Discussion of Control Risk Assessments: Do They Relate to Errors?

The article informs that the objective of the study by Kreutzfeldt and Wallace 1990 was to determine whether variations in the effectiveness of the control risk factors set forth in the AICPA exposure draft are indeed related to the occurrence of errors. Further research studies by Kreutzfeldt and Wallace 1986, Wallace and Kreutzfeldt 1987, and Johnson 1986, however, provide evidence that there is a relation between control factors and error. More specifically, the database on which this study is based, the shape of the relationships, the data analysis, the results, and the conclusions are discussed. The database contains information on three populations which may have different characteristics in terms of error occurrence, control structure factors, and relationship between error occurrence and control structure factors.