Attitude toward business environment of auditing,corporate governance and balance between auditing and marketing

The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitude of Iranian auditors toward balance between auditing and marketing with respect to two important components of audit process such as business environment of auditing and corporate governance. The analysis is based on survey data from 257 respondents. To achieve the research aims, we specified four hypotheses based on social theories. The results of this study show that the auditors having positive attitude toward marketing and those who consider it as significant are able, to a large extent, balance spent time for inherent auditing tasks and marketing activities. In addition, the results show that an increase by a unit for the attitude toward business environment results in 0.489 unit increase in attitude toward balance of time spent on marketing and auditing activities, of which 0.396 is direct impact and 0.093 is indirect impact.     

企业边界决定理论发展的逻辑与方向

企业边界是现代企业理论研究的重要课题之一。这个理论难题一直困扰着经济学家们,在探索过程中产生了许多经典的理论流派。鉴于涉及企业边界的现实经济问题是复杂而动态的,关于企业边界的理论有待进一步研究深化。而从契约的角度梳理关于企业边界决定的理论学说,并对他们的观点进行归纳和分析,或许可以使我们对企业边界的模糊化和动态化有一个合理的解释。     

论我国商业银行内部审计制度和模式的创新

内部审计是公司治理的重要控制和监督环节,在公司治理结构中发挥着越来越重要的作用.当前,加强银行公司治理是我国商业银行改革的关键环节,如何更好地发挥内部审计在银行治理结构中的作用,从而为银行机构增加价值并促使其高效率、高质量地运转,是一个具有重要现实意义的课题.本文从既有的研究成果出发,通过考察银行治理结构和内部审计的关系及西方国家商业银行内审理念的演变趋势,针对巴塞尔新资本协议等对商业银行内审工作提出的新要求,指出我国商业银行内部审计应从财务型审计转向增值型审计,在内审理念、内审体制及方法手段等方面进行创新.     

Challenges of using RPA in auditing: A socio-technical systems approach

The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is rapidly growing in the professional services sector such as auditing. Despite the great benefits RPA can offer, RPA failure rates are still high. In this research, we draw on socio-technical systems theory to examine the challenges of using RPA in the various phases of auditing and how auditors address these challenges. By interviewing experienced partners and auditors in auditing firms and technology companies, we show that challenges arise when there is a lack of fit between the technical requirements of the RPA tool (technical subsystem) and the skills and knowledge of the auditors and clients (social subsystem). We discuss our findings and provide valuable practical implications and opportunities for future research.     

Inattentional blindness and its relevance to teaching forensic accounting and auditing

Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is the phenomenon of not being able to see things that are actually there. This concept is not covered in traditional accounting classes in general and forensic accounting and auditing in particular. We discuss why forensic accountants and auditors should be aware of inattentional blindness and we show how it may impact the behavior of the individuals investigating and being investigated. We use a video to illustrate how this concept could be meaningfully incorporated into a teaching curriculum with a focus on forensic accounting and auditing. In particular, we provide illustrations of how this video could be used in forensic accounting and auditing classes to heighten student awareness of how “blind spots” could adversely affect the investigation process. We conclude by using the Leeson/Barings scandal (involving the fraud that brought down Barings bank) to illustrate how inattentional blindness can occur in a real-life fraud situation. We also provide additional material showing the relevance of inattentional blindness to the Madoff Ponzi scandal.     

La delimitación contingente del espacio organizacional basada en procesos de saber

The aim of this article is to call into question the concept of organization delimited as a social object of discrete character, in order to propose that the organizational space is a product of multiple operations of knowledge that conform and delimit its spatiality in a contingently and current way, according to the knowledge process that are functioning at that time. Going along with this line of thought, we differentiate the roles of the management system, the standardization system and judicial-legal system in the delimitation of the spatiality of the organizational phenomenon and we propose that this delimitation produces a rethinking of the management system as to internal system of the discrete organization. Consequently, this results in rethinking the political dimension that is present in the organizational phenomenon. This also impacts on the processes of including subjects in this complex spatiality. We conclude that the concept of organization as a social object of discrete character is not only insufficient to conceptualize the organizational phenomenon, but is also insufficient as a tool for organized action.     

