The Effects of Review Forms and Task Complexity on Auditors’ Performance
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Yan, Jia-Ciou
Abstract
Due to technological advancements such as online workpapers, audit firms have alternative review forms that they didn’t have in the past. An advantage of electronic review is that it permits supervisors to review several jobs concurrently at their own offices, reducing the time and cost spent traveling to clients. Prior research (Brazel, Agoglia and Hatfield 2004）documents that compared to an electronic review, preparers anticipating a face-to-face review produce higher quality workpapers. This thesis examines the effects on prepares of using two different review forms under different task complexity. A 2（review forms：face-to-face vs. e-mail）× 2（task complexity：high vs. low） between-subject experiment is conducted with 60 experienced auditors from a Big 4 firms as subjects. Subjects were asked to prepare a current year workpapers regarding the reasonableness of the going concern assumption of the hypothetical client. The results show (1) preparers anticipating a face-to-face review produce higher quality workpapers. But the time to prepare workpapers didn’t differ from those in the face-to-face review and e-mail review conditions. (2) The quality of workpapers decreases and the time to prepare workpapers increases as task complexity increases. (3) When task complexity is low, compared to an electronic review, preparers anticipating a face-to-face review produce higher quality workpapers. But the time to prepare workpapers didn’t differ from those in the face-to-face review and e-mail review conditions. (4) When task complexity is high, the quality of workpapers and the time to prepare workpapers didn’t differ from those in the face-to-face review and e-mail review conditions.
Subjects
review process
task complexity
going concern assessment
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