This study experimentally investigates the effectiveness of computer-mediated brainstorming in the context of the SAS No. 99 mandated fraud brainstorming requirement. Results indicate that brainstorming effectiveness is significantly higher for teams brainstorming electronically relative to teams using traditional face-to-face brainstorming. There is no significant difference in brainstorming effectiveness between electronic interactive brainstorming and electronic nominal brainstorming. Brainstorming effectiveness is significantly higher for teams receiving content facilitation relative to teams not receiving content facilitation. The post-brainstorming fraud risk assessments are significantly higher than the pre-brainstorming assessments in all treatment conditions, indicating that the SAS No. 99 mandated brainstorming session has the intended effect. This research informs audit practice by demonstrating that computer-mediated fraud brainstorming can be more effective than face-to-face brainstorming and also by establishing the effectiveness of content facilitation for improving the quality of the fraud risk factors generated by auditors.

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This article reports the results of a research effort that measured the response enhancing effectiveness of two sizes of small monetary incentives and prenotification letters. The measurements were obtained during the audit of the installment and commercial loan balances of a medium-sized bank located in Central Florida. The data were analyzed with logistic regression. The analyses revealed that prenotification letters tended to encourage timely responses but they did not increase overall response levels. This was true for both types of loan balances. Small monetary incentives were found to be effective with installment loans in certain situations but ineffective with commercial loans.

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The AICPA has indicated that the use of small monetary incentives might be an effective technique for improving confirmation response rates. A significant body of accounting and nonaccounting research supports the AICPA's position; however, studies in marketing and public opinion polling suggest that the quality of survey-based responses can either increase or decrease with the use of monetary incentives. Existing auditing research has not looked at the potential effect of monetary incentives on response quality in the context of confirming account receivable balances. This study was designed to investigate this important issue. In this field experiment, four large, independent newspaper organizations mailed a total of 7,200 trade accounts receivable confirmations. The experiment employed a three (no misstatement, understatement, and overstatement) by three (no incentive, quarter, and dollar) between-subjects, full-factorial design. Consistent with prior research, the use of monetary incentives improved response rates in all misstatement conditions and response quality was higher for overstated, when compared to understated, accounts. However, monetary incentives did not close the quality gap between overstated and understated accounts and, surprisingly, the use of incentives was associated with an overall decrease in response quality.