Using “the wave” to facilitate participants’ understanding of the implicit pressures associated with the auditing profession

Abstract

This case presents a collaborative and experiential learning technique that can be used to engage new auditing students in a classroom, or junior auditors in a training session, to facilitate their understanding of the social complexities and pressures associated with auditing. The case utilizes “the wave” (the collaborative activity performed at most stadium-based events) to represent the flow of information through an accounting system, and demonstrate how auditors are often put in a position in which they must decide how to handle the implicit pressures resultant from identifying a problem in an accounting system. The case creates real-world social and psychological pressures, and requires a participant to navigate the social awkwardness of identifying poorly performing participants and to choose between the well-being of a handful of participants compared with the well-being of the entire class. The case, which requires only three participant volunteers, no student pre-work, and about 25 minutes of class time, can stimulate dialogue about audit-related pressures, the audit risk model, fraud risk, professional responsibilities (and results of auditors not fulfilling their professional responsibilities), as well as the importance of internal controls.