Objectivity in auditing. Objectivity is an essential characteristic of auditing. A study was conducted to investigate whether prior involvement in audit program design impairs an external auditor's objectivity in making decisions about that program (Accounting and Finance, November 1993). A sample of 45 auditors was randomly divided into three equal-size groups, designated A/R, A/P, and Control. The A/R group designed an audit program for accounts receivable and evaluated an audit program for accounts payable designed by someone else. The A/P group did the reverse.

Finally, the control group merely evaluated the audit programs for both accounts. All 45 auditors were then requested to allocate an additional 15 hours to investigate suspected irregularities in either one or both audit programs. The objective of the experiment was to compare the mean number of hours allocated to accounts receivable for the three groups.

The means of the three groups of auditors were ranked using a Tukey multiple comparisons procedure at α = .05, as shown here:

At the beginning of the study, the researchers theorized that the A/R group would allocate the least audit effort to receivables and that the A/P group would allocate the most. Formally stated, the researchers believed that μAR C AP. Do the results support this theory? Explain.