Academic auditing research: an exploratory investigation into its usefulness

This paper has been produced in reaction to the publication of the AICPA/AAA monograph entitledAuditing Practice, Research, and Education: A Productive Collaboration . In our view, the monograph relied on a narrow conception of auditing-research usefulness. This paper aims to investigate usefulness of auditing research from a perspective more global than that of the monograph. Our theoretical discussion focuses on who may benefit from auditing research and in what ways. We supplemented our theoretical work with an empirical assessment of auditing-research usefulness from the point of view of auditors. In particular, we content analysed a series of auditing-research articles written by North American academics and published in a set of journals that, collectively, play a large role in validating these academics’ knowledge claims. Our results suggest that auditing research is to a large extent “useful" to auditors, that is to say, auditing papers generally possess a relatively high degree of applicability, and the degree to which auditing papers threaten the legitimacy of the auditing profession is relatively low. We then put forward that this degree of usefulness is the result of auditors’ efforts to control the auditing-research community. In fact, research resources, such as business funding of research, allow auditors to exert influence over academic researchers in their quest to capture the research community.     

The future trajectory for environmental finance: planetary boundaries and environmental,social and governance analysis

Urgent issues such as climate change have drawn increasing attention from finance scholars. Most research has situated a corporate response within the context of the environmental, social and governance performance. However, other disciplines express concerns around environmental degradation within broader frameworks, such as the Planetary Boundaries framework. We highlight the different conceptualisations of ESG and planetary boundaries and call for further research that links finance research to the Planetary Boundaries framework. We describe how contributions in the Accounting & Finance Special Issue on Environmental Finance advance research in this area and explore implications for future research that responds to the imperatives of remaining within Planetary Boundaries.     

Continuous audit: Model development and implementation within a debt covenant compliance domain

Because of technological advances and the current audit environment, there is a growing interest in the concept of continuous audit. Conceptually, a continuous audit is an assurance service where the time between the occurrence of events underlying a particular subject matter and the issuance of an auditor's opinion on the fairness of a client's representation of the subject matter is eliminated. A continuous audit is the natural evolution of the integration of technology into the auditing domain. Although the concepts of continuous auditing are now more than a decade old, only recently have technologies emerged that are both widely available and affordable, making implementation of the continuous audit feasible. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants have together called on the research community to investigate the concept of continuous auditing and its implementation in various audit domains. In response to this call, we develop a conceptual model of a continuous audit, and, as proof of concept, we design and demonstrate an implementation of continuous audit within the debt covenant compliance domain. The demonstrated Web application uses digital agents and alarm triggers sent over the Internet to continuously monitor whether actual values of a client's variables are in compliance with standards for these variables set out in the debt covenant agreement.     

The antecedents of the use of continuous auditing in the internal auditing context

The concept of continuous auditing originated over two decades ago. Yet despite its much touted benefits, its acceptance and use in practice has been slow. To gain insight into the state of affairs, we surveyed 210 internal auditors worldwide on the status of their use of continuous auditing. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) we explore the antecedents of internal auditors' intentions to use continuous auditing technology. Employing the Partial Least Squares method, we find strong support for the model with an R² of 44.3%. Specifically, we find that internal auditors' perceptions of effort expectancy and social influence are significant predictors of their intentions to use continuous auditing. We also find that annual sales volume of the company and voluntariness of use significantly moderate the relationship between performance expectancy and social influence respectively. Additionally, we find regional differences in the significance of key UTAUT antecedents. Specifically, we find that the North American internal auditors are more likely to use continuous auditing due to soft social coercion pressures of Social Influence through peers and higher authorities. On the other hand, Middle Eastern auditors are more likely to use the technology if it is mandated by the higher authorities.     

