Audit Timing Decisions: A Normative Model, A Practical Heuristic, and Some Empirical Evidence.
研究了审计测试时间安排的规范模型和实用启发式方法，并用53家客户的审计工作底稿数据验证了该启发式方法的预测效果优于随机猜测。
Abstract This paper examines audit timing decisions from both a normative standpoint and a descriptive standpoint. After describing a decision-theory model for determining when to perform audit tests, the paper derives a practical heuristic whose results should be consistent with that model whenever certain specified conditions hold. According to this heuristic, interim testing is appropriate if and only if: (1) the client's fiscal year-end occurs during a busy season or close to a client deadline; and (2) client internal controls are comprehensive, reliable, and effective; and (3) reliable follow-up procedures are available. The paper concludes with an empirical study based on data drawn from the audit workpapers for 53 clients of seven international CPA firms. In this study, actual auditor timing decisions in the areas of sales and accounts receivable were compared with predictions based on an operationalized version of the normative heuristic. The heuristic performed significantly better than chance.