头脑风暴技术在舞弊审计中的应用

头脑风暴技术得到了审计职业界的重视,并将其作为一项重要的舞弊风险应对措施加以实施和推广2002年美国审计准则委员会(ASB)修订实施的审计准则(SAS No.99,109)要求审计项目组每次审计都必须执行头脑风暴项目组讨论会,针对客户财务报表可能存在的舞弊行为交换看法,准则制定者认为头脑风暴法作为一种改善审计人员舞弊判断质量的工具,有助于审计人员发现可能存在的舞弊行为。大量的国外审计实践和研究表明,头脑风暴技术在舞弊风险因素识别、舞弊风险评估和舞弊风险应对方面效果都优于审计人员个体判断和决策。     

关于中小会计师事务所应对财务舞弊审计风险的思考

在经济全球化和知识经济时代的影响下,经济活动的参与主体越来越多样化,经济活动的形式也越来越复杂.因此,审计工作中存在的风险逐渐增加.随着财务舞弊事件的不断曝光,如何有效控制审计风险成为会计师事务所审计人员工作的重点.本文基于财务舞弊与审计风险的关系,通过对财务舞弊手段的分析,提出了会计师事务所在应对财务舞弊审计风险方面的建议,以期能促进会计师事务所有效识别和规避被审计单位的财务舞弊行为.     

商业银行审计项目程序风险点的选择与控制

内部审计风险是指审计对象财务会计报告存在重大的错误或舞弊，而审计人员审计后发表不恰当审计意见，做出不恰当审计结论的可能性。在商业银行实施全面风险管理的今天，内部审计风险的观念已被广大审计人员所接受，并感到了极大的工作压力，如何最大限度地降低审计风险，促进审计对象全面增强经营能力，已成为内部审计人员最迫切需要解决的重要问题之一。导致审计风险的因素很多，如审计对象自身的复杂性．审计技术的局限性。审计人员的能力和素质等，而很多情况是，部分审计人员对审计项目程序的风险点选择不当，未认真执行审计项目程序，从而导致了审计风险的发生。本文所探讨的问题，旨在实施审计项目程序过程时。通过合理选择审计风险点，及时发现实施审计项目过程中存在的重大问题，为审计人员最大限度地防范和控制审计风险提供参考。[编者按]     

浅析经济责任审计中的风险与防范

随着社会主义经济的不断发展,反腐倡廉建设的不断完善,为了对领导层人员进行监督和管理,防止其出现贪污舞弊行为,经济责任审计应运而生.经济责任审计的结果直接对被审计人员各方面的经济利益产生重大的影响,因此成为各方关注的焦点.然而,随着经济责任审计工作的不断发展,其面临的风险也越来越多,如何及时识别经济责任审计中的风险并采取相应的防范措施成为了各界学者争相研究的问题.     

风险导向审计探讨

一、风险导向审计的概念与特征风险导向审计是指以被审计单位的风险评估为基础,综合分析被审计单位经济活动的各因素,并根据量化的风险水平确定实施审计的范围、重点,进而进行实质性审查的一种新型审计模式。风险导向审计具有以下特征:1、审计重心前移,从以审计测试为中心到以风险评估为中心。传统审计的风险评估不到位,未能有效发现高风险审计领域;由于加强了风险评估程序,真正体现了风险导向审计的理念。2、风险评估重心由控制风险向综合风险转移。控制风险的高低主要与重大错报和员工舞弊有关;而管理层舞弊主要与重大错报的管理层舞弊有关。审计人员重点是发现管理层舞弊,评估重点是包括固有风险和初步控制风险的综合风险。3、风险评估由直接评估变为间接评估。传统风险评估是     

如何强化职业判断在舞弊审计中的作用

近年来,上市公司财务舞弊现象在世界范围内屡见不鲜,给投资者、债权人以及其他利益相关者带来了巨大的经济损失,一时间,如何提高注册会计师发现和防范舞弊的能力,降低审计风险成为一个重要问题。舞弊审计不同于常规财务报表审计,有其独有的特征,对审计人员的职业判断能力要求也     

