BRETT A. RIXOM
June 2012
The University of Utah
David Eccles School of Business
1655 E. Campus Center Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Website: http://faculty.utah.edu/~brettrixom
Cell Phone: (706) 224-1739
Email: brett.rixom@business.utah.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Accounting, May 2013 (expected)
The University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business
Master of Accountancy, Concentration in Auditing Systems, 2005
University of Georgia, Terry College of Business, J.M. Tull School of Accounting
Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Concentration in Public Accounting, 2002
Lake Superior State University, College of Business
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Research: Judgment and decision making in auditing with a specific interest in fraud detection
and professional skepticism
Teaching: Auditing, Fraud/Forensic Accounting, and Financial Accounting
WORKING PAPERS UNDER REVIEW
“Training Auditors to Think Skeptically”
With David Plumlee and Andy Rosman (Manuscript in preparation for second round review at The
Accounting Review)

Recipient of the Best Ph.D. Student Paper Award at the 2012 American Accounting
Association Auditing Midyear Conference
ABSTRACT: Auditors have been criticized for failing to effectively exercise professional
skepticism despite the mandate to do so. One explanation for this failure is that current guidance
does not adequately link the mandate with specific ways of cognitively processing audit
evidence. We believe the standards imply that professional skepticism can be viewed as a
diagnostic reasoning process and have identified two cognitive skills comprising that diagnostic
process: divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking leads auditors to generate
explanations for unusual evidence; convergent thinking guides an evaluation leading to
Brett Rixom (page 2 of 4)
eliminating infeasible explanations. We developed materials to train these skills and assess their
effectiveness in improving diagnostic reasoning. In an assessment using auditors from three of
the Big Four firms, we found that divergent-thinking training increases both the number and
quality of explanations generated, and divergent- and convergent-thinking training leads to the
likelihood of choosing the correct explanation more than four times that of divergent-thinking
training alone. A follow-up assessment using Master of Accounting students finds similar results
regarding the benefit of receiving both types of training and provides evidence that when
convergent thinking does not follow divergent thinking, students prematurely eliminated
potentially acceptable explanations by engaging in “consistency checking” when generating
explanations.
DISSERTATION
Essay One: “Accountability and Performance-Based Benefits: The Differentiating Effects of
Extrinsic Motivators on Effort and Performance”
Essay Two: “The Effects of Accountability and Performance-Based Benefits on Auditors’ Fraud
Detection Judgments”
DESCRIPTION: In two separate studies, this dissertation will compare the roles of two types of
extrinsic motivators – accountability and performance-based benefits – on effort and decision
performance in tasks such as fraud detection. The first study explores the underlying cognitive
and behavioral mechanisms to show their differential effects in an abstract setting. I anticipate
that performance-based benefits (vs. accountability) will lead to more cognitive effort during the
initial stages of a task and less visible effort exerted during the execution stage of the task. This
will show the types of tasks that different extrinsic motivators will positively influence. The
second study will examine whether the underlying mechanisms of accountability and
performance-based benefits lead auditors to different performance outcomes in detecting fraud.
I anticipate that performance-based benefits will cause auditors to strategically change the
nature of their audit procedures while accountability will cause auditors to increase more
physical/observable acts such as audit documentation. The fraud detection performances may
also differ, where auditors who receive performance-based benefits will be more successful at
detecting fraud compared to those who are only held accountable. This dissertation potentially
has important implications for both the fraud detection and motivation literatures. Rather than
simply showing when motivation influences performance, these studies may show how
accountability and performance-based benefits differentially influence effort and how this effort
ultimately influences outcome performance. It has the capability to demonstrate that holding
auditors more accountable for finding fraud may not be sufficient to improve detection. Instead,
an approach that links performance-based benefits to fraud detection may improve auditors’
performance in finding fraud.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Training Auditors to Think Skeptically,” Savannah, GA, American Accounting Association
Auditing Midyear Meeting, 2012
With David Plumlee and Andy Rosman
Brett Rixom (page 3 of 4)
“Training Auditors in Professional Skepticism,” Portland, OR, American Accounting Association
Annual Meeting of the Western Region, 2010
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Panelist on “Feedback from the Trenches,” Chicago, IL, Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program
Orientation Conference, 2008
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH FUNDING
Marriner S. Eccles Graduate Fellow in Political Economy, $15,000 Award, 2012 – present
Center for Audit Quality Grant (with David Plumlee and Andy Rosman), $39,720 Award, 2009
Graduate School Travel Assistance Award , $400 Award, 2010 and 2012
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
David Eccles School of Business, The University of Utah
Instructor, ACCT 5510 Auditing, Spring 2011
Instructor rating: 5.66 out of 6
Graduate Teaching Assistant, ACCT 6540 Fraud/Forensic Accounting, Spring 2009
ACADEMIC AWARDS AND HONORS
David Eccles School of Accounting Ph.D. Student Teaching Award, 2012.
AAA J. Michael Cook Doctorial Consortium Fellow, Lake Tahoe, CA, 2011
Research Assistantship, University of Utah, 2008 – present
Dean’s List, University of Georgia, 2004 – 2005
Michigan Competitive Scholarship, Lake Superior State University, 1998 – 2001
Presidential Scholarship, Lake Superior State University, 1998 – 2001
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Reviewer, American Accounting Association Annual Meeting of the Western Region, 2012.
Brett Rixom (page 4 of 4)
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
LarsonAllen LLP, Philadelphia, PA
Senior, Audit and Assurance, 2005 – 2008
Active Internet Marketing, Traverse City, MI
Senior Accountant, 2002 – 2004
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION AND MEMBERSHIPS
Certified Public Accountant, State of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
American Accounting Association including the Auditing and Accounting, Behavior and
Organizations Sections
CONFERENCE S AND MEETINGS ATTENDED
American Accounting Association Auditing Midyear Meeting, 2009-2012
Utah Winter Accounting Conference, The University of Utah, 2009-2012
American Accounting Association Auditing Doctorial Consortium, 2009-2012
American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, 2011
AAA J. Michael Cook Doctorial Consortium, Lake Tahoe, CA, 2011
Conference on Intersection of Psychology & Economics, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010
American Accounting Association Annual Meeting of the Western Region, 2010
American Accounting Association ABO Midyear Meeting, 2010
American Accounting Association ABO Doctoral Consortium, 2010
Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference, 2009
Accounting Research Symposium, Brigham Young University, 2008
Accounting Doctoral Scholars Conference, 2008