Do Control Effectiveness Disclosures Require SOX 404(b) Internal Control Audits? A Natural Experiment with Small U.S. Public Companies

We use incremental and joint implementation of multiple SOX‐based control effectiveness disclosure and audit mandates to assess relative performance of alternatives for small U.S. public companies. Using data from several low‐ and high‐effort management disclosure and audit regimes implemented from 2003 to 2008, we find substantial and statistically significant increases in material weakness disclosure rates for small firms undergoing initial SOX 404(b) internal control audits, but find quantitatively and statistically similar increases for initial management reports of small firms exempt from such audits. As to audit cost, fees more than double for initial 404(b) audits in 2004 and remain high, while 404(b)‐exempt firms’ fees grow about 10% annually. Our results support the view that, for small firms, management internal control reports and traditional financial audits may be a cost effective disclosure alternative to full application of SOX 404(b). Also, our results suggest that, even without management reports on internal control, analysis of the cause of known accounting mistakes may yield substantial material weakness disclosures.     

加强公办高校审计监督的措施研究

针对公办高校管理存在种种问题,加强审计监督有利于公办高校监督预算执行,监管资金收支,监控基建投资,参谋领导决策,任用干部依据以及打击经济犯罪等方面发挥积极作用。从转变审计监督思路,加大审计监督力度,建立审计监督的激励约束机制,加强内部控制制度建设,发挥内部审计监督职能,加强审计监督队伍建设六个方面提出加强公办高校审计监督的具体措施。     

Should Non-Financial Performance Information be Audited? The Case of Public Service Agreements in UK Government

A growing level of controversy surrounds the right of the UK National Audit Office (NAO) to audit public service agreements (PSAs) – documents which detail the performance, against targets, of central government departments. The NAO has not been granted a statutory role, although an independent official review of accountability and audit in UK central government has recently concluded that the external validation of departmental information systems is a crucial first step towards validation of key published data. In the context of growing academic concern over the scale and achievements of (public) audit, it is pertinent to ask whether such a potential extension in the rights and scope of the NAO's audit work is necessary or likely to enhance public accountability and improve the performance of government departments and audit bodies.     

Should Non‐Financial Performance Information be Audited? The Case ofPublic Service Agreements in UK Government

A growing level of controversy surrounds the right of the UK National Audit Office (NAO) to audit public service agreements (PSAs) – documents which detail the performance, against targets, of central government departments. The NAO has not been granted a statutory role, although an independent official review of accountability and audit in UK central government has recently concluded that the external validation of departmental information systems is a crucial first step towards validation of key published data. In the context of growing academic concern over the scale and achievements of (public) audit, it is pertinent to ask whether such a potential extension in the rights and scope of the NAO's audit work is necessary or likely to enhance public accountability and improve the performance of government departments and audit bodies.     

Quis Auditoret Ipsos Auditores? Can Auditors Be Trusted?

This article explores the extent to which the audit profession and its practices promote public trust in audits. Differences between auditors and non‐auditors as to beliefs about the role of a financial report audit have long been discussed under the term ‘expectations gap’. However, this prior debate has tended to focus on non‐auditors’ alleged misunderstanding of audit processes without a corresponding understanding on the part of the profession as to why the public might place its trust in auditors. The study explores the nature of trust in an auditing context and notes that like any profession, auditing faces practical limitations but the inability to directly observe the conduct of audits combined with professional status create an ‘over trust’ expectation in the public. Changes in audit practices and culture have also exposed the profession to criticism. The article seeks to offer one approach by which the auditing profession can restore public confidence; namely, evidence‐based practice, which has proven effective in improving the quality of practice in medicine. Adoption of a reflective evidence‐based approach to audit practice offers the promise of greater audit quality and an improvement in the profession's accountability and public confidence.     

Non‐audit Services and Auditor Independence Depending on Client Performance

We posit that the effect of non‐audit fees on auditor independence in Korea is based on audit client performance. Further, we suggest that an audit client with low performance has an incentive to purchase non‐audit services (NAS) from an incumbent auditor to facilitate earnings management and steer accounting practices in a preferred direction. We find evidence that as non‐audit fees in Korea increase, auditor independence is reduced only for low‐performing audit clients. Thus, unconditional prohibition of NAS seems unnecessary. Regulators and policymakers should examine the motivation for purchasing NAS, particularly among audit clients with poor performance.     