开展舞弊审计的条件分析和切入点

一、开展舞弊审计的内外部条件分析1、从内部审计所处的发展阶段来分析。由于企业组织内控制度的健全完善和规范执行尚待时日,内部审计人员很难通过直接测试与评价内控制度的漏洞来发现舞弊现象,且内审机构并非专为检查舞弊而设置,即使内部审计人员以应有的职业谨慎执行了必要的审计程序,也不能保证发现所有的舞弊行为。因此当前企业的舞弊审计工作,应根据实际情况,突出重点领域,有所为,有所不为。2、从现有审计人员的能力素质来衡量。在进行舞弊审计时,内部审计人员必须具备预防、识别、检查舞弊的基本知识和专业技能,有能力识     

从审计期望差到舞弊专项审计

审计人员所提供的审计服务往往不能完全发现和阻止公司舞弊的发生，然而社会公众对审计服务的期望往往超出审计人员对自身执业的认识，也就是存在所谓的期望差（expectationgap）。公司舞弊问题近年来不断加剧的趋势恶化了审计界的执业环境，间接导致了审计风险的增长。目前，审计期望差的前沿问题是关于检查舞弊行为和不法行为的责任问题，即审计人员是否应该承担发现所有舞弊行为的责任，要正确认识这个问题，首先应该从公司舞弊行为分类出发。一、公司舞弊行为分类和区别公司舞弊行为可以分为虚假财务报表舞弊行为（financialstatementba…     

内部审计人员对雇员舞弊的审计

舞弊问题一直是会计、审计职业界、法律界等共同关心的问题，由于管理舞弊能对社会公众造成最恶劣性的影响，已受到包括注册会计师在内的社会各界的广泛关注，关于管理舞弊审计的研究也纷至沓来，但忽略了对舞弊另一方面———雇员舞弊审计的研究。笔者认为雇员舞弊有其自身的特点和形式，加强对雇员舞弊审计的研究将有助于防范、治理雇员舞弊行为，同时，也有利于完善舞弊审计研究的理论体系。因此，本文试图从内部审计人员的角度对雇员舞弊审计做出探讨。一、雇员舞弊的根源、形式（一）雇员舞弊的三大根源：动机、机会、成本关于舞弊根源…     

中注协约谈事务所 提示上市公司年报审计风险北大核心

2018年2月8日,中注协约谈普华永道中天会计师事务所,提示银行类上市公司年报审计风险. 中注协相关负责人指出,党中央国务院要求,打好防范化解重大风险攻坚战,重点是防控金融风险,守住不发生系统性金融风险的底线.近年来,银行类上市公司违法违规行为时有发生,中注协提示注册会计师应在年报审计过程中重点关注以下事项:一是关注舞弊风险.注册会计师应识别银行可能存在的舞弊风险领域,重点关注银行分支机构关键岗位人员故意违规、不合规的授信及贷款管理流程、不恰当的贷款评级、不恰当的收入确认、违规销售理财产品、虚假转让金融资产、安排表外结构化主体承接表内不良资产等风险,从银行整体层面和业务流程层面设计和实施更有针对性的审计程序,以有效识别、评估和应对由于舞弊可能导致的财务报表重大错报风险.     

