The Impact of Client and Auditor Gender on Auditors' Judgments: A Replication and Extension

• In Event: Effects of Position, Promotion, and Gender

Abstract

This study is a replication and extension of a previously published experiment specifically examining whether or not the gender of a client in relation to the gender of the auditor will influence the auditor’s judgment. Within our instrument, a client provides unverified rationale as to why the value of the auditor’s initially proposed adjusting journal entry (AJE) is incorrect and should be adjusted. The replicated instrument contains one randomly manipulated variable, the client’s gender, and one measured variable, the auditor’s gender. The dependent variable provides information regarding the influence of the client’s rationale on the auditor’s final AJE. In our extension of the instrument is the introduction of an additional manipulated variable potential impairment of independence. We test whether impairment of independence impacts the auditor’s judgement and thus the amount of their proposed AJE.

Authors

• Raleigh Little, East Carolina University

• John T. Reisch, East Carolina University