The Uses of Advanced Information Technology in Audit Planning

Expert systems, intelligent databases and other forms of advanced information technology are quickly becoming pervasive tools in accounting and auditing. All the major public accounting firms are either using such systems in their auditing practice or have them under development. This paper describes the use of several systems used for audit planning. These are divided into three functional areas: audit risk assessment, internal control evaluation and audit program development. The advantages and disadvantages of these systems as they relate to auditing are discussed.     

效益审计标准的选择和确定--以某单位国家建设项目设备效益审计为案例研究

在效益审计中,选择和确定合适的审计(评价)标准是非常重要的环节。它是保证效益审计质量的一个必要条件,也是审计人员提出审计意见、做出恰当审计结论的基本依据。本文以某单位国家建设项目设备效益审计作为案例,结合《世界审计组织效益审计指南》,对审计标准问题进行了分析和探讨。最后,就我国政府审计机关在效益审计中如何选择和确定“合适的”审计标准提出几条建议,以期抛砖引玉。     

政府审计信息披露质量评价体系构建

政府审计信息公开是政务信息公开的一个重要方面,审计署公开审计信息一方面提高审计监督的透明度,另一方面保障公民、法人和其他组织对审计的知情权、参与权和监督权。文章阐述了政府审计信息披露的理论基础和现状,并在此基础上对审计署近几年公布的审计信息公开工作报告进行加工整理,进而对政府审计信息公开工作报告存在的问题做出尝试性的归纳和总结。最后,提出中国政府审计信息披露质量评价指标体系由及时性、完整性、准确性、客观性、重要性及清晰性等六个方面质量特征构成。     

PROFESSIONAL SOCIALISATION, COMMERCIAL PRESSURES AND JUNIOR STAFF'S TIME-PRESSURED IRREGULAR AUDITING—A CONTEXTUAL INTERPRETATION

Research suggests a correlation between commercial concerns, time pressures and junior staff's ‘irregular auditing’ that results in audit failures. This article examines junior staff's irregular auditing in the context of trainees' normal auditing responsibilities and the specific nature of time pressures at their firms. The discussion recognises that omnipresent commercial concerns often leads to adoption of new audit methods that may militate against time pressures. Empirical evidence from in-depth interviews is used to highlight that firms that use risk-based auditing expect their trainees to help realise commercial gains by focusing audit work on areas where material misstatements could occur. The evidence shows that trainees do concentrate work on areas where material misstatements could occur. Acts that reduce audit quality occur in other areas and may often be seen by senior staff who may sanction extra work, if necessary. The article uses these findings to infer that junior staff do not have low regard for audit protocol.     

打破影响审计独立性的“黑箱模式”

伴随着雷曼"回购105"事件的发生,审计质量又一次成为社会各界关注的焦点,而如何保持社会审计的灵魂—审计独立性,也引发了一场激烈的讨论。本文通过对审计三方关系的论述,尤其是对第一、第二方关系的讨论,综合分析3种主流的关于保持审计独立性的方案,进而对我国社会审计独立性的缺失提出一些思考。     

From inspection to auditing: Audit and markets as linked ecologies

This paper studies the roles that images and ideas of market creation played in the re-articulation of relations between government, audit expertise and professional organisation in post-Soviet Russia. It examines the change from state-led inspection to market-oriented auditing between 1985 and 2005, and analyses this in terms of the notion of “linked ecologies”. The paper queries the relationship between audit and neoliberal modes of governing. It argues that we should be careful not to see audit as an unproblematic expression of neoliberalism. Investigating the dynamics and conflicts accompanying attempts to establish auditing as a site for governmental reform, this paper examines the manifold ways in which the meaning of markets and the roles of auditing in them can be unsettled, reinvented and transformed. The paper analyses how auditing was made marketable, and investigates how projects of post-Soviet audit development came to be carried forward, shifted and changed through new “enterprising selves” and their newly founded audit and consulting firms. The paper concludes with a more general discussion of the implication of these findings for our understanding of the dynamics of professionalisation, and the changing of relations between politics and expertise.     

An approach to learning risk-based auditing

This paper presents a discussion of a risk-based auditing project that can be used in an undergraduate or graduate auditing course. The project gives students an opportunity to apply the concepts learned in their auditing class about risk-based auditing to a real world company. A number of companies are selected from a particular industry. Each student team is assigned a company and performs business risk analysis related to the entity and its environment using a structured questionnaire (template). The students are required to perform analytical procedures (ratio analysis) on the company and compare it to industry data or a competitor. Student evaluations of the project indicate that it helped them apply their audit knowledge, and was relevant to the auditing class.     

