（2004）Continuous Assurance Services for Financial Analysts.docVIP

Continuous Assurance Services for Financial Analysts Ronald J. Daigle 3101 CEBA Building Department of Accounting College of Business Administration Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803 225-578-6275 225-578-6201 (fax) rjdaigle@ James C. Lampe Area of Accounting College of Business Administration Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-2101 806-742-3168 806-742-3182 (fax) jlampe@ Continuous Assurance Services for Financial Analysts ABSTRACT: Laboratory experiments are used to study the impact of similar vs. dissimilar choice decisions on COA demand over a multi-period timeframe when assurance is not required. This decision-making context is chosen because the AICPA and CICA have jointly focused their attention on developing COA services for meeting the needs of traditional financial statement users whose decisions typically involve choosing between multiple organizations as to which is the better investment. Besides manipulating decision-making complexity through the similarity/dissimilarity of choices, the number of possible assurance purchasing periods is also manipulated to ensure that experiments are sensitive to capturing steady patterns of assurance purchasing behavior. Results indicate that assurance reports are purchased more often when making similar choice decisions with an increase in the number of periods. However, the consistency of assurance purchasing over time is erratic and inconsistent in all situations – similar and dissimilar choices, and fewer and greater numbers of periods. Results indicate that if the profession develops COA services for traditional external choice decision-makers, COA demand is likely to be both low and erratic. Continuous Assurance Services for Financial Analysts I. INTRODUCTION Increasing numbers of organizations are providing increasing amounts of financial and non-financial information for users via electronic distribution on a more rapid and timely basis. Some organizations’ continuous and/or real-ti