论民间审计在保护产权过程中面临的环境约束

产权制度是社会主义、市场经济的基石。作为一种经济监督和鉴证手段,审计成为产权保护的一种机制。而审计职能和作用的发挥不仅取决于审计系统本身的完善程度,还与审计赖以存在的环境息息相关。本文从审计经济环境、政治环境、社会文化、法律环境、社会诚信和执业环境等角度分析民间审计在发挥产权保护作用过程中面临的环境约束,并提出解决问题的主要对策。     

Institutional Influence,Transition Management and the Demand for Carbon Auditing: The Chinese Experience

The primary objective of this study is to investigate factors associated with the increase in demand for carbon auditing in China. Based on an analysis of publicly available carbon‐related information and data, the paper documents the large amount of carbon auditing that occurred in the public sector during the period 2009–2013. We find that the creation of carbon institutions and the significant increase in governmental green funding were the main reasons for the emergence of carbon auditing in this period. The change in models of economic development attempting to balance GDP growth and ecosystem protection, in addition to institutional reform, has led carbon auditing from rhetoric to practice. In addition, we show that carbon auditing serves as a tool for the management of transitions and the governance of sustainable socio‐technical and organisational innovation and transformation.     

现代审计活动中的行为研究

审计作为一种独立的经济监督活动,具体表现为审计人员个体与群体组织的一系列有序的行为,而审计行为与其它行为一样,需要进行科学与合理的规划、领导、组织和控制。因此,在现代审计活动中,必须注重对审计行为的研究,把握个体行为、群体行为两者的内在联系和相互作用,充分调动审计人员的工作积极性和主观能动性,增加审计群体的凝聚力,促进审计组织活动的有效进行。     

Accounting for privatisation in Africa? Reflections from a critical interdisciplinary perspective

The interrelation of privatisation and accounting constitutes a wide-ranging focus for research that is attractive from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. A number of studies may be considered part of this focus in holding themselves out as types of evaluation of – or as an accounting, or accountability, for – privatisation. For us, the evaluation of privatisation programmes is properly a concern of critical accounting research and of those interested in the development of more holistic forms of accounting and auditing for appraisal, such as is envisaged in forms of social accounting and social auditing. Indeed the assessment of privatisation has been deemed within the ambit of the social audit movement. Privatisation in Africa is controversial. In today's context it is often integral to the particular form of the globalisation process and carries related ambiguities. Apparently something of a panacea for its advocates, it is problem-ridden for its critics. How should we account for privatisation in Africa? We promote the delineation of a holistic accounting evaluation model by reflecting on a critical review of research constituting accounts of privatisation in Africa. Of course such research, to the extent that it is holistic or comprehensive, would include attention to the mobilisation in context of various accountings as well as related practices of governance at micro- and macro-levels—in turn reflecting the sense in which accounting, along with related systems of governance, is pervasive in privatisation processes. While we find strengths in the research analysed and acknowledge its contribution, we point to deficiencies and gaps from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. These gaps and deficiencies delimit policy discourse and praxis vis-à-vis privatisation in Africa and beyond. They also point to a more holistic accounting model of appraisal. We acknowledge the particularities of Africa, and indeed of the differing nations, cultures and regions of Africa, but also suggest the model's relevance not only for African contexts but beyond.     

Mechanisms for controlling expenditure in the Spanish Royal Household, c.1561-c.18081

The purpose of this article is to examine the accounting and auditing in the Spanish Royal Household between 1561 and 1808. The Royal Household was the third most important item of expenditure that the State Treasury financed, after the Army and Navy and the National Debt. On studying spending control in the Royal Household, we have rejected the idea, often advanced by historiography, that there was no spending control within this institution. On the contrary, treasurers and accountants were only able to release funds for expenditure purposes on the basis of prior authorization. However, the efficiency of spending control was very limited due to technical, administrative and, above all, social and political elements.     

