The effect of the organizational environment on judgment consensus : the case for professional government auditors in the state of Texas

Abstract

This dissertation explored the judgment processes of professional government auditors (PGAs) in the evaluation of internal accounting control (IAC). The primary objective of this study was to determine whether the position of PGAs within the auditing organization had an effect on the level or degree of consensus in IAC judgments among those auditors. The experiment used a policy-capturing paradigm to provide the data. Statistical analyses produced measurements of (1) the level of agreement among the auditor judgments (consensus), (2) items of information (cues) that accounted for the variance in the auditors' responses (judgment models), (3) the relative weights of each item of information (Omega Square values), and (4) the insight that auditors possess into their weighting patterns. One hundred and nine auditors participated in this study (employees of the State Auditor's Office, State of Texas). The major results of the study indicated that (1) these subjects exhibited a relatively high level of overall consensus, (2) judgment consensus appears to be related to position in the firm when measured within and among the hierarchical levels and chains of command of this auditing entity, (3) position seems to have a greater effect on judgment consensus than does experience with the firm, (4) judgment models support these findings, and (5) these subjects have high insight into their decision process.