January 15, 2016
Dr. Rebecca Fay Wins Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award!
Dr. Rebecca G. Fay Assistant Professor ECU Dept of Acct
Dr. Rebecca Fay of East Carolina University, and co-author Dr. Norma Montague of Wake Forest University, have been awarded the Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award. The purpose of the Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award is to encourage innovation and improvement in auditing and assurance education. The award recognizes a significant activity, concept, or materials. The criteria used to judge the submissions include, but are not limited to:
- innovation,
- educational benefits, and
- adaptability by other educational institutions or to other situations.
Dr. Norma Montague Assistant Professor Wake Forest University
Fay and Montague received the award on January 15, 2016 for a case they developed entitled “Witnessing Your Own Cognitive Bias: A Compendium of Classroom Exercises.” The case builds upon the award-winning KPMG Professional Judgment Framework[1] for identifying and mitigating biases in professional judgment. The case offers a revealing series of exercises, gathered from seminal psychology literature, which emphasizes the pervasive nature of biases in a variety of common scenarios by illuminating the students’ susceptibility to these biases in their own decision-making processes. Through this case, Fay and Montague, have found the pedagogical value of this approach for auditing students far outweighs the traditional textbook-based theoretical discussions of biases in judgment, encouraging a greater sense of self-awareness and interest in how biases can influence decision-making in auditing and accounting.
This case was published in Issues in Accounting Education, the top pedagogical journal in accounting. A companion piece, “I’m not Biased, Am I?” presenting similar information to professional Certified Public Accountants in a self-quiz format, was the cover article for January 2015 edition of the Journal of Accountancy, one of the most influential practitioner outlets for accountants.
[1] Ranzilla, S., R. Chevalier, G. Herrmann, S. Glover, and D. Prawitt. 2011. Elevating Professional Judgment in Auditing and Accounting: The KPMG Professional Judgment Framework. KPMG.