MEASURING COGNITIVE EFFORT DURING ANALYTICAL REVIEW - A PROCESS-TRACING FRAMEWORK WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for measuring t he cognitive effort auditors use to make decisions, then use that meth odology to examine the relationship between effort and auditor experie nce. In a laboratory experiment, 22 senior auditors performed prelimin ary analytical review using computerized case materials. Time spent ex amining changes in account balances provided relative measures of cogn itive effort. Analyses suggest that auditors with more task-specific e xperience used less cognitive effort while performing analytical proce dures, but general audit experience had no effect on cognitive effort. The study demonstrates that auditor effort can be measured in a labor atory setting without sacrificing procedural realism. This methodology could be extended to provide new insight about how variables of the a udit environment affect effort and, thus, influence auditor judgment. Findings also suggest that studies examining cognitive effort must con trol for the effect of task-specific experience, and should use contin uous rather than nominal measures.