Auditor’s Workload and Audit Quality under Audit Hour Budget Pressure

By utilizing a unique audit hour data (actual and budgeted audit hour) in Korea, this study examines the impact of auditor’s workload on audit quality under audit hour budget pressure. We find the intensity of auditor’s workload has a negative impact on audit quality, especially when the total audit hours exceed the budgeted hours. In a subsample analysis where we separate the workload of partners and that of senior auditors, we find that the partner’s workload has a negative impact on audit quality in the full sample. However, the senior auditor’s workload negatively affects the audit quality only when the budget variance is unfavorable. We cautiously interpret our empirical findings that stress, and burnout caused by increased audit hours under the budget pressure can lead auditors to engage in quality threatening behavior and affect audit quality negatively.