Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Auditor's Office'

Auditing has grown substantially in recent times, expanding into different parts of the world through a network of international audit firms (dominated mainly by the Big Six or more recently the Big Five). The growth of auditing and audit firms has not been hindered significantly by consistent criticism, doubts and debates about the value of the auditing function and what it can deliver in countries with long established audit traditions. Much of such criticism and debates usually surface in the aftermath of major financial scandals and corporate collapses and have increasingly been captured of the term of the "audit expectation gap" -a phrase referring to the difference between what auditors perceive as their duty and what the users of financial statements expect from auditors. Research has examined the main elements of the audit expectations gap, including the nature of assurance, audit reporting, auditor independence and regulation/liability of auditors. Few research studies, however have focused on examining the audit function through a case study of a major financial scandal. Even fewer studies have paid attention or researched the audit function in non- Anglo-American contexts. This is the primary aim of the thesis. To explore such a research area, this study uses the scandal that surrounded Grupo Torras, the Kuwait Investment Office's (KIO) investment holding group in Spain. The collapse of the group in 1992 offers the opportunity to examine auditing in Spain, a country with notably high expectations of auditing in recent times, and Kuwait, a developing country recently having returned to democracy. The issue of the audit expectations gap in Kuwait is also explored using a questionnaire survey of the views of auditors, directors and users in Kuwait. Such survey represents the first comprehensive survey of auditing expectations in the Gulf region - an increasingly significant economic area given the growth in oil revenues. The case study reveals different response to the scandal. In Spain, criticism and debates started to surface immediately after the scandal while in Kuwait no major criticism or debate about the audit function has taken place. The case study shows how auditing was unable to cope in a complicated financial and political environment, where senior powerful managers, were involved in mismanagement and fraud. Despite the limitations of the auditing function in practice, the questionnaire survey shows only a limited audit expectations gap in Kuwait and considerable degree of satisfaction among people in Kuwait with auditing. This shows that the image of auditing is mostly based on perception rather than on its ability to perform in practice and raises a range of important issues for the future, especially giving the growing doubts about the uniform nature of auditing service provided by "multinational" audit firms.

O presente trabalho apresenta uma aplicação do Lean Office no processo de auditoria de certificação de um Organismo de Certificação de Sistema da Qualidade (OCS) aeroespacial, com o objetivo de mapear e identificar oportunidades de melhoria no processo. Para a aplicação do Lean Office, foi realizada uma pesquisa-ação na qual foram implementados os passos de 1 a 8 que são propostos por Tapping e Shuker, no livro "Lean Office: gerenciamento do fluxo de valor para áreas administrativas - 8 passos para planejar, mapear e sustentar melhorias lean nas áreas administrativas". Com a aplicação do Lean Office, pode-se constatar que é possível mapear e aprimorar um processo, cujo foco é a prestação de serviços, por meio da eliminação de etapas que não agregam valor e redução do Lead Time. Sendo assim, verificou-se que a implementação do Lean Office no processo de auditoria de certificação de um OCS possibilitou o mapeamento do fluxo de valor desse processo e a verificação de desperdícios que levaram a identificação de oportunidades de melhoria, o que determina o alcance do objetivo desta pesquisa.

In open office settings, auditory distractions coming from surrounding work environment are shown to be a considerable source of indirect costs to an organization, such as performance costs, behavioral costs, and healthcare costs, to name a few. These costs are substantial to affect the net productivity of an organization, where productivity is equal to revenue minus the costs. This research argues that the costs of auditory distractions should be estimated when evaluating the value of a workspace for an organization. However, since organizational decisions are generally guided by cost-benefit analysis and a precise dollar figure cannot be attached to the stated indirect costs because these are subjective in nature; therefore, these are generally ignored. Costs that are critical to sustainability and development of a business and the fact that cost-benefit approach is no longer appropriate for these decisions, a more robust decision-based approach to workspace selection is proposed. Decision-based approach is seen as an organized approach to select between workspace options under uncertainty and risk wherein the selected workspace is maximized in terms of some expected utility. Here utility is defined as the measurement of strength or intensity of a person's preferences. Decision-based approach include consideration of a multitude of environmental decision variables, objective or subjective, in a single equation and processing of the same in a limited amount of time with rationality and consistency. A multi-attribute workspace choice utility decision model is developed with the intent to facilitate systematic understanding and analysis of workspace alternatives for an organization. This research shows how the decision-making approach to workspace selection simplifies the problem by providing a structure that is easily comprehensible, and allows simultaneous processing of both, qualitative and quantitative conflicting objectives, through a single decision-making model. In doing so, this research firmly establishes the importance of workspace's adaptability to auditory distractions for office workers, particularly knowledge workers, who are constantly undertaking a range of complex tasks. The study holistically and systematically addresses the fundamental issue prevalent in state-of-the-art North American open plan office settings of substantiality of two extremely contrasting requirements, concentration and collaboration, in the same workspace and work environment at a given time.