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。     

Perspectives from mainland China,Hong Kong and the UK on the development of China’s auditing firms: implications and a research agenda

Based on gaining privileged access to interview senior representatives of audit firms, regulatory bodies, financial institutions, universities and other organisations in mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK, this exploratory study presents a range of informed views about the rapid development of China’s auditing profession over the last 25 years. It explores the emerging roles of the firms in the 2nd-tier international networks and among the larger stand-alone firms as challengers to the Big 4, nationally and internationally. It identifies national and international institutional interactions that have shaped and are being shaped by this rapid growth, with particular reference to the overarching role of the State’s shifting strategies to create a domestic profession in China that can compete internationally. The potential consequences, given China’s unequalled size and its expanding global influence, could change the nature and structure of the global profession. A significant contribution of this exploratory empirical study has been to deconstruct the continuing conventional political and academic rhetoric that dichotomises firms into ‘foreign vs local’ and ‘Big 4 vs other’. It contributes new voices and alternative perspectives to the emerging literature on the glocalization of large professional services firms and suggests new opportunities for future auditing research.     

Determinants of audit report modifications in Finnish municipalities

Although municipalities are major economic and social actors in most countries, remarkably little is known about their audits, particularly the determinants of their audit report modifications. The existing evidence is ambiguous at best and scarce, which provides opportunities for further accounting studies in this area. Therefore, based on an agency theory framework, we fill this important research gap by exploring three determinants of audit report modifications in municipalities: (1) economic performance, (2) decentralization of decision-making across different decision-making bodies, and (3) political competition between political parties in local councils. These determinants are examined based on a large panel of data on Finnish municipalities for the period from 2009 to 2013, covering virtually all of the country’s municipalities. We find that a striking 33 percent of audit reports had modifications during this period, which raises serious concerns about the state of municipal management, accounting, and auditing in Finland. Regarding the above determinants, the following conclusions can be made based on our analyses. First, we find partial evidence that weak economic performance increases the likelihood of audit report modifications. Second, the lower the competition among political parties in a local council, the lower the likelihood of audit report modifications. Finally, the more decentralized decision making is across the different decision-making bodies under the local council, the higher the probability of audit report modifications. These results are consistent with agency theory’s explanations regarding the value of auditing.     

Factors Influencing the Presence of Ethics and CSR Stand-alone Courses in the Accounting Masters Curricula: An International Study

Abstract

This paper provides a web-content analysis of the curriculum and subjects of the top accounting and auditing masters identified in the Eduniversal 2012–2013 ratings of the best business schools in the world. The main aim of this study is to analyze the influence exerted by different factors on the extent to which accounting programs are incorporating ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) stand-alone courses. The findings of this study do not offer a very optimistic outlook on the extent to which the accounting and auditing top masters ranked by the Eduniversal ratings are offering stand-alone courses related to ethics and CSR. Also, the findings suggest that the presence of ethics and CSR stand-alone subjects in the accounting and auditing masters analyzed is partially explained by the size and the cultural influence exerted by the geographical location.     

Regulatory networks for accounting and auditing standards: A social network analysis of Canadian and international standard-setting

Rose and Miller [Rose, N., & Miller, P. (1992). Political power beyond the state: Problematics of government. British Journal of Sociology, 43(2), 173–205] note that governmentality is exercised through “centers of calculation” embedded in “networks of rule;” we focus on the “networks of rule” and use social network analysis to document the linked organizations, both domestic and international, that affect the creation of accounting and auditing standards in Canada. The network is defined as the set of regulatory bodies and other organizations that have the right to appoint (or approve the appointment of) members of another organization’s standard-setting body. The network consists of 61 organizations, sharing 131 interlocks. These organizations are clustered into four groups centered on, respectively, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Canadian Securities Administrators, International Federation of Accountants and the IOSCO/World Bank. The analysis identifies the boundaries of these clusters and the key organizations that maintain the cohesion of the network. The conclusion identifies research opportunities opened by this perspective on accounting and auditing regulation.