A Multiperiod Audit Staff Planning Model Using Multiple Objectives: Development and Evaluation

ABSTRACT The audit staff planning problem, a specific type of manpower planning problem, has been modeled using goal programming and, more recently, multiple objective linear programming. Prior studies developed single‐period models and did not go beyond the model building stage. This study develops...

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Veröffentlicht in:Decision sciences Jg. 21; H. 1; S. 154 - 170
Hauptverfasser: Gardner, John C., Huefner, Ronald J., Lotfi, Vahid
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1990
American Institute for Decision Sciences
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ISSN:0011-7315, 1540-5915
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Zusammenfassung:ABSTRACT The audit staff planning problem, a specific type of manpower planning problem, has been modeled using goal programming and, more recently, multiple objective linear programming. Prior studies developed single‐period models and did not go beyond the model building stage. This study develops a multiperiod audit staff planning model and evaluates the model using a test application involving actual decision makers (partners in public accounting firms). The multiperiod model includes seven objectives to be optimized: profit (to be maximized), late completion of work, work declined, staff augmentation, staff reduction, underutilization of the work force, and shortfall in meeting professional development targets (all to be minimized). Over a four‐quarter planning horizon with one “busy season,” the model is subject to constraints with respect to the projected audit work load, ability to substitute personnel and to perform interim audit work, available staff hours (including overtime limitations), supervisory requirements, and professional development targets. Results of the test application showed that the model was capable of producing a range of values for each objective. The participants were exposed to much of that range when making their decisions. The results also showed that all objectives were important and that participants were consistent in choosing their preferred level of each objective over several runs of the model. These results and the reactions of the participants demonstrate that the model is usable by actual decision makers and has potential for a number of specific applications.
Bibliographie:ark:/67375/WNG-R9465SWF-3
The authors are grateful to the 40 audit partners who volunteered their valuable time and without whom this project could not have been conducted. In addition, we wish to thank Ralph Steuer (University of Georgia) for his assistance in providing us with MOLP programming information, Stanley Zionts (SUNY at Buffalo) for his technical help, and Lawrence Brown (SUNY at Buffalo), the referees, and the associate editor for their helpful comments.
ArticleID:DECI1798
istex:7650FA2C84DC780483607148B974305802B0B209
Accounting, Organizations and Society
Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science
John C. Gardner is Associate Professor of Accounting in the School of Management, State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University. Dr. Gardner's work has appeared in
He is coauthor of
Vahid Lotfi is Assistant Professor of Management Science and Systems in the School of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. in operations research from SUNY at Buffalo. Dr. Lotfi's articles have appeared in
Dr. Lotfi's current research interests include multiple criteria decision making, applied operations research, and parallel processing.
Ronald J. Huefner is Professor of Accounting in the School of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. Dr. Huefner's work has appeared in
Decision Sciences, Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research
Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research
Decision Support Systems for Production and Operations Management
Operations Research Letters
and
His research interests are in audit scheduling, capital market research, and citation analysis.
Dr. Huefner is also a coauthor of textbooks on introductory and advanced accounting. His research interests include financial accounting, taxation, and quantitative applications to accounting.
Redundancy in Mathematical Programming
IIE Transactions, European Journal of Operational Research, Computers and Operations Research
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ISSN:0011-7315
1540-5915
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1990.tb00322.x