This study measures professionals’ performance in two low-complexity tasks and two highcomplexity
tasks to examine the effects of experience in environments characterized by different
levels of formalization in audit-related decision processes. Task complexity is defined in terms of objective task characteristics that are determined independently of the decision maker to avoid
construct problems that develop when tasks are defined in relation to personal characteristics
(Bonner 1994; Campbell 1988; Wood 1986). We adopt two aspects of Wood’s (1986) description
of task complexity, which have been used in prior research (see Tan and Kao 1999): (1) component
complexity, which relates to the number of cues to be processed and the steps to be used in
performing the task; and (2) coordination complexity, which relates to the amount of coordination
required to perform the task and increases as backward and forward reasoning are required.