Why computer-mediated communication improves the effectiveness of fraud brainstorming

Current auditing standards require auditors to conduct a fraud brainstorming session aimed at considering ways in which the audit client's financial statements might be fraudulently misstated. Lynch et al. (2009) document that computer-mediated fraud brainstorming is significantly more effective than face-to-face brainstorming for generating relevant fraud risks. In this study, we code and analyze process-level data from the Lynch et al. (2009) study to understand the factors contributing to the greater effectiveness of electronic fraud brainstorming. Specifically, we conduct mediation analysis to discern the degree to which equality of participation and two measures of task focus contribute to greater fraud brainstorming effectiveness when using a computer-mediated communication system compared to traditional face-to-face brainstorming. We also examine participants' perceptions of ease of system use, satisfaction with the process, and satisfaction with the outcome. Overall, the results indicate that the primary reason for the greater effectiveness of electronic fraud brainstorming is the greater degree of task focus as revealed through the length of comments made when using computer-mediated fraud brainstorming. In an absolute sense, participants using electronic brainstorming felt that their brainstorming mode was easy to use and they were satisfied with the process and outcome. The primary contribution of this study is in enhancing our understanding of precisely why computer-mediated fraud brainstorming outperforms face-to-face fraud brainstorming.     

基于财务报表审计的会计舞弊揭示机制研究

目前企业会计信息失真主要因会计舞弊引起,CPA能否有效揭示重大会计舞弊已经直接影响到CPA行业的生存价值。中注协因此发布了大量的新准则,试图借鉴国外先进的审计技术,将风险导向审计理念引入到我国的审计实践中来,以提高CPA揭示会计舞弊的能力。但CPA不能有效揭示重大会计舞弊主要的不是技术问题,本文在借鉴国外经验的基础上,分析我国CPA不能有效揭示会计舞弊的原因,提出应将CPA审计和政府审计相结合,共同揭示企业会计舞弊。     

Corporate fraud and the audit expectations gap: A study among business managers

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study on the audit expectations gap concerning the role of the auditor in corporate fraud cases. The purpose of the study is to assess the significance of a reasonableness gap, a deficient performance gap and a deficient standards gap in the specific context of corporate fraud. In order to distinguish all three elements of the expectations gap, respondents need a certain level of expertise on fraud. Therefore, in this research the audit expectations gap is studied primarily from the perspective of three groups of business managers, based on the fact that they typically have a special responsibility in fraud cases. Bankers are used as a control group to assess the potential differences between the views of business managers and ‘society in general’. This study provides clear evidence of a substantial audit expectations gap in the context of fraud, both with respect to the auditor's performance as well as the auditor's formal obligations as laid down in existing standards. However, compared to bankers, business managers are less inclined to judge auditors’ performance of existing duties as inadequate, and see fewer points where auditing standards should be amended.     

SEC communications to the independent auditors: An analysis of enforcement actions

All 415 SEC releases issued between the end of 1972 and the end of 1989 were analyzed to clarify the SEC's philosophy of independent auditing and to document the violations of generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) reported in the releases. Among the findings are 1) the SEC consistently concluded that the primary purpose of an independent audit is to enhance the efficiency of the capital markets and help protect the investing public by providing reasonable assurance concerning the integrity of the financial statements and related disclosures; 2) the SEC attributed many independent audit failures to questionable independent auditor judgement in adhering to professional standards, most often because of insufficient gathering of audit evidence due to over-reliance on management representations; 3) the large majority of cases in which the SEC associated the auditor with fraudulent financial reporting (usually constructive fraud) involved smaller audit firms; 4) the large majority of cases of management fraud in which the auditors were deceived by clients involved large audit firms. In the final section of this paper, we discuss the influence of enforcement releases on independent audit standard setting and possible implications for the audit profession in the future.     

A taxonomy to guide research on the application of data mining to fraud detection in financial statement audits

This paper explores the application of data mining techniques to fraud detection in the audit of financial statements and proposes a taxonomy to support and guide future research. Currently, the application of data mining to auditing is at an early stage of development and researchers take a scatter-shot approach, investigating patterns in financial statement disclosures, text in annual reports and MD&As, and the nature of journal entries without appropriate guidance being drawn from lessons in known fraud patterns. To develop structure to research in data mining, we create a taxonomy that combines research on patterns of observed fraud schemes with an appreciation of areas that benefit from productive application of data mining. We encapsulate traditional views of data mining that operates primarily on quantitative data, such as financial statement and journal entry data. In addition, we draw on other forms of data mining, notably text and email mining.     

