ABSTRACT
Chapters 5 through 10 of this monograph discuss the underlying research questions, methodology, and results of a series of five interrelated experiments on internal accounting control evaluation. Chapter 5 introduces the research questions addressed and presents a detailed discussion of the basic experimental task. Chapter 6 considers existing professional and theoretical guidelines about how an auditor should address the audit planning task in an environment of improving internal accounting controls. General hypotheses are derived and potentially important behavioral factors are identified. In chapter 7 the research methods and design used in the internal accounting control experiments are detailed. The discussion of experimental results is contained in four chapters. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss the effects of a number of factors—internal accounting controls, audit planning aids and approaches, and demographics—on the auditor’s recommended sample sizes. Chapter 10 contains a discussion of the effects of the various experimental treatments on the content of auditor rationale memos and Chapter 11 discusses the results of the protocol analysis. Also, a summary of a study used to investigate the auditor’s decision process is presented. The final chapter summarizes the research and presents implications for the accounting profession.
