Affiliations:
Faculty of Accounting and Business, Thuyloi University, Kim Lien, Hanoi, Vietnam
This study examines the effect of a training program on the professional skepticism of auditing students and investigates the moderating role of trait skepticism. A mixed-methods approach was used. In-depth interviews were conducted in two phases to refine the measurement scales and to help interpret the quantitative findings. In addition, a survey was administered to 239 auditing students at a university in Vietnam. The results show that the training program has a positive and significant effect on students’ professional skepticism. The findings also reveal a moderating effect of trait skepticism. For students who already have high levels of critical thinking and inquisitiveness, the training program is still beneficial, but the additional improvement is relatively smaller. In contrast, students with lower initial levels of trait skepticism gain greater marginal benefits from the program. This study was conducted at a single university, which may limit the generalizability of the results. Moreover, the cross-sectional design does not capture changes in skepticism over time. Future research should include multiple universities and use longitudinal designs to examine how skepticism develops during both study and professional practice. Further studies could also explore the role of organizational and cultural factors in shaping skepticism in auditing practice. These findings provide useful implications for the design and improvement of auditing training programs by highlighting the importance of adapting training strategies to the different characteristics of students, thereby supporting the development of high-quality future auditing professionals.
Professional skepticism, Training program, Trait skepticism, Audit, Student
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.03.013
Hoang, T. M. L., Tran, T. H., Tran, M. N., & Le, T. H. (2026). Impact of a training program on the professional skepticism of auditing students: The moderating role of trait skepticism. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(3), 130–142. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.03.013