DISCUSSION OF Expertise in Auditing.

Abstract This article focuses on expertise in auditing. The author argues that the practitioner's interest in expertise research is centered in the desire to have a better understanding of knowledge growth and knowledge transfer. It would be helpful if the research findings would give more clues to help design training programs, develop decision aids, or establish firm policies. these are important mechanisms used to share needed information within any firm. Being able to leverage the expertise of certain individuals should raise the expertise of certain individuals should raise the overall quality of work and shorten the learning curve for less-experienced auditors. The author argues that in the future, one must be more conscious of properly linking the task research and the auditor's experience level. One must identify relevant cues so that the case studies are sufficiently rich to trigger appropriate responses. It is probably less important from a practice perspective to obtain "statistical significance," with respect to measurements of performance. it may be more important to get a better understanding of expertise. True expertise may not exist in sufficient quantity to be readily studied using large groups of participants, as difficult as that viewpoint may be to reconcile with the current publication policies of some journals.