THE EFFECT OF AUDITOR PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS ON AUDITING QUALITY IN COMPANIES LISTED ON THE IRAQ STOCK EXCHANGE

Abstract

Auditors’ personality affects audit quality, as an auditor performance function. Auditing may attract many personalities and require different personalities. This leads to the existence of different categories of personality features resulting in varying audit quality. This study examines the impact of auditor personality traits (agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and flexibility) on audit quality (auditor judgment and professional skepticism). The research statistical is all certified auditors in Iraq. For data analysis, the collected data were first entered into Excel and then analyzed using statistical software. In this study, ten hypotheses were formulated. The results indicate that extraversion, agreeableness, flexibility, neuroticism, and conscientiousness are positively related to audit quality (auditor professional skepticism). Additionally, extraversion and conscientiousness are in a positive relation with audit quality (auditor professional judgment), while flexibility and agreeableness negatively with audit quality (auditor professional judgment). Out of the ten hypotheses designed, nine were accepted, and only one hypothesis (the eighth) was rejected, indicating that neuroticism does not positively impact auditor professional judgment. © (2024), (Social Sciences Research Society). All Rights Reserved.