The Effect of Alternative Business Model Representation Techniques on Business and Audit Risk Assessment

Abstract

We investigate the effects of business model representation techniques, specifically format and presence of causal linkages, on business risk and audit risk assessment. We conduct an experiment involving auditing students with previous audit work experience as participants and business model information based on an existing public company. Participants given business model representation in either diagrammatical or tabular format make more accurate risk assessments than those given the same information in a free-form narrative format. Contrary to our prediction, overall performance in diagram and table conditions does not differ statistically. The inclusion of causal linkages in the business model representation has mixed effects on risk assessment accuracy. We also investigate whether task-specific experience moderates the effects of representation techniques on risk assessment. We find an interaction effect of task-specific experience with causal linkages; specifically, linkage effects are limited to the subsample of participants with no risk documentation experience.