The Interaction between category knowledge and task structure in internal control review

In planning an audit, auditors are required to develop a sufficient understanding of their clients' internal control systems This study examines which task structure (i.e transaction flow or control objective) is more effective for auditors in developing an under standing of internal control systems and in identifying internal control issues. In auditing, if a mismatch between audit task structure and the auditor's category knowledge occurs, the auditor's ability to draw on prior experiences can be impaired and consequently decision performance may be undermined Therefore, it is important to provide auditors with internal control information in an appropriate form to assist in internal control decision making. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the internal control literature in two ways: First, by examining the interaction between auditors' category knowledge and task structure using two distinct groups: group one comprising experienced practicing auditors with category knowledge developed by experience and training (with well developed knowledge structures); and group two comprising students (with less developed knowledge structures). Second, by examining these two groups, we can identify their individual task structure preferences That is, we can investigate whether an auditor exhibits enhanced decision making when task structure is compatible with their knowledge structure.