Auditors' Experience with Material Irregularities: Frequency, Nature, and Detectability.

This paper reports on auditors' experience with material irregularities. It is based on a survey of audit partners of one Big Eight accounting firm. The paper considers the requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 53, "The Auditor's Responsibility to Detect and Report Errors and Irregularities," and the use of an audit planning model developed by the authors for assessing the likelihood of material management fraud. The paper concludes that encountering a material irregularity should be considered a rare event, that the auditor should make separate assessments of material errors, material defalcations, and material management fraud during audit planning, and that the authors' model for assessing material management fraud holds promise as an engagement tool.