Effects of Audit Report Wording Changes on the Perceived Message
研究审计报告措辞变化是否显著改变读者感知的信息，并考察读者对审计报告的知识是否影响其理解，对审计准则制定者和报告使用者有参考价值。
The Commission on Auditors' Responsibilities (CAR) (AICPA [1978]) concluded that existing audit reports are misunderstood by many readers. CAR identified miscommunication of the character of the audit and the auditor's responsibility in conducting it as major problems, arising because all of the reports' intended messages are not explicitly stated. In consideration of CAR's conclusion, the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) (AICPA [1980]) issued, and subsequently withdrew seven months later (Journal of Accountancy [April 1981]: 3), an exposure draft proposing seven specific wording changes to the standard audit reports. The ASB's decision to withdraw the exposure draft was based on comment letters arguing that the proposed wording changes were not a costeffective improvement over the existing reports. Subsequently, the ASB (AICPA [1982]) implemented an educational program to explain the intended meaning of audit reports. An implication of this educational program is that readers' knowledge about audit reports influences the messages they receive. It is important to examine empirically whether either wording changes such as proposed by the ASB or audit report knowledge can cause material differences in the perceived messages of the audit reports. The issue is important in order to determine whether individuals, when