The Importance of Account Relations when Responding to Interim Audit Testing Results*

Auditors are expected to plan and adapt audit programs in response to changes in risk associated with each client. Results in the existing research have been mixed regarding whether auditors respond to changes in risk. Two possible explanations for the lack of responsiveness to changes in risk found in the existing research are that auditors succumb to profit pressure, and that researchers only analyze responses in the risky accounts without considering related accounts. This paper experimentally tests how auditors respond to changes in risk of material misstatement identified by means of interim audit testing results. The response to changes in risk of material misstatement is analyzed using planned audit hours across related financial statement accounts and at varying levels of profit pressure. Results indicate the following primary findings: (a) auditors respond to changes in risk of material misstatement by increasing planned audit hours in accounts related to the risky account, and (b) profit pressure does not affect the auditor's response to changes in risk. These results indicate that the relations between accounts must be considered in order to identify the auditors' response to changes in risk of material misstatement. In addition, the results are consistent with audit firms decreasing the emphasis on profit pressure due to the current importance that the market places on audit quality.     

制定旧油管检修标准确保检修质量

阐述了旧油管检修中存在的诸多缺陷，检修质量得不到保障，下井后出现无序失效的质量事故。指出，制定旧油管检修标准，是提高检修质量，延长作业周期，降低作业费用，确保油田生产的根本途径。     

An Experimental Investigation of Approaches to Audit Decision Making: An Evaluation Using Systems‐Mediated Mental Models*

The objective of this research is to articulate a decision‐making foundation for the systems audit approach. Under this audit approach, the auditor first gains an understanding of the auditee's economic environment, strategy, and business processes and then forms expectations about its performance and financial reporting. Proponents of this audit approach argue that decision making is enhanced because the knowledge of the system allows the auditor to focus on the most important risks. However, there has not been an explicit framework to explain how systems knowledge can enhance decision making. To provide such a framework, we combine mental model theory with general systems theory to produce a hypothesis we refer to as a systems‐mediated mental model hypothesis. We test this hypothesis using experimental economics methods. We find that (1) subjects make systematic errors under the setting without an organizing framework provided by the systems information, and (2) the presence of an organizing framework results in lower reporting errors. Importantly, the organizing framework significantly enhances decision making in the settings where the environment changed. Establishing a decision‐making foundation for systems audits can provide an important building block that, in part, can contribute to the development of a more effective and efficient audit technology ‐ an important objective now when audits are facing a credibility crisis.     

Audit Qualifications of Income‐Decreasing Accounting Choices*

In this study we conduct an experiment to examine how qualifying an income‐decreasing accounting change in years of strong financial performance affects financial report users' assessments of strategic reporting, current financial performance, and future financial performance (performance over the next three years). We find that without the qualification, users viewed the income‐decreasing accounting change as relatively nonstrategic and that user assessments of current and future performance were not different. In the presence of the qualification, users believed that the accounting change was relatively strategic, and they discounted the income effect of the accounting change. We find further that their assessments of future performance were below their assessments of current performance but no different from the assessments of future performance in the absence of the qualification. Although our findings suggest that audit qualifications encourage users to be skeptical of income‐decreasing accounting changes, we find no evidence that they impose negative consequences on management in terms of lower assessments of financial performance.     

浅议企业技术资产审计

本文运用审计的原理与方法,构建出企业技术资产审计程序,提出了技术类别、生命周期、技术资产存量、技术投资、技术定位、技术产品与组合审计的方法。     

Periodical Replacement Model for a Multi-Unit System Subject to Failure Rate Interaction

A periodical replacement model for a multi-unit system subject to failure rate interaction between units is presented. In a N-unit system, one is dominant unit and the others are secondary units. When a secondary unit fails, it increases the failure rate of the dominant unit by some amount, while the failure of dominant unit make the system into total failure. Without failure rate interaction, the failure rates of all units also increase with age. All single failures of secondary units are assumed to be corrected by minimal repairs. The system is replaced at age T, or on total failure, whichever occurs first. The aim of this paper is to derive the expected cost rate per unit time as a criterion of optimality and to seek the optimal period T ^* to minimize that cost rate.     

The civil justice system and going concern audit reports: Comments on “Auditors’ decision-making under going concern uncertainties in low litigation risk environments: Evidence from Hong Kong”

Lam and Mensah [Lam, K., Mensah, Y.M., 2006. Auditors’ decision-making under going concern uncertainties in low litigation risk environments: Evidence from Hong Kong. J. Account. Public Pol. 25 (6), this issue] provide some valuable insight on auditors’ choice of going concern audit reports in an environment where the civil justice system affords, from the standpoint of the plaintiff, fewer remedies and is more difficult to file a complaint than it is in the US. Hence, from the auditor’s standpoint, this environment can appropriately be described as a “low litigation risk environment”. In this comment, I first question whether a disclaimer of an opinion is any indication of either a quality audit or professionalism. Secondly, three alternative explanations for the empirical regularities are discussed. The Gatekeeper Story suggests auditors are simply not willing to risk reducing their reputational capital by acquiescing to clients that are not likely to survive their own financial distress. The Herding Story suggests that, when auditors are faced with uncertainties or a gap in the authoritative literature, auditors will herd together to form a common response that mimic one-another. The Value of Incumbency Story holds that as the value of incumbency declines with the client’s inability to survive, auditors will have fewer incentives to incur the incremental costs to gather sufficient competent evidential matter necessary to support an unqualified opinion.     

也谈上市公司审计质量

本文从公司治理的角度,对上市公司的审计质量低下问题进行分析,认为:在理性的经济人假设前提下,正是由于提供虚假证明的收益大于提供虚假证明的成本,使中介机构产生与上市公司"合谋"提供虚假会计信息的冲动,因此,严重影响上市公司的审计质量。为此,本文提出治理的重点是:改由证券监管部门聘任审计机构,改革会计师事务所组织形式,完善审计聘任制度,规范会计师事务所的业务服务范围,完善注册会计师职业规范体系,加强后续教育,提高注册会计师的专业水平等。     

一种生存性军事虚拟网络映射新方法

针对生存性的军事虚拟网络映射问题,提出了生存性的军事虚拟网络映射需要遵循的原则。构建了虚拟网络映射模型,并采用蝙蝠算法进行求解。针对故障情况,提出了区分服务的故障恢复策略,对于高优先级虚网请求提前构建保护路径,对于低优先级虚网请求则提出基于链路可靠性的故障迁移算法,为了减少带宽消耗适当考虑了节点迁移策略。最后通过仿真验证了算法在虚拟网络运行成功率、故障修复率和链路利用率方面相比其他算法具有更好的性能。     

零售业的服务失误归因及服务补救策略

零售企业是一个与顾客紧密联系的服务型企业,失误的频次相对较高,容易流失顾客,形成"不良口碑"。寻找服务失误的原因以及实施补救措施,降低顾客流失,减弱"不良口碑"成为零售企业所追求的目标。本文根据零售企业的运营模式将服务失误的原因进行了分类,从企业、顾客和供应商三个方面挖掘服务失误的原因并给出了相应的服务对策。