نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان

• محمدحسین ستایش ¹
• یونس مسعودی ²
• الیاس دهداری ²
• مینا صادقی ²

¹ استاد گروه حسابداری دانشگاه شیراز،شیراز،ایران

² دانشجوی دکتری رشته حسابداری، دانشگاه شیراز، شیراز، ایران.

چکیده

ویژگی‌های حسابداری ذهنی، مانند نحوه طبقه‌بندی ذهنی منابع مالی، می‌تواند بر قضاوت حسابرسان و فرآیندهای تصمیم‌گیری تأثیر بگذارد. با درک این سوگیری‌های شناختی، حسابرسان می‍توانند خطرات بالقوه را شناسایی کرده و رویکرد خود را برای بهبود کیفیت حسابرسی خودتنظیم کنند. لذا هدف این پژوهش بررسی تأثیر حسابداری ذهنی بر کیفیت حسابرسی، روشن کردن سوگیری‌های رفتاری و چالش‌هایی است که حسابرسان با آن مواجه هستند. این پژوهش از منظر نتیجه اجرای آن، از نوع کاربردی، از منظر فرآیند اجرا، جزء پژوهش‍های کمی و از منظر هدف اجرا، توصیفی و پیمایشی است. ابزار مورداستفاده در این نوع پژوهش، پرسشنامه است. جامعه آماری این پژوهش را شرکا، مدیران و حسابداران رسمی در استخدام موسسه‌های حسابرسی عضو جامعه حسابداران رسمی رتبه الف ایران تشکیل می‍دهد که بر اساس سایت جامعه حسابداران رسمی ایران در سال 1402 برابر با 416 نفر بوده‍اند، هرچند درنهایت 203 پرسشنامه مورد آزمون قرار گرفت. نتایج پژوهش نشان می‍دهد که حسابداری ذهنی بر قضاوت حسابرس، نسبت زمان کار شرکا به کل زمان انجام کار در بودجه حسابرسی و روند هزینه‍های دفاع از عملکرد در دعاوی قضایی اثرگذار است اما بر روی استقلال حسابرس تأثیری ندارد. درنهایت با اندازه‍گیری متغیرهای سنجش کیفیت حسابرسی مطابق نتایج به‌دست‌آمده از پژوهش مشخص شد، حسابداری ذهنی بر کیفیت حسابرسی اثرگذار است. باتوجه به نتایج پژوهش می‍توان به کمک افزایش آگاهی حسابرسان در رابطه با این تئوری و اثرات آن بر فرآیند حسابرسی، به حسابرسان کمک کرد تا کار خود را با کیفیت بهتری انجام دهند.
 
 

کلیدواژه‌ها

• حسابداری ذهنی
• کیفیت حسابرسی
• قضاوت حسابرس
• استقلال حسابرس

موضوعات

• کیفیت حسابرسی
• گزارش های حسابداری

عنوان مقاله [English]

The Effect of Mental Accounting on Audit Quality

نویسندگان [English]

• Mohammad hossein Setayesh ¹
• Younes Masoudi ²
• Elias Dehdari ²
• Mina Sadeghi ²

¹ Professor of Accounting in department of management and Accounting Shiraz university,Shiraz,Iran

² Ph.D. student in accounting , Shiraz university, Shiraz, Iran.

چکیده [English]

This research explores the impact of mental accounting on audit quality, particularly focusing on how auditors' cognitive biases influence their judgments and decision-making. By understanding these biases, auditors can better identify risks and improve audit processes. The study is applied, quantitative, and descriptive, conducted through surveys with 203 certified accountants in Iran. The findings indicate that mental accounting affects auditors' judgments, the allocation of partners' working time, and performance defense costs in lawsuits, but it does not impact auditor independence. The research concludes that mental accounting influences overall audit quality. By increasing auditors' awareness of mental accounting and its effects, the quality of their audits can improve. These insights highlight the importance of recognizing behavioral biases in auditing to enhance the effectiveness and accuracy of audit practices.
 

Introduction

In a world without audits, trust in financial reporting would erode, leading to chaos in financial statements. Audit quality is essential for ensuring reliability and transparency, serving as a safeguard against errors and fraud. Understanding auditors' cognitive processes, particularly mental accounting, is crucial for enhancing audit quality and improving decision-making in the classification of financial resources.
In the 1980s, Richard Thaler and Amos Tursky popularized the concept of mental accounting, demonstrating how mental limitations can lead to irrational financial decisions. This theory, widely accepted by psychologists, economists, and auditors, consists of three key elements: the coding, classification, and evaluation of mental accounts. Additionally, expectations theory addresses decision-making under risk. By understanding mental accounts, auditors can gain valuable insights into financial behaviors, ultimately improving audit quality. This makes mental accounting a vital tool for combating financial abuses and enhancing overall financial integrity.
Research hypotheses
Mental accounting influences audit quality.

Mental accounting affects the auditor's judgment.
Mental accounting impacts the ratio of partners' work time to the total work time in the audit budget.
Mental accounting influences the auditor's independence.
Mental accounting affects the process of defending performance costs in lawsuits.
Literature Review

Audit quality is rooted in trust and confidence, stemming from auditors' adherence to professional standards and their ability to provide reliable information. It can be likened to a trustworthy friend who keeps promises, relying on key elements such as competence, independence, honesty, and professional skepticism. Definitions of audit quality vary but generally emphasize auditors’ ability to detect violations and ensure high-quality financial reporting. Compliance with audit standards serves as a key indicator of audit quality. Furthermore, the theory of mental accounting enhances audit quality by enabling auditors to better understand financial processes and how individuals categorize their resources, making it a valuable tool for improving overall audit practices.
Integrating mental accounting with audit quality can significantly enhance the audit process and build trust in financial reporting. Mental accounting identifies behavioral biases that influence auditors' decision-making by examining how financial resources and decisions are categorized. By recognizing these biases, auditors can implement strategies to mitigate their effects, thereby improving audit quality. Additionally, applying mental accounting principles helps auditors select effective methods for gathering and interpreting evidence, ensuring more reliable and accurate audits. This synergy fosters greater accuracy and reliability in financial reports, ultimately strengthening public trust in the audit system.

Methodology

This research adopts an applied approach and a survey method to enhance auditing knowledge, focusing on partners, managers, and certified accountants from A-grade audit institutions in Iran. Data collection was conducted using a questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed through face validity and necessary revisions. Reliability was established using Cronbach's alpha, ensuring the questionnaire is a reliable tool for measuring the research variables.


Conclusion

This research highlights the role of mental accounting in enhancing audit quality, building on Thaler's foundational work. It identifies four specific variables to measure audit quality, demonstrating that mental accounting affects auditors' judgments, partners' work time allocation, and defense costs in lawsuits, but not auditor independence. The findings confirm that mental accounting positively influences audit quality, aligning with earlier studies by Bonabi Ghadim and Karbasi Yazdi (2013) and Stephen (2018).
Additionally, the research examined the influence of participants' demographic information on the hypotheses, concluding that these factors did not affect the outcomes, as the results remained consistent across all demographic groups.
Acknowledgments
In conclusion, we extend our gratitude to the partners, managers, and members of the public accountants’ community in Iran for their invaluable assistance and the generous time they dedicated to supporting this research.
 

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

• Audit quality
• Auditor independence
• Auditor judgment
• Mental a lawsuits.ccounting
• The trend of performance defense costs in