpose of this limited-scope dissertation was to investigate the development needs for professional scepticism among CAs. The limited-scope dissertation focused on the role of the university in the development of professional scepticism. This limited-scope dissertation followed an interpretive research framework and a thematic data analysis.
The limited-scope dissertation revealed that professional scepticism is not a preserve of the accountancy profession, but serves for the advancement of every profession. Therefore, the limited-scope dissertation concluded that professional scepticism is important for both auditors and the greater accountancy profession. The limited-scope dissertation identified several skills that must be developed to enhance the application of professional scepticism and concluded that most first-year trainees entering the world of work do not possess these skills. The limited-scope dissertation concluded that even though the university must play a role in the development of professional scepticism, it can only be fully developed by students once they have had the opportunity to apply it in practice. The limited-scope dissertation identified several interventions that could be used by universities to better teach professional scepticism. The limited-scope dissertation also identified several factors that hinder universities in the development of professional scepticism and, in this regard, also identified several interventions that may be implemented by universities to address these factors.