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.     

中期财务报告自愿审计的动机和市场反应分析——基于中国上市公司的经验数据

作为外部治理机制的审计是公司信息披露质量的重要保证,目前法规对上市公司中期财务报告的审计并无强制性法规要求,许多上市公司选择中期财务报表自愿审计,其行为是一种主动传递信息的过程。本文通过对我国上市公司2007至2010年证券市场自愿中报审计的经验数据分析,对公司自愿中报审计的动机和市场反应进行了实证研究。研究发现:公司中期财务报表自愿审计与公司的成长性和公司规模显著相关,且公司的财务状况和股权性质对公司的自愿审计有一定影响;同时,市场对上市公司中期财务报告自愿审计行为有一定的正面反应,但这种反应效力不足,且持续力较低。     

上市公司内部审计机构设置及履行职责情况研究

将内部审计机构作为内部控制监督机构是国际内部审计发展的趋势,通过对沪市上市公司2010年报中披露的有关公司内部审计机构设置、命名、职责定位、履职情况、隶属关系等信息进行描述性统计分析,发现沪市公司在机构设置、职责定位、隶属关系方面合规率较高,但存在机构名称多元化、实际履职与职责定位不吻合等问题,主要原因是我国内部审计法律基础薄弱、政策依据缺乏统一性和刚性、政策理念滞后等。基于此,提出了应从完善审计法规、统一内部审计模式等方面予以改进的政策性建议。     

Predicting credit card fraud with Sarbanes‐Oxley assessments and Fama‐French risk factors

This research developed and tested machine learning models to predict significant credit card fraud in corporate systems using Sarbanes‐Oxley (SOX) reports, news reports of breaches and Fama‐French risk factors (FF). Exploratory analysis found that SOX information predicted several types of security breaches, with the strongest performance in predicting credit card fraud. A systematic tuning of hyperparamters for a suite of machine learning models, starting with a random forest, an extremely‐randomized forest, a random grid of gradient boosting machines (GBMs), a random grid of deep neural nets, a fixed grid of general linear models where assembled into two trained stacked ensemble models optimized for F1 performance; an ensemble that contained all the models, and an ensemble containing just the best performing model from each algorithm class. Tuned GBMs performed best under all conditions. Without FF, models yielded an AUC of 99.3% and closeness of the training and validation matrices confirm that the model is robust. The most important predictors were firm specific, as would be expected, since control weaknesses vary at the firm level. Audit firm fees were the most important non‐firm‐specific predictors. Adding FF to the model rendered perfect prediction (100%) in the trained confusion matrix and AUC of 99.8%. The most important predictors of credit card fraud were the FF coefficient for the High book‐to‐market ratio Minus Low factor. The second most influential variable was the year of reporting, and third most important was the Fama‐French 3‐factor model R² – together these described most of the variance in credit card fraud occurrence. In all cases the four major SOX specific opinions rendered by auditors and the signed SOX report had little predictive influence.     

论科学发展中国特色审计

当前,国家审计机关学习贯彻落实党的十七大精神,就是要紧密围绕十七大精神,紧密联系审计实际,大力推进中国特色社会主义审计科学发展。本文围绕贯彻科学发展观树立中国特色审计科学思想、围绕坚持中国特色道路创立中国特色审计理论体系、围绕实现小康目标要求确立中国特色审计发展策略、围绕促进经济好快发展探索中国特色审计监督新路、围绕发展政治文化社会发挥中国特色审计职能作用、围绕推进党建伟大工程强化中国特色审计队伍建设等方面进行粗浅探讨,以此期能对科学发展中国特色审计事业起到积极促进作用。     

基层领导干部经济责任审计在建设社会主义新农村中的地位与作用

建设社会主义新农村,是党的十六届五中全会提出的重大战略部署,是贯彻落实科学发展观、全面建设小康社会和推进和谐社会建设的必然选择。经济责任审计工作是新时期加强对权力监督和制约,强化干部监督管理的重要手段。如何把经济责任审计与建设新农村结合起来,使经济责任审计在社会主义新农村建设中发挥应有的作用,是各级审计机关在新形势下面临的重要课题。本文旨在通过深入探析开展农村基层组织领导干部经济责任审计实践与社会主义新农村建设的内在联系,来把握和认识经济责任审计在建设社会主义新农村中的发展规律和重要意义。     

会计监督与审计监督的不可替代性与互补性研究

会计监督与审计监督虽然同属于经济监督体系,但是又有各自独立的体系,它们在经济监督中所产生的作用有所不同。本文从企业内部的角度探讨了会计监督与审计监督的不可替代性和互补性,明确了两者的关系,才能为企业内部开展经济监督提供可靠的依据。     

The impact of cultural environment on entry-level auditors’ abilities to perform analytical procedures

We focus on the impact of three of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism, on the results of analytical procedures conducted by entry-level auditors in Mexico and the U.S. Analytical procedures are ideal for this research as they require auditors to use professional judgment and appropriate levels of professional skepticism, abilities related to all three cultural characteristics. We find no other study investigating the impact of culture on the application of auditing procedures similar across the studied cultures.We find cultural characteristics do not affect the participants’ abilities to predict income statement balances, but they may influence the ability to predict changes in balance sheet accounts. We also find culture is associated with differences in risk assessments. Our results indicate that participants rarely differentiate accounts that change according to expectation from those that change contrary to expectation, but rather alter their risk assessments to match the direction of balances that increase or decrease.     

On hypocrisy,the phronemos,and kitsch: A reply to our commentators

The commentators expressed a number of concerns regarding our paper and they provided useful insights by reframing our findings from a more exacting Kunderian perspective as well as from yet other, theoretical points-of-view. In our reply we address the three commentaries in turn, and we do so using a Kunderian lens. We conclude by highlighting a number of useful research directions to which the commentators alert us.     

Auditing private companies: what do we know?

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the literature on what we currently know about the costs and benefits of auditing private company accounts. Our main conclusions are the following. First, there is much heterogeneity in factors driving audit demand in private companies and the value derived from the audit. Second, research provides support for improved financial reporting quality due to, and real economic benefits from, private company audits. Third, the cost–benefit analysis for private company audits is firm-specific and mandating the audit does not seem to be cost-effective and thus economically optimal for all private companies. Alternative services may better meet the needs of especially smaller private companies. Furthermore, mandating the audit is not necessarily an optimal solution since private companies with low demand for a high-quality audit are able to find an auditor that meets their requirements even under a mandatory regime. Hence, having a mandatory audit in place is no guarantee for universally high-quality audits and this seems most salient for private companies where auditors may be more prone to independence issues. We conclude by providing a number of directions for future research.