The current study examined several issues regarding auditor independence from the perspective of an emerging market such as Malaysia. A spate of ‘mini-Enrons’ in 2007 and 2008 has raised questions of investor confidence in the financial system specifically the national stock market. These scandals involving listed companies have highlighted concerns of regulators and other interested parties relating to threats to auditor independence. Factors affecting the ability of auditors to remain independent include long audit tenure, financial dependence on a single audit client, non-audit services provided to audit clients, ex-auditor employment with an audit client and the existence of audit committees. It is therefore timely to examine the importance of auditor independence in the provision of reliable and credible financial information. The current study uses a questionnaire survey to examine users’ (bank loan officers and professional investors) perceptions of the impact of the various factors on auditor independence. The results of the study revealed that Malaysian users of financial statements have serious concerns about the threats to auditor independence. The results also reveal that audit committees are perceived as the main safeguard for auditor independence. In general, both groups of respondents agreed that the current regulations for auditors, as set down by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants’ By-Laws, were sufficient to safeguard auditor independence. However, there are mechanisms that the financial statement users believed should be implemented that could provide greater protection for their investment. For example, the loan officers in this study seemed to prefer mandatory audit firm rotation to partner rotation. Further investigation indicated that differences existed in perceptions across the examined demographic and background variables. The results of the study also suggest that Malaysian loan officers and professional investors still have faith in the auditing profession and this is reflected in their belief that audited financial statements are important for them to make lending and investing decisions.

Increasing accountability is a key element in a wide variety of governance reforms, from national level, public sector restructuring, to anti corruption campaigns and to centralise service delivery at local levels. (Van Wyk, 2002:311). Financial accountability has a major effect on performance issues, and these two combined have implications on democratic accountability. It is obviously a fact that when public officials become accountable, this will have a positive effect on service delivery. The introduction of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 1999 (Act 1 of 1999) as amended by Act 29 of 1999 adopts an approach to financial management, which emphasises the need for accountability of results by focusing on output and responsibility rather than the rule driven approach of the previous Exchequer Acts. One quickly realises that the PFMA aims to regulate financial management at both National and Provincial levels of government. It directs attention at revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities and aims to see that these are managed efficiently and effectively. Public finance accountability is increasingly becoming important in the public sector. One means of effecting accountability is through auditing. For this reason the Office of the Auditor -General through the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 (Act 108 of 1996 section 216 (1)) was established to facilitate effective accountability through auditing. The Office of the Auditor -General’s role is by no means minor, for it plays a major role in curbing corruption and acts as a ‘watchdog’ of the nation over public funds. Amidst high mismanagement and misuse of public resources, as well as corruption, especially in developing countries, the major question one asks is how effective the Auditor -General can be in ensuring effective public financial management and accountability within state departments so as to improve service delivery.