Selection Bias and Auditing Policies for Insurance Claims

Selection bias results from a discrepancy between the range of estimation of a statistical model and its range of application. This is the case for fraud risk models, which are estimated on audited claims but applied on incoming claims in the design of auditing strategies. Now audited claims are a minority within the parent sample since they are chosen after a severe selection performed by claims adjusters. This article presents a statistical approach that counteracts selection bias without using a random auditing strategy. A two‐equation model on audit and fraud (a bivariate probit model with censoring) is estimated on a sample of claims where the experts are left free to take the audit decision. The expected overestimation of fraud risk derived from a single‐equation model is corrected. Results are close to those obtained with a random auditing strategy, at the expense of some instability with respect to the regression components set. Then we compare auditing policies derived from the different approaches.     

The Dempster‐Shafer Theory: An Introduction and Fraud Risk Assessment Illustration

This article introduces the Dempster‐Shafer theory (DS theory) of belief functions for managing uncertainties, specifically in the auditing and information systems domains. The use of DS theory is illustrated by deriving a fraud risk assessment formula for a simplified version of a model developed by Srivastava et al. (2007). In this formulation, fraud risk is the normalised product of four risks: risk that management has incentives to commit fraud; risk that management has opportunities to commit fraud; risk that management has an attitude to rationalise committing fraud; and risk that an auditor's special procedures will fail to detect fraud. The article demonstrates how to use such a model to plan for a financial audit where management fraud risk is assessed to be high. In addition, it discusses whether audit planning is better served by an integrated audit/fraud risk assessment as now suggested in SAS 107 (AICPA 2006a, see also ASA 200 in AUASB 2007) or by the approach illustrated here where a parallel, but separate, assessment is made of audit risk and fraud risk.     

The Effects of Fraud Risk and Management Representation on Auditors' Hypothesis Generation

Hypothesis generation is considered to be critical to the effectiveness and efficiency of diagnostic processes in auditing. Using a between-subjects experimental design, this work examines the impact of fraud risk and the availability of a non-misstatement management explanation on auditors' hypothesis generation performance. The context is when managers undertake analytical procedures at the planning stage of the audit. The results indicate that auditors are sensitive to increased fraud risk by generating more fraud hypotheses, while the number of misstatement hypotheses generated is not affected by fraud risk. The availability of a non-misstatement management explanation was found not to interfere with auditors' hypothesis generation performance, but facilitated the generation of proportionately more misstatement and fraud hypotheses from the same transaction cycle as that indicated by the management explanation. Together, these findings provide some insights on the sensitivity of auditors' hypothesis generation to fraud risk and whether this sensitivity could be undermined by the availability of management representations.     

Team discourse explains media richness and anonymity effects in audit fraud cue brainstorming

This article contributes by extending media richness (MRT) and media synchronicity theories (MST) to explore how media richness and anonymity influence team interactions and success in audit fraud brainstorming. Sixty-three, three-person teams, with 189 student participants from two Universities, identified fraud risk cues in a SAS 99 audit planning case. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions: electronic anonymity (EA; n = 18 teams), electronic identified (EI; n = 28 teams), or identified face-to-face (FtF; n = 17 teams). Compared with teams in the low media richness conditions, i.e., the EA and EI, discussions in FtF teams produced more and better dialog, which resulted in better identification of fraud risk cues. Additionally, compared with the discussions in the EA teams, FtF team discussions evidenced less narcissism and were more focused and inhibited. Mediation analyses of team interactions indicated that the quantity of dialog (team production) completely explains, fully mediates, the effects of media richness and anonymity on risk assessments. Contributions include extending MRT and MST, and using automated content analysis, to explicate the role of media richness, anonymity, and team interactions in explaining audit team fraud identification success. The concluding section identifies the sample, design, and method limitations, and, discusses the potential for group support technologies to enhance or detract from audit team processes, depending on task, context, and technology.