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May 2, 2026Auditing A Journal of Practice & Theory

Re-Examining the Outcome Effect: Do Performance Evaluations Discourage Auditors’ Professional Skepticism?

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Authors

MMMary E. MarshallPortland State UniversityCMCurtis MullisGeorgia State UniversityKSKurt SaundersUniversity of South Dakota

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Implication

Experiments demonstrate how performance evaluations impact auditors' professional skepticism and audit quality.

Key Points

  • This research investigates if performance evaluations deter auditors' professional skepticism and affects audit outcomes.
  • Conducted two experiments to examine performance evaluations on auditors' skepticism.
  • Experiment 1 analyzed differences based on misstatement identification and reactions.
  • Experiment 2 assessed the role of timely evaluations on subsequent auditing tasks.
  • Found no evidence that auditors face negative consequences for not identifying misstatements in Experiment 1.
  • Timely performance evaluations help auditors sustain professional skepticism in later tasks, as shown in Experiment 2.
  • Confirmed the evaluation gap exists, but its impact on audit quality is less severe than previously thought.

Cite This Study

Marshall et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69f594e171405d493afffc27https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-2023-125
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1The Effects of Incomplete Outcome Feedback on Auditors' Self-Perceptions of Judgment Ability.1984
  2. 2The Outcome Effect in Performance Evaluation: Decision Process Observability and Consensus.1993
  3. 3Auditors' Belief Revisions and Evidence Search: The Effect of Hypothesis Frame, Confirmation Bias, and Professional Skepticism.1993
  4. 4The Effect of Psychological Biases on External Auditor’s Professional Skepticism2024 · 1 citations
  5. 5An Examination of the Effects of Accountability Tactics on Performance Evaluation Judgments in Public Accounting.1993