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In this study, the administrations of mayors of Gilberto Kassab and Fernando Haddad were analyzed with the intention of demonstrating the performance of democratic controls in the fight against corruption, as well as the practices in the public policy of the city of Sao Paulo during the period of their administrations. As a result, the case known as the "Audit Tax Mafia" was analyzed, which shows the State's fragility in containing, restraining, and extirpating these criminal organizations located within its core. It also emphasizes the importance of administrative actions and decisions aimed at interfering in partisan and personal political interests, or as reinforcers of practices of corruption and disorder. The study demonstrates that the institutional apparatus, which should exercise the function of control, suffers numerous negative interferences and, to a large extent, treats the cases superficially and without the rigor that a realignment of paths would require, as well as in the sphere of Justice. As a result, corruption becomes "institutionalized" and becomes a part of the current politicaladministrative system, within a promiscuous correlation between the executive and legislative branches and several other agents, among them lies a section of public officials
Neste estudo foram analisadas as práticas na política pública do município de São Paulo, no período das gestões dos prefeitos Gilberto Kassab e Fernando Haddad, a fim de demonstrar a atuação dos controles democráticos no combate à corrupção. Para isso, analisou-se o caso conhecido como “Máfia dos Auditores Fiscais”, o qual mostra a fragilidade do Estado em conter, coibir e em extirpar essas organizações criminosas instaladas em seu cerne. Além de ressaltar a importância de ações e decisões administrativas voltadas para a ingerência de interesses políticos partidários e pessoais, ou como reforçadores de práticas de corrupção e de desmandos. O estudo demonstra que o aparato institucional, que deveria exercer a função de controladoria, sofre inúmeras interferências negativas e, em grande parte, trata os casos de maneira superficial e sem o rigor que uma correção de rota exigiria, inclusive na esfera da Justiça. Com isso, a corrupção acaba “institucionalizada” e como parte do sistema políticoadministrativo vigente, numa correlação promíscua entre os poderes executivo, legislativo e diversos outros agentes, dentre eles, uma parte de funcionários públicos

This thesis investigated a multi-class auditory P300 BCI as a step towards FES applicability. A multi-class P300 paradigm approach provides degrees-of-freedom in operating an FES device over the traditional P300 paradigm. Accuracy in classification of target P300s contributes to the paradigm's applicability in a 'real' environment. The computational effectiveness of the paradigm can be enhanced through signal processing prior to classification. A combination of principal component analysis (PCA) and independent component analysis (ICA), together with a method of enhancing the P300 properties through temporal and spatial manipulation are investigated as a means of improving classification accuracy. The combination of these techniques and the use of a multi-class P300 paradigm presents a different approach as a step towards FES applicability in an auditory BCI.

The audit expectation gap, generally known as the differences between what users of financialstatements expect from the auditor and what the auditor actually provides, is present andresulting to a widespread concern. This thesis aims to investigate the level and nature of the audit expectation gap betweenauditors and commercial loan officers. In addition, this thesis also asks the question ifeducation is a mean to reduce commercial loan officers’ audit expectation gap. A questionnaire containing seven-point Likert scales with bipolar adjectival statements wassent to auditors and commercial loan officers. The respondents were asked to choose anumber from the scale which identified their level of agreement to either one of thestatements. The results revealed substantial evidence of an audit expectation gap particularly on issuesconcerning auditors’ responsibilities in fraud detection and prevention. Education oncommercial loan officers could reduce the audit expectation gap.

L'objectif principal de cette étude est de déterminer comment les individus impliqués dans le processus de vue comptable, regardent le rôle de l'information comptable dans un environnement économique où les marchés financiers sont dominants. L'étude tente également de déterminer si International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) parti dans l'accomplissement de ce rôle. À cette fin, on compare les perceptions des directeurs financiers, les analystes financiers et les auditeurs de deux environnements de marché très différents, l'Europe comme une variable pour un environnement de marché de capitaux très développés et le Brésil comme une variable pour un environnement de marché des capitaux moins développé. Par le biais d'une enquête, nous voulons déterminer si les producteurs de données comptables (directeurs financiers), les utilisateurs de ces données (analystes financiers) et les contrôleurs de l'information comptable (auditeurs) partagent les mêmes vues sur l'utilité et les objectifs du processus de la comptabilité financière. L'extension de l'étude à plusieurs pays est un des moyens possibles pour déterminer si et comment l'environnement économique affecte l'opinion des personnes interrogées sur des informations comptables. Notre instrument d'enquête a été validé en trois langues (anglais, français et portugais) et utilisé dans six groupes de pays (un pour le Brésil, quatre groupes différents pour les pays européens et un pour les autres participants volontaires). Nous avons utilisé des statistiques descriptives et l'analyse des correspondances multivariée (ACM) pour faire notre analyse et interprétation des résultats. Nos résultats suggèrent que l'activité de nos répondants ont moins d'impact sur leurs réponses que les pays ou ils sont placés
The main objective of this study is to determine how individuals involved in the accounting process view the role of accounting information in an economic environment where capital markets are dominant. The study also attempts to determine whether International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) play a part in fulfilling this role. To this end, we compare the perceptions of financial officers, financial analysts and auditors from two distinctly different market environments, using Europe as a proxy for a highly developed capital market environment and Brazil as a proxy for a less developed capital market environment. By means of a survey, we want to identify whether producers of accounting data (financial officers), users of that data (financial analysts), and controllers of accounting information (auditors) share the same views on the usefulness and goals of the financial accounting process. Extending the study to several countries is a potential means for determining whether and how the economic environment affects the respondents' views of accounting information. Our survey instrument was validated in three languages (English, French and Portuguese) and applied in six groups of countries (one for Brazil, four distinct groups for European countries and one for other voluntary participants). We used descriptive statistics and multivariate correspondence analysis (MCA) to analyze and interpret the results. Our results suggest that the activity of our respondents has less influence on their answers than the country they work in

