Abstract

This systematic literature review examines how professional scepticism can be enhanced to improve fraud detection and audit quality. Using a structured search and screening process in Scopus, the review synthesises 40 peer-reviewed studies and organises the evidence into six themes: client and management psychology; interventions, decision aids, education, and measurement; fraud risk assessment and evidence evaluation; partner leadership, communication, team dynamics, and incentives; determinants and outcomes of professional scepticism; and auditor independence and non-audit services. The findings show that professional scepticism is a dynamic and context-dependent construct rather than a purely individual auditor trait. Its effectiveness is shaped by auditor experience, cognitive and personality characteristics, willingness to doubt, leadership, team interaction, accountability, incentives, culture, governance, and independence. Structured interventions and decision aids can strengthen sceptical judgement, but their effects do not always translate into audit action and may depend on auditor characteristics and organisational support. The literature is dominated by experimental and survey-based designs, which limits evidence about long-term effects and real-world audit behaviour. By integrating fragmented findings across individual, engagement, organisational, and contextual levels, the review provides a more coherent account of how professional scepticism develops and operates and identifies priorities for longitudinal, field-based, and theoretically grounded research.

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