If we are to create auditors who can challenge clients and arrive on the job with scepticism then more on-the-job training is needed and those softer skills need a boost too.

That is the conclusion of Professor Karthik Ramanna (pictured) in his report on a new FRC study.

He felt that audit education had been ‘underdeveloped’ in the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable He also suggested that Millennial and Gen Z workers need more training in how to feel comfortable in challenging a client. He explained: “Younger workers may be unfairly classified as wallflowers, but there is little doubt that they have enjoyed more ‘safe spaces’ throughout their schooling years than prior generations, potentially making them less comfortable with even constructive confrontations.”

Read more of what Professor Ramanna thinks in next month’s issue of PQ magazine, out on 13 January 2023.