حسابرسی داوطلبانه: ترکیبی از ادبیات Voluntary Auditing: A Synthesis of the Literature

1. Introduction Voluntary auditing has received increased attention from researchers in recent decades. Empirical studies examining the demand for voluntary audits suggest that regulatory intervention might not be necessary, though some argue that regulators protect society from market failure by demanding statutory audits (Barton & Waymire, 2004). To date, there has been no review of the studies on the attributes of voluntary audits. This research area would benefit greatly from a framework to categorize the attributes that affect demand for voluntary audits and identify areas that need further examination. This review develops such a framework and analyses what we know from extant research within this framework, suggesting that the many drivers of voluntary audit have consistent results across studies. In addition, this study also points out some areas where previous findings were not expected or were inconsistent. This literature synthesis has three main objectives. The first objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current academic knowledge about voluntary audits. The second objective is to identify key attributes and issues that appear to affect demand for voluntary audits. Finally, the third aim is to suggest fruitful future research opportunities. This literature analysis has significant implications for audit research and practice. For instance, this synthesis details the benefits of the verification of financial statements for firms that are not required by law to be audited. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the relevant background information on the topic. Section 3 defines voluntary audit and explains the method used to conceptualize this synthesis. Section 4 presents the examination of theoretical and empirical literature and provides a comprehensive list of attributes of the demand for voluntary audits examined in prior studies. In Section 5, the conclusions are summarized, and in Section 6, future research topics are discussed.