Abstract Auditor subjects from Big Eight accounting firms were used in an interview and questionnaire process designed to study the going-concern opinion decision. Results from the interviews show a lack of consensus as to what the auditor's role is meant to be in the presence of going-concern uncertainties. Such lack of consensus may contribute to the Auditing Standards Board's lack of success in removing the subject-to opinion option. The questionnaire results produced a set of variables perceived by the subjects as useful in identifying a company with a potential going-concern problem, and a set of variables useful in determining which of the problem companies would receive a going-concern opinion. Such variables are useful for future research directed towards modeling the auditor's going-concern opinion decision.
Jane F. Mutchler (Thu,) studied this question.