Anchoring, the norm reminder effect, and the faithful representation of an entity’s financial position

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to verify the assumptions about the impact of the anchoring effect and the norm reminder effect in accounting decisions, in the case of the freedom of choice left by legal regulations, Methodology/approach: The study was based on a 2 × 2 experimental design and was conducted with 110 working accountants. Findings: The results confirmed the regularities in decision-making identified in psychology, which may influence the quality of the information provided by accountants. Being re-minded of the legal norm concerning the rules for creating write-downs of receivables bur-dened with the risk of non-payment led to a significant increase in accountants’ propensity to create write-downs. Similarly, the anchor used in the experiment showed that introducing a numerical value unrelated to the criteria for the write-down significantly impacted the accountants’ assessment of the percentage value and the write-off. Practical implications: The anchoring and norm reminder effect may affect the quality of the presented numerical information and the fulfillment of the faithful representation requirement in financial statements. Originality/value: The study presented in the article, which concerns the impact of cognitive biases on professional accounting decisions, has not been empirically verified so far in Poland. At the same time, it is one of the few experimental studies within behavioral accounting in Poland. Keywords: anchoring heuristic, legal norm, decision-making, behavioral accounting.