In addition to expanding our knowledge of the effects of auditor traits on the audit
process, the findings for trust and fraud experience have some potential implications for
practice. Audit firms may benefit from audit team structures that include members with
varying levels of trust and varying levels of prior fraud experience. Audit teams without
less trusting auditors may pay too little attention to aggressive reporting and fail to detect
aggressive reporting and/or evidence indicative of fraud, while audit teams without members
with prior fraud experience may lack the knowledge structures necessary to develop
fraud-based explanations for evidence. On the other hand, teams consisting entirely of less
trusting auditors may focus too heavily on aggressive evidence. Additional research will be
necessary to investigate optimal combinations of prior experience and individual trust for
improving fraud detection and promoting professional skepticism in audit teams, while
maintaining audit efficiency. Understanding the role of trust in auditing and fraud detection
appears to hold substantial promise for improving practice.