构建高校绩效审计评价指标体系的探讨

绩效评价指标的缺失已经成为制约我国高校绩效审计发展的瓶颈.构建高校绩效审计评价指标体系的基本思路应是：由高校绩效审计的定义推导出高校绩效审计目标,再由绩效审计目标推导出绩效审计内容,然后,在分析绩效审计目标、内容的层次性以及审计对象多元化的基础上,依据绩效审计标准体系的构建原则,推导出高校绩效审计评价指标体系框架.     

顾客导向型政府绩效审计——以实现增值价值为基础

新公共管理运动为顾客导向型政府绩效审计的发展提供了契机。顾客价值与增值价值之间的内在逻辑关系,使增值价值成为度量政府绩效的标准,而且政府绩效审计的质量保证性质使其具有实现增值价值的功能。政府绩效审计增值价值功能的实现形式是提供绩效信息及改进建议,实现途径是政府治理结构的改善、政府责任性的增强以及政治进程的完善,而且更需要与其相关的内外制度安排的完善。     

Risk Management: Its Adoption in Australian Public Universities within an Environment of Change Management – A Management Perspective

This study draws on the multi‐theoretical approach to governance and a qualitative methodology to examine the extent to which key players in Australian public universities have developed and implemented risk management within an environment of change management. The findings demonstrate that wider influences – largely the result of conflicting management cultures – have had differing impacts on the values of key players and the consequent adoption of the process. Key players’ values range from congruent with a corporate culture (at the strategic level) to incongruent with a corporate culture (at the operational level), and result in different outcomes. These different outcomes suggest that the adoption of risk management by Australian public universities under the influence of new public management is problematic. The study provides opportunities for further research to confirm these findings with a broader sample of actors and the adoption of other governance control processes.     

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.     

Assessing inherent risk during audit planning: The development of a knowledge based model

Within the academic and professional auditing communities there has been growing concern with accurately assessing the various risks associated with the performance of an audit. One approach to developing sophisticated risk assessment models is to study how experienced expert auditors use industry and firm specific factors in making audit judgements. This study presents a model of inherent risk assessment based on literature reviews and a field study that involved structured and unstructured interviews and observations of experts in audit planning meetings. Analysis of the data gathered led to the specification of a conceptual model of inherent risk assessment which has been implemented as a computer program (a computational model). Auditors were asked to assess the behavior and performance of the computational model as a first step in evaluating the expert model.     

Tensions Arising from Imposing NPM in Australian Public Universities: A Management Perspective

This study seeks to identify the characteristics causing tensions in the move towards a corporate culture in Australian public universities. The findings reveal ongoing structural, competency and behavioral issues contributing to the tensions. Two theoretical propositions have emerged regarding the status of the change process. First, the change to a corporate culture is slow but continuing. Second, universities have accepted that public sector, collegial and corporate cultures have to co‐exist, thus adopting an adapted version of new public management (NPM). These findings provide avenues for further research to confirm both the characteristics and theoretical propositions.     

Further evidence on the determinants of audit pricing in universities

This study investigates the determinants of audit fees for UK universities, involving an analysis of 451 university-year observations over the period 2007–2010. The study contributes to a fledgling strand of research examining audit pricing in the public sector. In seeking to identify an appropriate model to explain audit fees we interview a number of university auditors and use their insights in conjunction with prior findings from both private and public sector studies of audit pricing. Our findings show that audit fees in UK universities are positively influenced by size, the number of subsidiary companies, the amount of endowments, the level of debtors, being located in England and the use of a London-based auditor. We also find that more research-intensive universities (using a range of measures) and universities with greater operating surpluses pay lower audit fees.     

