A Quasi-Bayesian Audit Risk Model for Dollar Unit Sampling: A Reply.

Abstract The primary reason for writing the manuscript, "A Quasi-Bayesian Audit Risk Model for Dollar Unit Sampling" was to: (1) present a model which could provide auditors with a complete posterior probability distribution on the amount of error in an account instead of just a single measure of the ultimate risk like an upper bound and (2) compare the Quasi-Bayesian measure of ultimate risk with other measures of ultimate risk. The question of how well the different measures of ultimate risk are integrated into an overall audit approach is left for future research. The respondent's comments defend his firm's overall audit approach, but fail to address the audit risk formula, which his firm uses. The manuscript intended to question the validity of the audit risk formula rather than his firm's audit approach. The reason for comparing the Quasi-Bayesian audit risk model with the audit risk formula in statement on auditing standards was to demonstrate, from a Bayesian perspective, that the audit risk formula considered by itself can significantly understate the ultimate risk of failing to detect a material error.