The data analysis reported in the following section was performed on a final sample of 81
auditors (45 from the formalized firm and 36 from the less formalized firm) with experience ranging
from 23 to 99 months.7 The average experience level of the auditors was 43 months (40.5 months
for auditors from the formalized firm and 47 months for auditors from the less formalized firm). For
the low-complexity tasks, participants were asked to list three financial statement errors that might
result from weaknesses in the client’s internal controls over accounts payable (Task 1) and accounts
receivable (Task 2) and two substantive tests that might be useful in detecting each error. For the
high-complexity tasks, participants were asked to identify financial statement errors that might
account for unexpected changes in five ratios.