The Effect of Information Presentation Structures on Audit Planning and Review Judgments
Contemporary Accounting Research, 1985, Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp. 193-218
Posted: 6 Dec 2014
Date Written: 1985
Abstract
This study examines the effect of data structuring techniques on audit judgments by comparing responses based on information cues arranged according to a hierarchically structured template with the response to identical cues arranged in a simple list. Forty auditors, at five different levels of expertise, reviewed the audit strategy of a hypothetical senior and provided evaluations of the original plan, a revised set of plans, and reports of their difficulty in making the required judgments. The experimental task involved 16 cases, in which types of transaction processing systems (i.e., manual and computerized), and internal control cues, were manipulated in addition to the format of presenting information. Structure of information presentation appears to play a significant role in the evaluations and plans of the auditors, but is considered to contribute substantially to the difficulty of making judgments. In most cases, structure appears to contribute to uniformity of responses; but, in some instances it actually seems to exaggerate differences in auditors' judgments.
Keywords: data structures, auditing, business planning, accounting standards, internal auditing, computerized accounting systems
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