Participants in all conditions are asked to make a decision
on the appropriate treatment of costs for the current
year. As stated previously, the auditor decision is measured
on a 10-point scale, with 1 being ‘‘definitely would require
expensing of costs’’ and 10 being ‘‘definitely would require
capitalization of costs.’’ After making their decision and
moving onto the next screen, participants in all conditions
are then asked to explain the process they went through in
determining the appropriate treatment. As discussed
above, only participants in the PA-Higher conditions were
told in advance that they would be asked to explain their
judgment process. While explaining the process that they
went through, the participants are