The relatively complex tasks used in this study are analytical procedure tasks, involving
subjective evaluation of ratio analysis. In terms of component complexity, the number of cues to be
processed (five financial ratios) is greater than the number of cues processed in the internal control
task (one control deviation). In terms of coordination complexity, ratio analysis requires the auditor
to consider the relationships among the five ratios to make a decision about a possible financial
statement misstatement in the scenario. Backward and forward reasoning are required because there
are interdependencies among the five ratios and between each ratio and the financial statement
error. Effective performance on these tasks requires a relatively deep understanding of financial
statement relationships and the causes and effects of accounting misstatements, as well as the ability
to apply relatively sophisticated diagnostic reasoning. Although research suggests that such
knowledge and ability are acquired through experience (see Bonner and Lewis 1990; Libby and
Frederick 1990; Libby and Luft 1993), firm environments characterized by different levels of
formalization can have differential impacts on the human resources employed by those firms (Hyatt
and Prawitt 2001) and may offer dissimilar levels of learning opportunities (Prawitt 1995; Glover et
al. 1997).