New Public Management: The Cruellest Invention of the Human Spirit?1

This article examines one of the most significant phenomena of the late twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries—the emergence of New Public Management (NPM). NPM has been widely adopted, internationally. However, its adoption is based on governments having faith in its deployment to transform their public sectors using private sector performance criteria. In this article, the case is advanced that the widespread use of NPM is often a cruel disappointment for governments. This is demonstrated by focusing on four key elements of NPM, as practised in the early twenty‐first century—the role of management consultants, the development of e‐government, the emergence of the ‘audit society’ and the increasing importance of risk management.     

Accountability for performance in English and Scottish fire and rescue services from 2010 to 2016

ABSTRACT

Using evidence from English and Scottish fire and rescue services from 2010 to 2016, this paper shows how divergent performance management regimes can affect public accountability. Performance management regimes enable agencies and the public to hold public sector organizations accountable by facilitating evaluation of their accomplishments. However, local as opposed to central, control over performance management can have quite different implications for public accountability.     

政府绩效审计“阶梯型”评价模式的构建与应用——以BRT公共交通投资项目为例

构建一套政府公共交通投资项目绩效审计评价模式是提高政府公共交通投资项目绩效审计效率和审计质量的关键,然而目前业界尚未对此形成统一认识。论文基于平衡计分卡理论从资源配置、职能行使、潜力发挥和贡献效益四个维度,构建了“阶梯形”政府公共交通投资项目绩效审计评价模式,并通过模糊评价对某市BRT项目调研数据对该模式进行了验证。     

The Removal of a Specialist Oversight Body for Local Public Audit: Insights from the Health Service in England

The abolition of the Audit Commission in England and Wales removes the ‘protector of the public purse’. The oversight body and its audit practice are largely replaced by the private sector regime and audit firms. We analyse the audit market for health service foundation trusts, an area of local public audit that operates without oversight from the Commission. We find evidence of premiums paid to some Big4 firms and that the presence of specialist public service auditors results in fee discounts. The firms limit their liability and assurance of audit quality is reduced under new audit regimes and governance structures.     

高校内部领导干部经济责任审计的审与责

近年来,高校内部领导干部经济责任审计在规范管理、提高绩效、干部评价、廉政建设等方面发挥了重要作用。针对当前经济责任审计面临的形势和问题,如何更好地把握经济责任审计的实质,满足高校内部管理对经济责任审计的需求,本文结合工作实际,谈谈高校内部领导干部经济责任审计的审与责。     

国家审计服务国家治理的理论分析与实现路径探讨——基于受托经济责任观的视角

国家治理是当今世界的重要议题。建立科学合理的治理结构和运用适当的治理机制以保证和促进国家治理目标的实现,已成为公共受托经济责任的重要内容。作为国家治理的重要组成部分,国家审计理应充分发挥审计功能,服务国家治理。本文基于受托经济责任观,在深入分析受托经济责任与国家审计以及受托经济责任与国家治理相互关系的基础上,从构建全新的公共受托经济责任报告体系,创新国家/政府审计对象载体;建立健全绩效管理制度、全面推进政府绩效审计;推进责任政府建立,进一步深化经济责任审计;构建并实施治理导向审计模式以及权力导向审计模式五个方面深入探讨了国家审计服务国家治理的实现路径。     

Tension between the corporate and collegial cultures of Australian public universities: The current status

Australian public universities have been under the influence of a corporate management culture since the 1980s. Driven by pressures for more accounting and accountability, its characteristics have variously been described as being in tension with the traditional collegial and autonomous management culture, threatening its demise. This study applies a multi-theoretical lens to recognize the interests of academics as important stakeholders and critically analyses the existing literature to determine the current status of both cultures within Australian public universities. A series of interviews with a number of vice chancellors and other senior management staff complement and provide a management perspective to the analysis. The results suggest that amidst a shift toward a corporate culture, aspects of collegial and autonomous practices continue to exist in various degrees among universities due to different levels of influencing forces on its operating environment. A quasi-management approach exists with continued tensions between both cultures, compromising their expected outcomes. Universities are attempting to narrow this tension gap. An analysis of the quasi-management approach further reveals that a right balance between both cultures has potential to serve as an effective management model under a multi-theoretical platform. The findings provide avenues for further research to examine this potential.