Teaching audit reports: A flowchart approach

The effective and efficient communication of audit report material for historical generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)-based financial statements is a challenging task for auditing educators. A sizable number of auditing standards focus on this subject matter. Moreover, several recent expectation-gap standards, notably Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 58, impact directly on the reporting issue. Two instructional issues are of concern with regard to audit report materials. They are (a) the complexity of the material and (b) timing-when this material should be presented. With respect to the complexity issue, SAS No. 58 and related standards are so complex that many auditing students are overwhelmed by the topic. With regard to timing, some instructors feel a need to communicate an overview of the reporting process when the topic is first introduced and then deliver a more detailed discussion later in the course. To address the complexity and timing issues, this paper illustrates two different levels of flowcharts. These materials may be used in the classroom by accounting educators to effectively communicate the set of reporting conditions and the related audit report responses.     

人民银行内部实施绩效审计的探索

人民银行内部审计由传统型转向现代管理型符合内部审计的发展潮流。济南分行营业管理部为适应这一潮流,组织开展了对济南市征信管理工作的绩效审计工作。作者通过对审计实践的观察发现了人民银行绩效审计发展所取得的进步和存在的问题。本文在总结经验、分析发现的问题基础上,对可供选择的三种方案进行评价,提出了人民银行系统中心支行以上内审部门发展绩效审计的建议。     

基于PSR模式的节能减排绩效审计标准体系

一直以来,节能减排审计的评价和监督执行部门严重脱节,造成审计结果流于形式,审计建议执行效果不理想甚至不予执行。造成这种情况的一个重要原因就是对节能减排绩效审计评价标准体系的构建和运用缺乏统一的认识。而选择和确立科学、适用的节能减排绩效审计评价标准是我国环境绩效审计的一个重点和难点。基于“压力-状态-响应”即PSR模式构建节能减排绩效审计标准体系,有利于实现节能减排绩效审计评价的科学性、规范性和实用性。运用该体系的关键是明确节能减排绩效审计标准与节能减排技术指标之间的差异、提高审计人员的相关业务水平并运用风险导向模式。     

A Rejoinder to Commentaries on ‘Integrated Reporting: A Review of Developments and their Implications for the Accounting Curriculum’

This auditing case study focuses on a company presenting significant audit risk for an incoming audit firm. By presenting a variety of audit risks, hence audit implications, the case demonstrates the holistic approach to audit required in order to avoid an inappropriate audit opinion. The case is aimed at undergraduate students of auditing in the final year of their studies and students of the ACCA Paper 6 or equivalent. The case provides an efficient and original vehicle for instruction in auditing and can be used to complement other teaching aids.     

审计报告的不同解读

对审计职业来说,审计报告的标准化可减少审计成本和避免审计法律诉讼,还可约束恣意和为理性选择提供合理保障;而对社会公众来说,审计报告留下了太多职业保护的痕迹。审计报告如何权衡设计职业保护与社会公众利益间的关系,本文提出了三种建议。     

Audit committee characteristics and investment in internal auditing

Regulators and others recently highlighted the increasingly important role of internal auditing in supporting and interacting with the audit committee to ensure the integrity and quality of financial reporting. Likewise, one of the roles of the audit committee is to oversee the quality of monitoring mechanisms implemented by the firm, which includes the internal audit function. However, our understanding of the relationship between the audit committee and internal auditing is limited. We fill this void by providing the first empirical evidence of the association between audit committee characteristics and the investment in internal auditing. Our analyses, from a sample of 181 SEC registrants, suggest that the investment in internal auditing (internal audit budget) is negatively related to the presence of auditing experts on the committee and the average tenure of audit committee members, but positively related to the number of audit committee meetings (a proxy for audit committee diligence). These observations suggest potential complementary and substitution effects between the audit committee and internal auditing, and thus raise important implications for future research.     

