Qualified audit reports, field dependence cognitive sytle, and their effects on decision making

This paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to investigate the effects of an unqualified versus an “except for” qualified audit report on subjects' share price estimates and the moderating role of cognitive style in this relationship. Using ANOVA experimental design, 34 subjects were administered identical financial information on a hypothetical company except that 17 subjects received a qualified auditors' opinion and the other 17 received an unqualified auditors' opinion. In addition, the subjects in each group were classified as either field dependent or field independent on the basis of their scores in the Embedded Figures Test. Results showed that the “except for” audit qualification affected share price estimates and field dependence cognitive style interacted with qualified/unqualified audit opinion to also affect subjects' share price estimates.