International Journal of Auditing Int. J. Audit. 2: 167–182 (1998) The Impact of SAS No. 82 on Perceptions of External Auditor Responsibility for Fraud Detection F. Todd DeZoort a, * and Thomas A. Lee b a University of South Carolina, School of Accounting, The Darla Moore School of Business, Columbia, SC 29208, USA b The University of Alabama, Culverhouse School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 -0220, USA This study evaluates whether perceptions of external auditor responsibility to detect fraud in US financial statement audits are greater under Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 82 than under the superseded SAS No. 53. A series of four fraud vignettes were evaluated by external auditors, internal auditors, and fraud examiners who were either given a sum- mary of the new standard or the old standard to assess auditor fraud detection responsibilities. The vignettes manipulated fraud materiality and fraud type (i.e. fraudulent financial reporting and misappropriation of assets) within-subject. The results provide consistent evidence that perceptions of exter- nal auditor responsibility to detect fraud are higher under SAS No. 82 than under SAS No. 53. In addition, the results indicate that the external auditors’ perceptions increased more than the perceptions of the internal auditors and fraud exam- iners. Finally, the findings revealed that while all participant groups were sensitive to fraud materiality, only the external auditors were sensitive to fraud type. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: fraud detection; Statement on Auditing Standards No. 53; Statement on Auditing Standards No. 82; external audi- tors; internal auditors; fraud examiners, Auditing Standards Board; materiality SUMMARY The Auditing Standards Board’s (ASB) new Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 82, ‘Consideration of Fraud in a Financial State- ment Audit’ (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1997a) has been adopted to clarify, but not increase, external auditor respon- sibility for fraud detection in the US. As under the superseded SAS No. 53, external auditors are still expected to provide reasonable assur- ance that financial statements are free from ma- terial misstatement, whether caused by error or fraud. However, the possibility exists that the * Correspondence to: University of South Carolina, School of Accounting, The Darla Moore School of Business, Colum- bia SC 29208, USA. Tel: +1 803 777 6417; E-mail: de- zoort@darla.badm.sc.edu CCC 1090–6738/98/020167-16$17.50 © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received November 1997 Revised March 1998 Accepted April 1998