The 1996 Constitution of South Africa and the Public Audit Act of 2004 provide the legislative framework for the Office of the Auditor General of South Africa (OAGSA). The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors further enriched the interpretation of the framework – for government auditing. Over the years of democratic rule in South Africa, audit performance by State organs was generally poor. Despite the efforts by the OAGSA to improve the performance, very little improvement was notable. Most disturbing was the observation that there was widespread, a prevalence of recurring findings, which indicated that the OAGSA’s recommendations and guidelines were not acted upon, or largely ignored. Firstly, the research study established that the system of capitalist democracy, which comes in different varieties throughout world democracies, indeed brought about a situation where the electorate was effectively removed from its rightful place of being the principal, and had its place taken up by political parties (which are in fact, agents) - which (parties) governed on its (the electorate’s) behalf. This system, taken together with the Principal Agency and the Rational Choice Theories – fully explained the prevalence of maladministration and malfeasance in government in South Africa. Secondly, the study established that the OAGSA has done everything imaginable in its attempts to improve audit performance in government institutions – using the carrot rather than the stick approach. The legislative framework cited above, revealed that the OAGSA has the power to audit and report, while Parliament has the power to enforce corrective action. The lesson of this revelation is: that there is not much that the OAGSA can achieve without a high level of cooperation between itself and Parliament – if audit performance is to be effectively, and appreciably improved in South Africa. A disappointing discovery however was indirectly delivered to the world, through the results of a research study conducted by one Wehner in 2002, on Public Accounts Committees (PACs) (alias Standing Committees on Public Accounts (SCOPAs)) in world democracies. The Wehner study clearly demonstrated that there was nothing contained in these committees’ founding documents or enabling legislation – which in no uncertain terms, directed the committees on what procedures and processes to follow to ensure that their resolutions were acted upon. In other words there was no enforcement mechanism discernible for their resolutions. Thirdly, there were developments in case law in South Africa, which augured well for Constitutional Institutions in general. They are contained in court judgements relating to the mandate of the Office of the Public Protector (OPP). The question at the core of these developments was: whether the decisions or remedial action emanating from the OPP, were binding and enforceable. Two judgements cited as cases in point, one a High Court judgment and another a Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s), feature in the research report. The SCA, in summary found that decisions of administrative bodies of State – stand in fact and in law, until such time that a court of law invalidates them. The SCA ruled through citing a High Court judgement passed way back in 2004 - that Constitutional Institutions, although not organs of State per se – were certainly included in this 2004 finding, if one considers the rationale of this initial finding, taken together with the purpose for which Constitutional Institutions were established in South Africa in the first place. In conclusion, although visible root causes of poor audit findings appear overall to be poor consequence management and questionable leadership quality in government, the system of capitalist democracy is ultimately to blame. The system certainly had unintended consequences.

