Participants’ ability is measured using a scale consisting of nine questions developed by
Bonner and Lewis (1990). The scale is a subset of questions identified as testing problem-solving
ability on the 1987 Graduate Record Exam (GRE). This set of questions from the GRE has been
widely used in previous accounting studies to measure individuals’ general problem-solving ability
(e.g., Tan and Kao 1999; Bonner and Walker 1994; Bonner and Lewis 1990; Bonner et al. 1992).10
According to Bonner and Lewis (1990, 4), an individual’s problem-solving ability is likely to be
partially innate and partially learned from his or her experiences with problem solving