Final answer:
The most effective strategy to improve accounts receivable confirmation response rates is to inform recipients that a second request will follow if they do not respond promptly. This emphasizes the importance of their reply and encourages action due to the commitment and consistency principle.
Step-by-step explanation:
The strategy most likely to improve the response rate of the confirmation of accounts receivable is notifying the recipients that second requests will be mailed if they fail to respond in a timely manner. This approach leverages the psychological principle of commitment and consistency, where people tend to honor public commitments more rigorously. By signaling the importance of a prompt reply through the possibility of a follow-up request, customers may feel a heightened sense of responsibility to respond.
Other strategies like including a monthly statement might also be helpful by providing additional context, but may not be as directly influential on response rates. Restricting selection to customers with large balances might miss important information from customers with smaller balances but high turnover, reducing the effectiveness of the confirmation process. On the other hand, requesting customers to respond directly to the auditor by fax or e-mail might be convenient, but doesn't necessarily create an additional incentive for a timely response.