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The main aims of this study are to investigate how municipal Comptroller General´s offices have been structured within the sub-national political system, as well as to identify similarities and differences amongst said organizations. Such activities show relevance due to the fact that, despite frequent variations on the the denomination and on the structure of the central entities of subnational internal control systems for General Comptroller's offices, there is no specific regulation that predetermines the institutional standards, organizational features or performance scopes of these public entities. The task was fulfilled by means of the following actions: (i) bibliographic research with basis on the academic production of postgraduate courses in Public Administration and Accounting (with an emphasis on the study of Comptroller´s offices) in the latest three years of CAPES (2010- 2012); (ii) cataloging and analysis of the legal instruments of institutionalization of the internal control entities in the capital cities of Brazilian states; (iii) compared organizational analysis of the structures of the local Comptroller General´s offices available. Reserach found that the academic production in the field of Public Administration on the subject is still in its infancy. It also signalled the need for greater integration of the technical field with different academic realms (Public Administration, Accounting, Political Science, Law and Sociology). It suggested as well that, in addition to the process of dissemination from the federal sphere to the local one, there are several structural bases which influence the standards adopted by municipal Comptroller General´s offices. Finally, it pointed out that it is not appropriate to approach a single institutional format to the activity of controllership, but rather a set of constituted practices accordingly fit to different local contexts.
Investigar como as controladorias gerais municipais vêm se estruturando dentro do sistema político subnacional e identificar as similaridades e diferenças entre tais organizações são os principais objetivos deste trabalho. Tais atividades tornam-se relevantes a partir da constatação de que, apesar de ser cada vez mais frequente a alteração do nome e da estrutura do órgão central dos sistemas de controle interno subnacionais para controladorias gerais, não há uma regulamentação específica que predetermine os padrões institucionais, as funcionalidades organizacionais ou os escopos de atuação desses órgãos públicos. Cumpriu-se essa tarefa por meio das seguintes ações: (i) realização de pesquisa bibliográfica a partir da produção acadêmica dos cursos de pós-graduação em Administração Pública e Contabilidade (com ênfase no estudo de controladorias) no último triênio da CAPES (2010-2012); (ii) catalogação e análise dos instrumentos legais de institucionalização dos órgãos de controle interno nas capitais brasileiras; (iii) execução de análise organizacional comparada nas estruturas das controladorias-gerais encontradas. As pesquisas feitas constataram que a produção acadêmica da área de Administração Pública sobre o tema ainda é incipiente; que uma maior integração do campo técnico com diferentes campos acadêmicos (Administração Pública, Contabilidade, Ciência Política, Direito e Sociologia) se faz necessária; que, para além do processo de disseminação da esfera federal para local, há diversas bases estruturantes que influenciam o padrão adotado pelas controladorias públicas municipais; e que, enfim, não se pode falar em consolidação de um único formato institucional de controladoria mas, sim, de práticas constituídas conforme as diferentes conjunturas locais.

