The Influence of Auditor Experience on the Persuasiveness of Information Provided by Management

Abstract

In this paper, we test whether experience limits auditors' reliance on management-provided information when that information is more favorable than an objective benchmark. In an experiment, we find that experience as an audit senior and the favorableness of management information interact to influence auditor assessments of the reliability of internal controls. While auditors with low levels of experience at the senior rank give assessments that are more favorable, when management's assessment is favorable, high-experience senior auditors' judgments are not influenced by management's assessment. We conclude that as auditors gain experience, they also gain persuasion knowledge, which allows them to deflect management's persuasion attempts.