Professional Skepticism

Professional skepticism is the state of mind which is ready for the situation that grabs out the errors or questions the financial events and other events while conducting an assurance engagement. It’s basically a skill just like the professional judgment which makes the auditor alert for any particular situation. They are alert for any sort of reactions which may occur in the financial events of the company. They are relevant questions to make sure the reports or the information is true.

Professional skepticism is actually an attitude of the questioning mind. In this attitude they ask the questions which will be helpful for knowing the future consequences. They measure every side effect of the information which they obtain by their questioning attitude or mind. They also ask the questions which will help them to make critical assessment of the financial events with a strong set of evidences.

The ISA 200 has given the broad scope of professional skepticism other than just the questioning attitude. They define the professional skepticism as the critical assessment of the audit evidences. Like the professional judgment, professional skepticism is required when conducting the assurance engagement.

An auditor should have the skeptic mind which will make him alert for the situations to avoid material misstatement. He should be cautious of the chances of errors. To make the financial statements transparent, there should be some auditors with professional skepticism skills, in this way they will guard the statement from all type of misstatements. The professional skepticism is also the skill which is obtained by continuous training and experience.