Revisorer har idag till uppgift att granska och uttala sig kring ett företags ekonomi, dess redovisning och, i Sverige, företagets förvaltning. Revision handlar delvis om att förstå det granskade företaget och dess verksamhet. Höga krav ställs på revisorns kompetens och oberoende, delvis för att intressenter ska kunna fatta viktiga beslut efter en korrekt utförd revision. Uppsatsen studerar huruvida det finns olika faktorer som har en inverkan på kvalitetsskillnader mellan små och stora revisionsbyråer. Vi vill med studiens syfte kartlägga och analysera huruvida revisionsbyråns storlek påverkas dess revisionskvalitet. Vi försöker i denna studie besvara vårt syfte utifrån två olika delstudier. Uppsatsens första delstudie består av en grundlig litteraturgenomgång där vi presenterar, för uppsatsen, relevant forskning. Efter en genomgripande litteraturgenomgång fann vi fem faktorer som vi valde att bygga vidare vår uppsats på. Dessa faktorer var upptäcka brister, rapportering av brister, klientportfölj, rykte och kontorsstorlek. Slutsatsen i delstudie 1 visar att faktorerna torde ha en betydande inverkan på revisionskvalitet och att de stora byråerna har lättare, än de mindre byråerna, att åstadkomma en revision av hög kvalitet. Några exempel på detta är att mycket kompetens på plats torde öka chansen att upptäcka brister i revisionen och att de stora byråernas rykte kan vara gynnsam för byråns klientselektion. Därefter följer delstudie 2 som är en fördjupning av uppsatsens delstudie 1. I denna del utförde vi en intervjustudie där 13 revisor intervjuades från både små och stora revisionsbyråer. Detta gjorde vi för att få en klarare bild över hur revisionskvalitet uppfattas av dagens revisorer och huruvida de ser någon skillnad mellan byråstorlekarna. Vi lade även till komfortfrågor under dessa intervjuer då vi ansåg det vara av stort intresse att tillföra den individuella revisorn och dennes upplevda komfort och huruvida detta kunde ha en inverkan på revisionens uppnådda kvalitet. Intervjustudiens resultat visade inga specifika mönster på att revisionskvaliteten skulle vara högre hos någon av de respektive byråstorlekarna. Vi fann istället den individuella revisorn och dennes komfort som den mest betydande faktorn för revisionskvalitet. Vårt kunskapsbidrag blir således utifrån denna studie att revisionskvaliteten inte torde skilja sig åt mellan byråstorlekarna. Vår analys åskådliggör däremot att den individuella revisorns engagemang och komfort är den avgörande faktorn till huruvida skillnader inom revisionskvalitet uppstår mellan byråer.
Today auditor´s task is to review and express their opinion on a company's finances, their accounts and, in Sweden, the company's management. Audit is partly about understanding the audited company and its operations. There are high demands on the auditor's competence and independence, partly because stakeholders should be able to make important decisions for a proper and thorough audit. The research involves studying whether there are different factors that have an impact on the quality differences between small and large accounting firms. We found the subject interesting and wanted to identify and analyze whether the auditing firm's size affected its audit quality. In this study we tried to answer our purpose from two different studies. The first sub-study consists of a thorough literature review where we present, for this essay, relevant research. After a thorough literature review, we found five factors that we chose to build our essay on. These factors included the identification of gaps, the shortcomings Report, Client Portfolio, Reputation and Office Size. The conclusion of this study shows that these factors have a significant impact on audit quality, and that the larger firms, from these factors, have it easier to achieve higher quality audits. Some examples are that more expertise in the office should increase the chance of detecting deficiencies in the audit, and that the great reputation of the agencies can be beneficial to the Agency's client selection. Then follows substudy 2, which is a deepening of the essay’s substudy 1. In this part we carried out an interview study, in which 13 auditors were interviewed from both small and large accounting firms. We did this in order to get a clearer picture of how audit quality is perceived by today's accountants, and whether they see any difference between the firm sizes. We also added comfort issues during these interviews because we considered it to be of great interest to supply the individual auditor and their perceived comfort, and whether this could have an impact on audit quality. The results of the interviews showed that no specific pattern on audit quality would be higher in any of the respective firm sizes. Interestingly, we instead found the individual auditor and his comfort as the most significant factor for audit quality. Our knowledge contribution is thus, based on this study, that audit quality is not higher in any particular firm when it comes to agency size. Our analysis illustrates, however, that the individual auditor's engagement and comfort are the deciding factors to whether differences in audit quality arises between agencies.

Mikroföretag vänder sig ofta till banken vid kreditbehov på grund av begränsade möjligheter till extern kapitalförsörjning. Dock har kreditgivningen till mikroföretag visat sig vara riskfylld. Kredithandläggare behöver säkerställa företagets återbetalningsförmåga vilket sällan är en enkel uppgift eftersom banken många gånger har mindre detaljerad information om verksamheten än vad företaget har. Denna utmaning kan underlättas genom extern konsultation i form av revisorns granskning eller redovisningskonsultens upprättande av kvalitetstämplad finansiell information, vilket får kredithandläggare att känna sig tryggare i kreditbedömningen. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och skapa förståelse om kvalitetsstämpelns betydelse för kredithandläggare vid kreditgivning till mikroföretag. Betydelsen av denna information har visat sig vara relativt outforskad ur en svensk kontext. Genom en kvalitativ studie baserad på̊ besöksintervjuer hos kredithandläggare från svenska affärs- och sparbanker besvarades studiens problemformulering: Vilken betydelse har kvalitetstämplad årsredovisning/bokslut för att finansiering skall kunna beviljas till mikroföretag från banker och vilken påverkan har sådan information på låneräntan? Studien visar att kredithandläggare i svenska banker värderar revisorns kvalitetsstämpel högre än kvalitetsstämpeln som redovisningskonsulten genererar. Däremot saknar kvalitetstämplad information många gånger betydelse vid beviljandet av krediter till mikroföretag. En förklaring till detta är att kreditgivningsprocessen är mer förtroenderelaterad och det är oftast först när osäkerhet uppstår vid investeringskrediter, avvikande resultatutveckling eller osäkra balansposter som kvalitetsstämpeln ökar i värde och extern granskning av revisor kan inkrävas. En annan slutsats är att låneräntan inte påverkas av kvalitetstämplad information, utan det är främst företagets riskklass och säkerhetsbild som kan påverka räntesatsen.

