Staff Auditors’ Proclivity for Computer Mediated Communication with Clients and its Effect on Skeptical Behavior

• In Event: Auditor - Client Communication

Abstract

This study considers whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) impacts auditors’ interactions with the client, compared to face-to-face (FTF) communication. We also examine how nonverbal cues commonly associated with deception may affect auditors’ skeptical behavior. We first conduct a brief survey with audit professionals (staff, managers, and partners) finding generational differences between the perceptions of the staff relative to those of managers and partners regarding when CMC is appropriate. Experimental results, based on Social Presence Theory (SPT) demonstrate that FTF interactions include more content and follow-up questions (a key aspect of skepticism) than CMC. Additionally, auditors engage in less relationship-building statements when communicating electronically. Also consistent with SPT, auditors communicating electronically request more documentation, though they ask fewer questions in general. Finally, using a measure of auditor skepticism, we find that auditors communicating FTF were more skeptical if the controller displayed nonverbal cues indicative of deception as well as more skeptical than auditors communicating electronically. Our findings suggest that communication mediums with reduced channels (e.g., no audio or visual channels), such as CMC, are less appropriate for complex and unique problem solving tasks. When paired with the concern that younger staff auditors are more likely to engage in CMC, skeptical behavior could be stunted in the modern audit environment.

Authors

• G. Bradley Bennett, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

• Richard Hatfield, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa