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Auditor Task Prioritization

Bart Dierynck & Christian P. H. Peters

Contemporary Accounting Research2026https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.70034article
FT50AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

We study how auditors prioritize tasks and how variations in task order influence auditors' performance. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we develop and test our hypotheses through three experiments involving over 350 professional auditors. The first two experiments assess the impact of task order on performance. Across two settings, we manipulate task order and find that prioritizing an easier task generally results in lower performance compared with prioritizing a difficult task. In the third experiment, auditors are given autonomy over task ordering. We observe a tendency to prioritize easier tasks, particularly under heightened time pressure. We do not find any evidence that psychological ownership weakens the effect of time pressure on easy task prioritization.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.70034

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@article{bart2026,
  title        = {{Auditor Task Prioritization}},
  author       = {Bart Dierynck & Christian P. H. Peters},
  journal      = {Contemporary Accounting Research},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.70034},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.