Thibodeau (2003) shows how knowledge can be transferred across tasks. Financial services
auditors with extensive experience evaluating the collectability of loans were asked to perform
going concern assessments for troubled clients. The results of the study suggest that the auditors are
able to transfer their knowledge from one task (evaluation of loan collectability) to another (going
concern assessment). We propose that as auditors learn conceptual underpinnings by performing
unaided tasks, they can use this conceptual knowledge to better perform other similar tasks within
the firm. Conversely, if learning is inhibited by the use of decision aids, auditors will have fewer
opportunities to improve their performance across a variety of tasks. Thus, we extend the theory
tested by Glover et al. (1997) and Rose (2005) by proposing that auditors from firms with a lower
degree of formalization will outperform auditors from firms with a higher degree of formalization in
tasks that are relatively complex.