“To the extent that the self-fulfilling prophecy limits auditor ability to objectivity assess evidence, the quality of professional work may be compromised. Similar to the self-fulfilling prophecy, cognitive dissonance limits the integrity of evidence evaluation. Decision making proceeds best when multiple data points align in their importance and consequence. When data is internally inconsistent, cognitive functioning can be thought of as in disequilibrium. Auditing does not have strong and multiple cause-effect chains, but rather depends upon the totality of the evidence. When this data refuses to be properly aligned, a loss of confidence about decisions might result.”
“Although these topics have been part of a larger inquiry into audit judgment over the last quarter century, they have not been specifically considered together. The present research studies the self-fulfilling prophecy and cognitive dissonance as part of an accounts payable confirmation task. Using a broad sample of auditors from many firms, this paper reports on the extent auditors can neutrally evaluate evidence. The balance of the paper is organized into four sections. The first provides a brief literature review that grounds the statement of the hypotheses. The means by which the hypotheses were tested is described in a second section that provides ample detail about measures and design. The results of these tests and a discussion of them are contained in the third and fourth section.”
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| Timothy J. Fogarty, Ph.D. |
