浅谈审计人才队伍建设

刘家义审计长指出:"加强审计队伍建设,提高审计人员的依法审计能力、科学判断能力、监督保障能力、宏观服务能力和促进发展能力,推进审计事业科学发展,是审计机关重要而紧迫的任务".提高审计队伍整体素质,关键在于把审计干部培养成高素质的专业人才.作为基层审计机关,由于长期处于审计工作的底层,受各方面因素的制约,人才队伍建设相对滞后,已不能完全适应新时期审计工作发展的需要.因此,切实加强基层审计机关人才队伍建设,已成为摆在我们面前的一项重要而紧迫的任务.本人结合工作实际,浅谈如何加强基层审计机关人才队伍建设,为推动审计工作科学发展提供智力保障和人才支撑.     

优秀审计人员的必备素质

随着审计职能的不断完善和审计地位的不断提高,在当前全球经济面临下滑风险的背景下,对审计人员的综合素质提出了更高的要求,需要不断培养更多的优秀审计人员,这是实现审计工作适应时代发展,树立科学发展观、与时代相结合,保持旺盛的生机与强大活力的有效途径。审计机关是依照国家法律规定设立的、代表国家行使审计监督职权的国家机关。各级审计机关,都是本级政府的组成     

浅论审计人员职业道德

审计人员职业道德,是指从事审计工作的人员应遵循的、与其职业活动紧密联系的、具有审计人员职业特征并反映自身特殊要求的道德准则和规范。审计人员开展审计工作的能力,取决于审计人员丰富的专业知识、专业判断能力和审计技术方法等,而审计报告和审计查证事项的真实性、准确性、合法性跟审计人员的职业道德素质密切相关。审计机关加强审计人员的职业道德教育,培养审计人员优秀的品质和职业素养,是当前审计工作的重中之重,也是提高审计质量、规避审计     

浅析审计文化建设和思想政治工作

创建和弘扬先进的审计文化,建设审计事业和审计人员共有的思想宝库,增强审计文化的吸引力和感召力,既是推动审计事业健康发展的必然要求,也是审计工作者在新时期的历史使命。审计文化建设和思想政治工作的落脚点都是"以人为本"。从这一层面分析,加强审计文化建设和思想政治工作,并把二者有机结合起来,是新形势下促进审计工作发展的内在要求。审计文化建设与思想政治工作相结合,有助于组织和提高多方面的力量,共同搞好审计干部的思想政治工作,可以扩大审计机关思想政治工作的覆盖面,进而促进审计工作的发展。     

推进审计工作科学发展的探讨

<正>国家审计署"审计免疫系统理论"指出,审计是保障国家经济社会健康运行的免疫系统。审计机关必须适应社会环境的变化,以科学发展观为指导,围绕中心,服务大局,坚持依法审计,不断在实践中总结新经验,探索新路子。一、树立科学审计理念科学审计理念的基本内涵在于将科学发展观作为审计工作的活的灵魂,作为维护人民群众根本利益的行动指南,作为促进经济社会全面协调可持续发展的根本目标,作为提高依法审计能力、实现审计工作科学化发展的重要途径。科学审计理念来源于审计实践,又决定着审计实践的未来发展和走向。(一)树立民本审计理念。以人为本是科学发展观的核心,满足人民群众日益增长的物质和文化生活需要是经济社会     

基层审计机关提高审计项目质量的几个关键环节

审计质量是审计工作的生命线.随着经济社会的发展,审计机关作为经济监督部门越来越受到社会的关注,审计工作的影响面也越来越大.审计质量成为影响审计事业生存与发展的重大课题.提高审计质量不仅是审计机关的内在要求,也是全社会及各级政府对审计机关和审计人员的迫切愿望.面对新常态,基层审计机关如何应对,作为一名长期战斗在基层的审计人员来说,感触颇深.本文根据自身工作经验,提出一些审计工作中应该注意的关键点,以期为基层审计机关的工作提供参考.     

