An Investigation of the Influence of a Nonstatistical Decision Aid on Auditor Sample Size Decisions.
通过实验研究美国注册会计师协会审计抽样指南中的决策辅助工具对审计师样本量大小和一致性的影响，发现该工具导致样本量增大且判断更不一致。
Abstract A between-subjects experiment was used to examine the effects of a decision aid in the AICPA's Audit Sampling Audit Guide on the magnitude and variability of auditor sample size judgments. Audit seniors were given background case information for a hypothetical audit task and were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: (1) an intuitive judgment group, (2) a decision aid group who calculated sample sizes using the AICPA Guide formula, or (3) a group who provided only the formula parameters from which the researchers later computed implied sample sizes. It was hypothesized that the sample sizes of group 2 would be larger than those of group 1 (due to insensitivity to power considerations), and that the implied sample sizes for group 3 would exceed those of group 2 (due to a tendency for auditors to ‘work backwards’ toward an intuitive sample size). Both of these hypotheses were supported by the data. However, a test for differences in variability indicated that the decision aid led to a greater degree of inconsistency in sample size judgments. Results were consistent over two levels of internal control.