试论社保资金审计的现状及对策

本文认为目前我国社保资金审计存在着对社保资金审计的意义认识不清,审计社保资金依据尚不健全,审计内容把握不准等问题。加强社保资金审计要正确认识社保资金审计的作用,准确定位审计的目标;努力规范审计内容,不断改进审计方式方法,以争取最佳社保资金审计的效果。     

经济责任同步审计评价问题探析

经济责任审计评价是审计人员确认被审计对象经济行为价值的业务活动,是界定经济责任的基础。审计评价作为审计报告的重要板块和核心内容,不仅承载着审计监督客观公正的基本原则和社会责任,而且体现着经济责任审计明确的目的性。经过多年探索实践,经济责任审计评价架构逐步清晰、内容渐趋合理、稳妥性明显增进,但仍有部分项目目标体现不明确、公正性和客观性表现不足、谨慎性不够充分、文书运用混乱,严重影响着审计的质量。本文试图就经济责任监督价值观、审计评价范围、评价体系、评价方法等方面存在的问题进行成因剖析、理论阐述和业务探讨,认为需要进一步优化审计环境,强化理论研究,细化能力培训,尽快改善和提升经济责任审计整体质量。     

Audit litigation research: Do the merits matter? An assessment and directions for future research

This article reviews audit litigation research and discusses suggestions for future research. Recent reforms in federal and state laws related to accounting and auditing services increase the opportunities for research. An overarching issue in the public policy debate over legal reforms is the role of merits in bringing and resolving lawsuits against auditors; this issue frames the discussion of audit litigation research.     

Auditing SAP R/3 – Control Risk Assessment

This paper provides an introduction to auditing in an SAP R/3 environment, focusing primarily on the assessment of control risk. A number of distinguishing characteristics of the SAP R/3 system that affect the audit are described. The application of a standard internal control framework to the assessment of application controls is illustrated. Two significant pervasive general control areas are examined - system development and program maintenance, and user access control. Relevant controls in these areas are discussed and methods for auditing these controls are outlined. Several opporhcnities for research in the auditing of SAP R/3 are proposed.     

非审计业务对审计市场绩效的影响——基于会计师事务所业务结构的角度

以审计质量和审计收费作为审计市场绩效的衡量指标,从会计师事务所业务结构角度来考察我国注册会计师行业拓展非审计业务对审计市场所带来的影响。实证检验发现,相对于其他事务所而言,非审计业务规模越大和当年非审计业务规模较上年扩大的事务所,其审计质量越好,审计收费也越高。这说明在目前审计服务市场容量有限,竞争过于激烈的环境下,拓展非审计业务有利于增强审计独立性和提高审计收费,是改善行业执业环境的一个重要途径。     

头脑风暴法在舞弊审计中的运用研究:回顾与启示

头脑风暴法有助于解决舞弊审计这一类非结构化问题,在舞弊审计中运用头脑风暴法成为美国注册会计师审计中的一项必要程序,头脑风暴技术也成为审计理论界和实务界关注的一个重点问题。本文对相关研究文献进行了梳理和回顾,总结文献研究发现:舞弊审计适合使用开放式头脑风暴法、循环头脑风暴法和电子头脑风暴法;头脑风暴法不仅有助于审计人员识别更多的舞弊风险因素和提高识别因素的质量,而且能够使审计人员表现得更加谨慎,调高了客户舞弊风险的预期水平;此外,头脑风暴讨论会还能够使审计人员更愿意修改拟实施的实质性测试程序,采取更为有效的舞弊风险应对程序。这些实践经验和研究成果对我国审计实践和审计理论研究都具有重要的借鉴作用。     

Government auditing in China: Problems and reform

This paper evaluates the current government auditing system in China and the proposal to move it from the control of the executive body (the State Council) to the control of the legislature (the National People's Congress). Interviews with government auditors, government and people's congress officials, and leading academics identify the problems caused by lack of audit independence. Although audit independence can be increased by moving the control of government auditing to the legislature, many of our interviewees considered such a move as infeasible in the current political climate. To smooth the reform toward a legislature-led audit system, we propose a “Dual-Track System” in which the different audit responsibilities currently undertaken by the government auditing system are separated. The responsibility for auditing the use and control of fiscal budgets by the central and regional governments would be under the control of the legislature as this area of government auditing has a clear need for audit independence. Other audit functions including economic responsibility auditing, special purpose funds auditing, financial service auditing and state-owned enterprise auditing would remain under the control of the government. This dual track approach would, we argue, be a politically acceptable compromise as it would strengthen audit independence where it is most needed but also enable the government to maintain strong economic control.