According to a recent publication, Elevating Professional Judgment in Auditing: The KPMG Professional Judgment Framework, a common question people have is, “Can you really teach good judgment?” Many believe that it is a gift; either you have it or you do not. Others would say you cannot teach good judgment; rather, it must be developed through the “school of hard knocks” after many years of experience. There is no question that talent and experience are important components of effective professional judgment, but it is possible to enhance your professional judgment skills through learning and applying some key concepts. As with other important skills, the sooner you start learning how to make good professional judgments, the better.
The KPMG monograph and related training materials (available at the KPMG University Connection) were developed with the help of two professors from Brigham Young University, Steven Glover and Douglas Prawitt. Their research focuses on the judgment and decision making of accounting and auditing professionals. They have taught graduate (MBA) courses on effective judgment and decision making for many years.
Graduate courses in professional judgment are also being offered at selected Canadian universities, For example, Professor Efrim Boritz teaches a course on Professional Judgment (ACC 690 on pages 90-91) at the University of Waterloo. The course covers a variety of topics, such as: Introduction to Professionalism and Professional Judgment; Being a Trusted Adviser; Methods of Studying Professional Judgment; Bounded Rationality; Heuristics, Framing and Biases; Knowledge, Expertise, Specialization; Ethics, Skepticism and Rules of Professional Conduct; Multi-person Tasks and Professional Judgment; Role of Decision Aids in Professional Judgment; and, Conflicts and Negotiations.
