estimates
arises in part from structural features of the audit context. That is,
auditors typically choose to audit management’s model rather than using
another method to audit the estimate. Using step-by-step audit programs,
they approach their task as though it were a series of verification tasks—
finding evidence to support each element of an estimate separately and
then moving on to the next element (Griffith, Hammersley, and Kadous
[2014]). We propose that these features cause auditors to approach the
audit of estimates in a mindset that encourages efficient completion of a
verification task rather than one that encourages critical thinking and consideration
of a broad set of evidence.We examine whether prompting auditors
to adopt a deliberative mindset can improve auditor judgments in this
area.