Abstract. The accounting and auditing profession makes extensive use of words to communicate levels of uncertainty in both formal and informal situations ranging from Handbook pronouncements to working papers to everyday communications. Yet the accounting literature does not present research on the level of ambiguity in interpretations of such communications or the factors that could potentially influence this ambiguity.This paper provides an extensive atid detailed examination of the ambiguity of interpretatioas in the communication of uncertainty using a vocabulary familiar to accountants and auditors. Average probability levels were computed from responses to various commonly used words. Further analyses of interpretations were undertaken by comparing different methods of responding to the communications, using a variety of ways of assessing the impact on interpretations and comparing the responses of various subject groups.The studies used various experimental designs ie order to provide the internal validity necessary to interpret research results. The extemal validity was obtained by using common words, reasonably sophisticated subjects, observations at various times and by comparing with the results of experiments in other settings. This paper demonstrates that ambiguity exists and that this ambiguity is reasonably stable for the vocabulary of the accountant. Also ambiguity can be increased by the use of difficult response modes by the interpreter but it cannot easily be reduced.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Abstract. Uncertainty or ambiguity about what specific probability to associate with a given event is a problem for auditors and is one that has been shown to influence the decisions of others. While some theories of probability assume this problem away, others have tried to address it in various ways.This paper provides a formal analysis of this question and presents a means of characterizing the ambiguity associated with the probability inference. The measure we present can capture a number of the previously specified approaches to this question while exhibiting some very intuitive conclusions and some well-knowti mathematical properties.Risume. L'incertitude ou Fambiguite relative a la probabilite specifique a attribuer a un evenement donne, est un probleme pour les verificateurs et un probleme qui a ete demontre comme influenjant les decisions des autres. Alors que certaines th6ories de probabilite ne tienaent pas compte de ce probleme, d'autres ont essaye de s'y interesser de differentes facons. Get article foumit une analyse fomielle de cette question et presente un moyen de caracteriser I'ambigui'te associee avec Finference de probabilite. La mesure que nous preseiitons repreod un certain nombre des approches deja existantes sur cette question tout en exposant quelques conclusions tres intuitives et quelques proprietes math^matiques bien conaues. IntrodiictioaTbe application of the theory of expected utility to problems in auditing and other disciplines necessitates the acceptance of the assumptions implicit or explicit within the theory. An understanding of the assumptions may not be necessary in simple decision situations because one may be able to judge intuitively the reasonableness of the conclusions, but in a number of situations one must rely on the appropriateness of the assumptions to be assured of the reasonableness of the answer. A particular assumption that has proved extremely troublesome