"The Effect of the determinants of Auditor's expertise and external factors on the auditor's professional skepticism – A practical study" An extract from PhD thesis in accounting

Purpose: the main objective of this research is to identify the major factors of auditor’s expertise and external environment that may have an effect on the auditor's professional skepticism. The empirical study will investigate the effect of these factors on the level of skepticism exercised by the auditor.
Research Methodology: As this research is one of the social science researches, it will depend upon the two basic approaches in the research methodology: the inductive approach and the deductive approach. The author conducted a survey to study the effect of the auditor's experience and external factors on the professional skepticism. The researcher distributed 100 surveys and collected 69 answered surveys with a response rate of 69%
Findings: The statistical results indicated that there is a strong effect of the auditor's expertise and also the external factors and pressures on the auditor's professional skepticism. The results will help in explaining the reasons for why some auditors cannot keep and apply professional skepticism properly in many audit engagements.
Originality/Value: This research contributes to the literature by Understanding the effect of experience and the external factors on the professional skepticism. It can provide basis to establish practical solutions to the auditor to preserve an appropriate level of professional skepticism as stipulated by the standards.