Julgamento e tomada de decisão em processamento contábil: complexidade, familiaridade e excesso de confiança

Abstract

It is questioned to what extent the judgment and decision making (JDM) of accounting professionals differs at the level of each individual due to attributes related to the task complexity, considering the task familiarity and the individual’s overconfidence. Thus, the main goal of this research was to analyse the differences caused by individual factors as determinants of judgment and decision-making of accounting professionals in the Brazilian environment. For this purpose, a quasi-experiment was applied, carried out from the manipulation of the task complexity, from which 2 groups (test and control) were segregated. Task familiarity and overconfidence, in turn, were measured with the responses provided by the participants. The quasi-experiment was performed through online communication via the internet, without any face-to-face contact, and initially involved recruiting professionals interested in participating in the research, what results in 296 valid registrations. Of these, 94 participants participated in the quasi-experiment and only 79 had valid responses to the proposed situation. The quasi-experiment consisted of performing accounting tasks, classified as more and less complex, randomly assigned to respondents. Univariate techniques, with procedures of one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney test and two-way ANOVA, were used considering JDM proxies. Among the research findings, it is worth mentioning that it was found that the task complexity and task familiarity, individually, are attributes that differentiate the judgment and decision-making of the accounting professional. Overconfidence, however, did not differentiate the JDM of accounting professionals. Relationships resulting from the interaction of the mentioned attributes and sociodemographic conditions of the participants were also tested, reaching some level of moderation between them, highlighting educational level and active CRC registration. The findings led to the proposed thesis not being rejected, confirming international and Brazilian research, and indicating interference of individual and task-related attributes in the judgment and decision-making of the accounting professional. Such factors can, therefore, impact the quality of the accounting process’ output, that is, economic information for the shareholders, which ultimately results from the basic accounting tasks: collecting, classifying, booking and accumulating the effects of the company's economic activity. In addition to the innovation in the methodology used in this research, it is possible to highlight the socioeconomic effects that may derive from the identification of which non-normative attributes exert differentiation, according to the performer of the task, on the JDM of the users of accounting information.