如何提高审计专业人员的工作能力

作为从事国家审计工作的主体,审计专业人员具备的工作能力对审计监督职责的履行程度具有决定性影响。本文基于能力的研究文献,并结合审计工作特性,对审计专业人员的工作能力进行科学界定。并从审计专业人员工作能力的基本构成要素、总体分类、能力维度和具体能力内容四个角度,将审计专业人员工作能力的本质展现出来,明确了提高审计专业人员工作能力的方向。立足于教育培训、实践锻炼和自主学习三种途径,针对审计专业人员工作能力的元能力维度、价值观、品质和特质能力维度、调控情感能力维度、行为能力维度和知识和技能维度下的的具体能力内容,分别提出提高审计专业人员工作能力的措施。     

也谈免疫系统论指导下审计人员应具备的素质和能力

<正>2008年,在中国审计学会五届三次理事会上,刘家义审计长全面系统地阐述了国家审计作为国家经济社会健康运行"免疫系统"的重要观点。"免疫系统"论的提出,深刻揭示了审计的本质,是对中国特色社会主义国家审计制度的更高定位,它丰富了国家审计内涵,拓展了审计工作的外延,不仅树立了审计事业自身建设和发展的科学宏伟目标,而且对审计人员的素质和能力提出了更高的要求。审计人员作为审计职责最直接的执行者,只有不断提高自身的素质和能力,才能为国家经济健康安全运行保驾护航,更好地发挥审计的免疫系统功能。     

回顾与展望

坚持“四立”强素质20年来郑州市审计局始终坚持以“四立”来提高审计队伍整体素质,不断推动审计工作发展。一是观念立人。注重审计人员精神面貌和思想意识的增强。树立“扎实、务实、求实”的工作作风。二是品德立行。要求审计人员树立正确的世界观、人生观和价值观,树立审计机关依法审计、廉洁从政、刚正不阿的形象。三是能力立业。提出“比、学、赶、超”的口号,努力改善人力资源结构,加快信息化建设步伐,适应新的挑战。四是勤奋立事。以实干敬业的热情完成上级审计机关和市委、市政府交办的各项工作任务。正因为此,我局于2001年被评为全…     

数智化转型背景下审计工作高质量发展研究

人工智能的跨越式发展给各行各业带来了深远的影响,也深刻地影响着审计环境、审计对象和审计模式,顺应人工智能的发展浪潮,大力推进数智化转型已成为审计工作实现高质量发展的迫切需要。本文从数智化在审计工作高质量发展中的作用出发,论述了数智化转型对审计工作的内涵要求,基于审计机关当前数智化转型过程中存在的问题,审计机关可在优化审计数据生态、提升技术与审计业务协同能力、全员引导培养数智思维、全面统筹数据资源四个方面进一步发力,推进审计机关数智化转型,促进审计工作高质量发展,助力审计监督在党和国家监督体系中发挥重要作用,更好护航中国式现代化建设大局。     

Measuring audit quality of local governments in England and Wales

The purpose of this paper is to model and test the audit quality provided to local governments in England and Wales. A key question is: are there major differences in audit quality provided? The Audit Commission, a national public body under Parliament, regulates the audits. It sets audit standards, appoints the auditors, and (although each auditor and client local government set the specific audit fee for that client) it establishes a formula to determine standard audit fees. The Audit Commission also conducts an annual review of the audit quality provided by the selected auditors, as well as a survey of client satisfaction. The majority of audits are conducted by District Auditors (public sector employees of the Audit Commission). About a quarter of local governments are audited by one of six private sector auditors (including three of the Big 4). Actual results indicate that audit quality differences are associated with the number of governmental audit clients and local government type. Generally, there were modest quality differences by auditor category.     

Does Ethical Culture in Audit Firms Support Auditor Objectivity?

