Behavioral aspects of accounting and auditing

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, in the research of foreign scientists the issues of accounting and auditing are being considered through the theory of behavioral accounting. On the other hand, in the studies of Ukrainian scientists the behavioral accounting in accounting and auditing almost was not considered. The main meaning of the theory of behavioral accounting is not to consider the accounting and auditing exclusively in numbers, but to consider that accountants and auditors are people with a specific profession who behave according to their feelings and thoughts. It is customary to consider the concept of behavioral accounting according to the following topics: the influence of accounting information on behavior, management control, audit, ethics. The way the information is perceived and applied has an important influence on people's behavior and management decision-making. The financial and non-financial information used for decision-making is considered. The financial information plays a key role in structured decision-making problems, while non-financial information is considered more useful for problems of unstructured decision-making, such as identifying new business opportunities. For its part, two characteristic styles of information's application are distinguished: diagnostic and interactive. In the application of the diagnostic style the senior managers pay attention to the achievement of planned results, while managers who lead an interactive style practice continuous exchange of information between members of the organization. In the article it is also considered the behavioral aspects of planning, including financial, management and control. The results of employees' work can be assessed on the basis of financial indicators or on the basis of non-financial information. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. In the 1990's, the system of balanced indicators became widespread to assess all aspects of management activity, which applies both financial and non-financial indicators with an emphasis on non-financial indicators. Such a system has four measurement categories, including financial, customers, internal business processes, and employee's study and growth prospects. The theory of behavioral accounting is widely used in audit research. The following publications will consider the behavioral aspects of auditing in the context of: auditor independence, auditor professional judgment and professional skepticism, fraud in financial statements.