Using Unconscious Thought to Improve Evaluations of Complex Accounting Estimates

Abstract

Complex accounting estimates are becoming increasingly important to financial statements. Yet, such estimates create ample opportunities for bias. Although both management and independent auditors are tasked with ensuring these estimates are free from error and bias, evaluating the appropriateness of these measures can be quite difficult. Drawing on unconscious thought theory, we predict and find across three experiments that engaging in unconscious thought can improve accounting practitioners’ evaluations of accounting estimates. In Experiment 1, we use practicing auditors as participants and find that unconscious thought improves less-experienced auditors’ ability to recognize income-decreasing patterns of bias. In contrast, more-experienced auditors respond similarly to both incoming-increasing and income-decreasing bias, regardless of whether they use conscious or unconscious processing. In Experiments 2 and 3, we provide evidence that prompting managers to engage in unconscious thought also improves their recognition of patterns of bias within estimates. Overall, our findings demonstrate how unconscious processing can be intentionally prompted to improve accounting professionals’ ability to recognize subtle patterns of bias that they might otherwise overlook.