Audit and tax professionals tend to make judgments consistent with their client's preference, even when that preference is aggressive. Client preference affects judgments directly and indirectly, via information search. In particular, professionals focus their search on information that supports...

Structured decision aids are widely used in accounting practice and their influence on judgment consistency and accuracy have received considerable attention in the accounting literature. While two benefits commonly associated with decision aid use are improved judgment and enhanced expertise...

This study experimentally examines the influence of client preferences on tax professionals' information search, and how the resulting search behavior affects professionals' subsequent judgments and recommendations to clients. These are important questions because information search is a...