The suggested cause of constrained auditor objectivity has been centred on auditors' financial incentives and long audit tenure. Recent research has challenged those assumptions and questioned the effectiveness of auditor rotation to counteract short-tenure threats to auditor objectivity. Audit firms and regulators need to adopt methods for enhancing auditor objectivity that are effective in various auditor–client relationships. This study examines whether audit firm ethical culture is positively related to auditor objectivity. Based on the responses of 281 practising auditors, the findings indicate that auditors are more likely to make objective judgments in ethical cultures characterized by the rewarding of ethical behaviour and punishment of unethical behaviour, prevalence of ethical norms, visible ethical leadership, and low emphasis on obedience to authority. In conclusion, evidence indicates that auditors in audit firms with a strong ethical culture are more likely to maintain auditor objectivity than are auditors in less supportive cultures. This suggests that audit firms should promote a strong ethical culture to reduce the risk of constrained auditor judgment.     

Is the quality of female auditors really better? Evidence based on the Chinese A-share market

Unlike previous studies in which a single index was used to measure audit quality, this study establishes a new comprehensive index to measure audit quality via Discretionary Accrual, as estimated by Jones’ basic model (1991) and Audit Opinions. The former is used to measure the quality of financial statements, and the latter is used to measure the auditors’ independence in the mainstream international literature. We examine whether and how an auditor’s gender affects the quality of his or her audits under the framework of empathy theory and gender role socialization theory. Using a large sample of 9861 auditor-firm-year observations from Chinese A-share–listed companies from 2011 to 2015, we find that the audit quality of signed auditors shows significant gender differences: these significant gender differences differ from the findings of previous studies that female auditors could provide a higher-quality audit than male auditors; that is, in our study the audit quality of the male auditors exceeds that of the female auditors. After distinguishing the positive and negative directions of the Discretionary Accrual, we find no significant gender differences in audit quality between male and female auditors when the earnings had been adjusted upward by the client; that is, female and male auditors had the same audit risk perception. However, when the client adjusted earnings downward, which indicates a lower audit risk for the auditor, the audit quality of female auditors was significantly lower than that of the male auditors. After controlling for the age and position of the auditors, we also find that the gender differences in the auditors’ audit quality decreased significantly or even disappeared when the auditor’s age exceeded 45?years and/or their position was manager or above. These results are consistent with the empathy theory and gender role socialization theory.     

How individual auditor characteristics impact the likelihood of audit failure: Evidence from China

Audit failure imposes a severe loss on investors and damages market participants' confidence in financial reporting quality. This study investigates the impacts of individual auditor characteristics on the likelihood of audit failure. Chinese regulators mandate listed firms to disclose the engagement auditors' identity. Furthermore, the information regarding individual auditor characteristics in China is also publicly available. Utilizing this unique setting, we examine the relationship between individual auditor characteristics and the likelihood of audit failure in China during the period from 2000 to 2009. We document that individual auditors with more auditing experience are less likely associated with audit failure. We also find a weaker negative relationship between auditor education level and audit failure. Our study has important implications for both auditors and regulators by shedding lights on the determinants of audit failure and by providing guidance to the human resource management in audit firms.     

The Effect of IPO Risks on Auditors’ Decisions: Auditor Designation Case

This study examines the effect of audit risks in the Korean initial public offering (IPO) market on the designated auditors’ decisions. The Korean External Audit Act requires firms to switch from incumbent to new auditors designated by the Securities and Futures Commission after the firm announces a future IPO. This study shows the effects of audit risks by examining if the quality of reported earnings and audit fees significantly differs between IPO‐eligible and IPO‐ineligible firms. Empirical tests first show that discretionary accruals are significantly lower for IPO‐ineligible firms than for IPO‐eligible firms in both the IPO designation period and the following review period. We interpret this result to mean that designated auditors evaluate the IPO‐ineligible (and eventually failed) firms’ listing possibility as low. Second, audit fees are higher for IPO‐ineligible firms in the auditor designation period. This reflects the fact that designated auditors are exposed to future audit risks associated with firms’ post‐IPO financial market troubles if IPO‐ineligible firms attempt to go public. Our study contributes to IPO‐related research by showing the effects of auditors’ risk evaluation on discretionary accruals and audit fees. This study also contributes to accounting policymaking regarding auditor independence.     

