Gender effects on processing effort during analytical procedures

This paper examines whether male and female auditors would exhibit differences in information processing strategy as predicted by the selectivity hypothesis (Meyers-Levy 1989). Twenty-eight practicing auditors (16 males and 12 females), averaging three years audit experience, performed a planning analytical procedures task at one of two complexity levels. Consistent with the selectivity hypothesis, female auditors tended to be more efficient in their information processing strategies when the analytical procedures task was more complex, while no gender differences manifested when the task was less complex. Implications of these results for research and practice are discussed