The sales recovery audit: Learning to walk the talk

Little research attention has been devoted to the impact of salesperson failure and recovery management on customer relationship development. This paper develops a theoretically anchored and externally validated sales recovery audit for the purpose of assessing sales organization performance in these matters. Results based on a survey of 177 sales managers indicate that practice of sales recovery efforts lags behind their perceived importance as they relate to organizational success. The sales recovery audit presented here can be a useful tool to continuously evaluate and enhance sales recovery efforts for the purpose of building a stronger relationship selling organization.     

Game analysis on the regulation of listed companies＇ accounting information-gaming between Internal Audit Department and Audit Office

Through the establishment of game model, this article formulates the intuitive and experiential understanding of regulation on listed companies＇ accounting information by using game analysis method, and from an economic point of view, it analyzes how various parameters affect Internal Audit Department＇s nonfeasance probability and Auditing Office＇s supervision probability. Hope that this article can provide a reference for regulation on accounting information.     

我国民间审计独立性缺失的主要原因及防范对策

独立性是注册会计师审计的灵魂,决定着审计意见的客观、公正性。近年来,审计失败案件屡屡发生,给会计师事务所、企业和社会造成巨大损失,大量审计失败案件发生,反映了注册会计师审计缺乏独立性。本文结合我国实际,分析了审计失败中独立性缺失的原因,并提出了若干改善审计独立性的途径。     

独立审计、公司外部治理与真实经营业绩——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

独立审计是公司治理的重要外部机制,但考察独立审计治理功能影响公司真实经营业绩的文献还较少。从减少信息不对称、提升治理效率与决策能力角度,提出了一个独立审计的公司外部治理功能影响公司真实经营业绩的理论框架。选取事务所规模、审计收费和审计意见作为审计质量的替代变量,以我国2007年-2009年上市公司为样本,实证研究发现事务所规模及审计收费均与公司真实经营业绩正相关;审计意见对公司滞后一年的真实经营业绩没有影响,这可能与我国监管及诉讼制度不完善导致＂非标＂意见未给公司及其内部人带来显著成本有关。     

新巴塞尔协议与银行审计风险

新巴塞尔协议强化了银行风险管理理念，对银行业建立完善的内部风险制度提出了更高的要求。为适应新巴塞尔协议全面实行后带来的冲击与挑战，银行审计的理论和方法也需要改进。本文主要探讨了新巴塞尔协议对我国银行业的影响，以及银行审计的改进措施。     

A Proposal to Replace 'True and Fair View' With 'Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement'

This article examines argumentation factors which affect the truth of an audit opinion. We propose that the auditor's report be revised to replace the words 'true and fair view' with 'acceptable risk of material misstatement'. This would better align the communication of auditors with the characteristics of accounting information upon which they report. Adoption of the wording 'acceptable risk of material misstatement' will facilitate a better appreciation by users of financial statements of the accounting estimates in financial statements.     

Big Six auditors and audit quality: The Korean evidence

This study investigates the association between discretionary accruals and Big Six and non-Big Six auditors, and the direction of auditor change. We hypothesize that there is no significant difference in discretionary accruals between Big Six and non-Big Six clients when there is low incentive for auditors to provide high-quality audits, as in Korea.Upon examination of the discretionary accruals of firms listed on the Korean Stock Exchange from 1994 to 1998, we find there is no significant difference between the discretionary accruals of firms with Big Six and non-Big Six auditors. This holds true for firms that switch from non-Big Six to Big Six auditors and vice versa. These resources imply that there may be no difference in audit quality between Big Six and non-Big Six auditors in Korea. This is consistent with other studies in Korea, while inconsistent with the findings of previous studies on audit quality in other countries.     

审计概念的模糊性:基于注册会计师职业判断视角

在审计理论研究和审计实践工作中,通常会运用到大量的审计概念,如审计独立性、审计重要性、审计风险等。这些审计概念往往都没有十分精确的定义,而含有极大的模糊性。这就为注册会计师职业判断的产生和运用提供了极大的空间。事实上,在审计的各个环节,无不含有注册会计师丰富的职业判断在内。因此,揭示审计概念的模糊性与审计人员职业判断之间的依存关系显得十分必要。     

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.     

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.