Public and private sector auditors and accruals quality in English NHS hospital Trusts

To promote auditor independence and audit quality in English NHS Trusts the Audit Commission regulates auditor rotation, fees and the appointment of its own and private sector auditors. NHS sanctioned departures from GAAP, some of which allow the financial breakeven target to be achieved, have been criticised by the Audit Commission as detrimental to financial discipline. In this paper, we investigate the association between abnormal accruals and the achievement of financial breakeven in NHS hospital Trusts over the period 1998–2005. We also investigate the association between abnormal accruals, audit fees and the Trusts audited by public and private sector auditors. We find evidence that abnormal accruals are used to achieve financial breakeven and they differ across different types of auditor. We also identify a negative relationship between abnormal accruals and NHS Trust star ratings. These findings raise questions about the ‘quality’ of NHS audit where compliance with NHS-specific regulations overrides the wider GAAP-based requirement for financial statements to show a true and fair view and they warrant reconsideration of the nature of audit in NHS Trusts.     

An Empirical Investigation of the Interface Between Internal and External Auditors

Professional standards place specific responsibilities on auditors for the discovery of material mis-statements in reports of corporate financial performance. Certain factors have been shown to increase the likelihood of fraudulent financial reporting. One warning sign is the potentially pervasive effect of a weak internal control environment consistent with a weak internal audit group. This study investigates the impact of internal audit department quality differences on auditors ‘willingness to place reliance on the work performed by internal auditors. The study also gives consideration to auditors’ recent experiences with material errors and irregularities and examines the influence of two previously untested individual auditor differences on audit judgment decisions: (1) conflict management style and (2) perception of internal/external auditor communication barriers. The results indicate that auditors attend to internal audit department quality differences and that individual auditor differences exhibit significant influence over auditor judgments. Implications for audit practice are considered and directions for future research are suggested.     

Stakeholder perceptions of performance audit credibility

This paper examines the credibility of performance audit at the micro-level of practice using the general framework of Birnbaum and Stegner's theory of source credibility in which credibility is dependent upon perceptions of the independence of the auditors, their technical competence and the usefulness of audit findings. It reports the results of a field study of a performance audit by the Australian National Audit Office conducted in a major government department. The paper establishes that problems of auditor independence, technical competence and perceived audit usefulness continue to limit the credibility of performance auditing.     

New Auditors’ Decisions for Released Firms from the Mandatory Auditor Designation Rule: Evidence From South Korea

This study examines the effect of the mandatory designation rule on audit fees charged and audit hours rendered by auditors for firms released from the mandatory auditor designation rule in the Korean audit market. Under the mandatory auditor designation rule, which took effect in 1991, problematic firms are assigned new auditors by the Financial Supervisory Service. Previous studies suggest that this regulation positively affects the quality of audits by promoting auditor independence. Thus, this study hypothesises that firms that have been subjected to mandatory auditor designation improve the quality of their financial reporting, and that auditors hired after the mandatory designation period account for reduced audit risks when determining audit fees and audit hours. This study shows that audit fees and audit hours of firms released from the mandatory auditor designation rule are lower than those of other initial audit engagements. Taken together, this study's findings reinforce the notion that auditors’ perceptions of changes in audit risk yield corresponding changes in the audit fees they charge and audit hours they render.     

University Audit Departments in the United States

Internal auditors of public and private universities were asked about their selection processes, supervisors, and activities. At public institutions, the governing board selects the internal auditor, the president supervises the work and more audit findings are implemented. Private institutions have more audit committees that are involved with the internal auditors' activities and their auditors perform more program audits. Thus, although public universities are following professional guidelines more closely, suggesting more accountability, private universities have greater access to audit committees and perform more value-added audits.