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perceptions of uncertainty expressions.

Expressions ın Parts 1 and 2 of the all-German questionnaire were presented in the same random order as in the English version. To ensure equivalence between the English and German versions of the questionnaire, the German version was prepared first and then translated into English by the researcher with English as his first language. German colleagues then checked the English version for consistency with the German version. One of the advantages of including the German language-culture in this study is that an official translation of IAS exists and any subjectivity introduced by a translation of the uncertainty expressions by the researchers could be avoided.

The third version of the questionnaire(GE1) was comprised of a combination of instructions and demographic questions from the all-German version, and uncertainty expressions taken from the all-English version. Subjects receiving this version of the questionnaire assigned probabilities to uncertainty terms expressed in English. In the fourth version of the questionnaire (GE2), Part 2 of the all German questionnaire(related to ranges) was replaced with the uncertainty expressions from Part 1 ofthe all English questionnaire. Thus, respondents to GE2

assigned probabilities to the same uncertainty terms expressed in both English and German.

Subjects

Questionnaire E was mailed to CPAs in the United States. The mailing list was obtained from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants(AICPA) and the sample was randomly drawn from that subset of AICPA members who indicate that they work in public

accounting and have auditing as their professional interest. Questionnaires G, GE1, and GE2