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Further reading suggestions for Applying Professional Judgment in Audit

Enhance your understanding with suggested reading from business and management journals to complement the Applying Professional Judgment in Audit elearning programme.

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Cognitive biases in general

The ICAEW Library & Information Service provides online access to a selection of premium journals. These journals are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use.

Cognitive biases: How to outsmart your own brain
  • Website
  • Sep 2025
  • Phoebe Armstrong
  • Institute of Public Accountants
An article explaining how cognitive biases can distort accountants’ professional judgment and arguing that structured safeguards, such as checklists and peer review, are essential to improving decision-making quality.
Bias Busters Collection
  • Website
  • Nov 2023
  • McKinsey & Company
  • McKinsey & Company

Series of articles on common cognitive and organisational biases. Each article sets out a dilemma, then outlines the research on the type of bias being encountered and puts forward a remedy.

Exclusive Data visualization and cognitive biases in audits
  • Article
  • Aug 2019
  • Chengyee Janie Chang, Yan Luo
  • Emerald Publishing
This study examines how cognitive biases can be triggered or aggravated by data visualisation and proposes practical solutions to address adverse effects on auditors’ judgment and decision-making.
Eliminating biases that jeopardize audit quality
  • Website
  • Aug 2019
  • Billy E. Brewster, Janet B. Butler, Ann L. Watkins
  • Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
An article arguing that cognitive biases can undermine auditors’ professional skepticism and audit quality, and exploring how techniques such as mental modelling can help auditors to combat such biases and improve their judgement.
Identifying common judgement traps and biases
  • Website
  • Aug 2019
  • Daniel Butcher
  • Institute of Management Accountants
An accessible overview of the habits and ethical blind spots that can affect decision-making in management accounting.

Groupthink

Group-think aka the group-thinking trap: what it means and how to avoid it
  • Website
  • Jan 2022
  • Colin Fisher
  • University College London
An opinion article explaining how groupthink can lead intelligent groups to poor decisions and arguing that structured debate and neutral leadership are key to avoiding it.
How groupthink can damage your organization
  • Website
  • Oct 2016
  • Courtney L. Vien
  • Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
An article arguing that groupthink undermines decision-making and innovation, and that actively fostering inclusion and dissent leads to stronger organisational outcomes.

Motivated reasoning

Motivated reasoning: the basics
  • Website
  • Jan 2026
  • Psychology Today
  • Sussex Publishers, LLC
An overview of what motivated reasoning is, how it works, and how it may be identified and overcome.
Four Ways to Avoid the Pitfalls of Motivated Moral Reasoning
  • Website
  • May 2024
  • Brett Beasley
  • Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership

The article defines motivated reasoning, offering example from the business world, and offers strategies to mitigate its effects.

Psychological safety

How Leaders Fake Psychological Safety
  • Website
  • Dec 2023
  • Ron Carucci
  • Harvard Business Review

Article describing misguided methods that leaders use to fake psychological safety within their teams. It provides strategies for fostering work environments that encourage dissent.

What is psychological safety?
  • Website
  • Jul 2023
  • McKinsey & Company
  • McKinsey & Company

Detailed explainer with step-by-step breakdowns and links to further case studies and research.

Into all problem-solving, a little dissent must fall
  • Website
  • Feb 2023
  • McKinsey & Company
  • McKinsey & Company

This article discusses the role of psychological safety and contributory dissent in fostering innovation and effective problem-solving in the workplace. It highlights the role of leadership in promoting these practices.

What Psychological Safety Looks Like in a Hybrid Workplace
  • Website
  • Apr 2021
  • Amy C Edmondson, Mark Mortensen
  • Harvard Business Review

The article explores how hybrid working affects psychological safety in teams and offers five strategies for managers to foster openness about work-life challenges.

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