Nudging to Improve Financial Auditors’ Behavior: Preliminary Results of an Experimental Study
Résumé
This study investigates the impact of adapting Audit Management
Information System (AMIS) user interface using nudges on the attentional behavior
of auditors during the identification and diagnosis of audit evidence indicative
of aggressive financial reporting. Specifically, in this preliminary phase of our
multi-step research project, we investigate the visual behaviors of nudged vs.
non-nudged auditors during evidence review. We test our predictions using eyetracking,
in a controlled experiment where participants are tasked with performing
an audit of financial reporting in a AMIS. Results prove that nudged conditions
are associated with longer average fixation duration, fixation counts and revisits of
accounts with aggressive reports. By identifying the visual attention differences
of nudged and non-nudged conditions, we highlight how contextually adapting
user interface can draw on nudges to effectively enhance audit performance.