FAR Practice Note - "Sent from Mobile": The Influence of Communication Devices and Psychological Distance on Professional Skepticism-Enhancing Advice
Audit firms are increasingly adopting mobile communication devices, but their impact on the advice given by supervisors remains unclear. This study examines whether and how the choice of communication device (mobile phone vs. PC) and the psychological distance supervisors feel from the task, affect the advice they give to their subordinates, particularly in terms of enhancing professional skepticism. Using an experiment, we find that mobile phones make skepticism-enhancing advice less persuasive compared to PCs, particularly when supervisors are closely involved in the task. However, when supervisors are more distanced from the task, mobile phones do not significantly reduce the quality of advice and may even enhance certain aspects of professional skepticism. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the behavioral effects of communication tools and being purposeful when making communication choices.
Main Takeaways
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Authors

Sara Bibler is a PhD candidate at the department of Accounting of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
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Farah Arshad is an Assistant Professor in Accounting at the VU Amsterdam, specializing in management accounting research. Using experiments, Farah seeks to understand how challenges and opportunities in the 21st century shape management accounting systems, such as performance evaluation and reporting. Arshad holds a PhD from the Tilburg University (2020).

Anna Gold is Professor of Auditing at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Adjunct Professor at Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). She earned her PhD at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests are in the judgment and decision-making area, primarily applied to the field of auditing. Her research has focused on the impact of regulatory changes (e.g., fraud consultation, audit firm rotation, and auditor reporting standard changes) on judgments and decisions of auditors, preparers, and financial statement users. She has also examined how auditors and audit firms manage errors and whether varying the error management climate affects auditors’ error reporting willingness and learning. Her current work focuses on how auditors use specialist advice, the communication between auditors and audit committees, and auditors’ use of audit technology.
She has published her research in outlets such as The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Business Ethics, and International Journal of Auditing. Professor Gold currently serves as editor at The Accounting Review (2020-2023) and Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie (since 2018). She is a member of the editorial board of Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory.