A new study co-authored by Sebastian Oelrich from Center for Accounting has just been published in Accounting in Europe, one of the two journals published by the European Accounting Association. In their study, Kati Pajunen, Jani Saastamoinen, Antti Rautiainen, and Sebastian shed light on how anxiety related to detection risk affects auditors’ job satisfaction and retention.

The article is based on a survey of Finnish auditors and identifies two distinct types of anxiety: Productive Anxiety, which helps auditors manage detection risk, and Unproductive Anxiety, which may undermine their intention to stay in the profession. WIth their work, the group highlights the complex emotional landscape of auditing and its implications for workforce sustainability in the field.

Read the the open access article at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449480.2025.2573916