An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Advocacy on Preparers' Evaluations of Judicial Evidence.

This study reports the results of a laboratory experiment in which 107 tax professionals evaluated evidence related to an ambiguous area of the tax law Prior researchers using archival data found that preparers act as advocates in ambiguous areas of the tax law. This study examines whether tax preparers weight supportive evidence more heavily than opposing evidence when evaluating evidence and the degree to which advocacy contributes to this phenomenon. The results support the contention that the advocacy role contributes to tax preparers' use of confirmatory processes in their evaluations of judicial evidence. The results also suggest that the degree of advocacy preparers display may affect the strength of their recommendations to clients.