The effects of task complexity and task structure on audit review judgments

Accounting researchers investigating individual auditors' judgments have documented evidence that (1) environmental factors influence auditors' judgment accuracy and consistency, (2) auditors' individual attributes influence auditors' judgment performance, and (3) the quality of audit judgment tasks improves as a result of audit reviews of individual judgment tasks or individual preparers (Asare and McDaniel 1996; Bonner and Lewis 1990; Bonner, Libby, and Nelson 1996). However, audit programs disaggregate audit objectives into multiple judgment tasks that are delegated to multiple preparers before being evaluated by reviewers for the purpose of forming audit objective opinions.; This research extends prior accounting research by investigating the simultaneous influences of environmental factors in preparers' decision and operating environments (task complexity and audit firm prescribed task structure) and reviewers' individual attributes (domain-knowledge and innate ability) on reviewers' recombination judgments—audit review judgments in which multiple audit objective tasks delegated to multiple preparers are reviewed, evaluated, and combined.; To examine recombination judgments, an experiment is conducted in which subjects review two preparers' work for the purpose of formulating opinions regarding the reliability of internal controls. Task complexity is operationalized as environmental complexity and task structure is operationalized as internal control evaluation checklists. Domain-knowledge is measured using subjects' scores on an internal control knowledge test developed specifically for the experiment. Innate ability is measured using subjects' scores on an empirically tested instrument (Bonner and Lewis 1990).; The major conclusions of this study are that (1) environmental complexity in preparers' decision and operating environments does not influence reviewers' review judgments and has a limited influence on reviewers' recombination judgments, (2) task structure in preparers' decision and operating environments does not influence reviewers' recombination judgments and has a limited influence on reviewers' review judgments, (3) domain knowledge does not influence reviewers' review or recombination judgments, and (4) ability does not influence reviewers' recombination judgments and has a limited influence on reviewers' review judgments.