Improvisation in independent audit in a crisis environment: A research on covid-19

Globalization, technological developments, and the increase in international interactions can cause events such as epidemics and financial crises to have adverse effects worldwide. In the Covid-19 pandemic, which is the latest sample of this situation, unpredictable changes have occurred in business and social life worldwide. In many sectors and professions, ways of working have been subjected to change. Like many other sectors, the audit sector and audit works have also been affected by this crisis. Along with limitations such as lockdown, factors such as the fact that most corporate companies prefer to working remotly applications made it difficult for auditors to work together and conduct on-site inspections. Consequently, auditors have had to change the way they work, evidence gathering techniques, and many other audit activities. Auditors had to carry out and shape their audit work in a crisis environment, under uncertainties and unpredictable rapid changes. This study aims to identify the difficulties auditors face while carrying out their work in a crisis environment and the improvised behaviors they display against them. The study was carried out with an in-depth interview technique. The data obtained through the interviews with the audit professionals using the semi-structured questions obtained by the snowball sampling method were analyzed with the Nvivo 12 package program. As a result of the study, it was concluded that there were problems in audit activities (e.g., implementation of audit procedures) and processes such as communication and monitoring. It has been observed that auditors exhibit improvisational behaviors in evidence collection techniques, communication channels, and order of implementation of audit procedures. Keywords: Auditing, Crisis Environment, Covid-19, Improvisation.