Betyg VG

M.Comm.
South Africa is in transition. Changes are taking place on the political, social and economic fronts at an increasingly rapid pace. Past practices and wisdom are being openly challenged. Enterprise/Corporate managers today are deeply concerned with two major dilemma. Firstly to fully mobilise the energy of the organisation's human resources toward achievement of the organisation's performance objectives. Secondly to organise the work, the work environment, the communication systems, and the relationships of people. To resolve this dilemma in our rapidly changing environment, new organisation fon-ns must be developed. More effective goal setting and planning processes must be learned. Practised teams of interdependent people must spend real time improving their methods of working, decision-making and communicating. Competing or conflicting groups must move towards a collaborative way of work. In order for these changes to occur and be maintained, a planned, managed change effort is necessary - a program of affirmative action. This dissertation is about affirmative action in employment, and the development of people in organisations. These two concepts overlap in the sense that affirmative action is (or should be) about the development of black people and women but not at the expense of competent white men who are already part of an organisation.

碩士
國立政治大學
會計學系
104
This study investigates the relationship between CEOs with accounting expertise and external reactions of investors, auditors and analysts. The sample firms used in this study are all the stock-listed companies in America and Canada during 1980-2015. Before examining such external reactions, this paper explores the association between CEOs with accounting expertise and earnings quality, which help us to obtain an explanation why auditors, analysts and investors have such reactions. The empirical results show that CEOs with accounting expertise manage earnings more aggressively than CEOs without such expertise. As a consequence, the firms with such CEOs will be charged higher audit fees and have less analyst following. However, investors might not recognize this fact; they still believe that CEOs with accounting expertise will have a positive influence on firms. Our findings could offer a reference for a company looking for a CEO that could bring accounting quality.

M. Tech. Business Administration
Leveraging information technology (IT) is important to maximise business value. For this to be possible, companies must ensure that IT objectives are supportive of business objective. Business needs to take the responsibility in ensuring that IT capabilities support, enable, and, where appropriate, lead business strategy. Such alignment will maximize the effective, efficient and economical use of IT resources in a strategic context. One of many challenges facing organisations is that IT strategy appears to be separate from business strategy, maintaining a common direction with business strategy but at a distance. Furthermore business unit leaders do not consider IT as a key strategic enabler for them achieving their strategic business unit level objectives. This study established the perceptions of senior managers and executives of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) regarding the alignment of IT strategy and the business strategy. It also determined which of the alignment factors (people, processes, organisational infrastructure, etc.) are most important for strategic alignment at the AGSA and how successfully they have been implemented.

Dissertação de mestrado em Estudos de Gestão
Com as alterações registadas na economia nos últimos anos, o equilíbrio entre o funcionamento da empresa e o serviço prestado ao cliente tornou-se mais importante, mas também mais difícil de alcançar. Tal como numa balança, estes dois lados não são independentes. Eles interrelacionam-se e qualquer intervenção num dos “pratos” tem consequências imediatas no outro. A realidade é que não existem fórmulas mágicas e a intervenção tem que passar pela gestão da atividade, melhorando-a em vez do simplista e maquiavélico corte de custos “às cegas”, prejudicando quase sempre os fins, o resultado final e a consequente satisfação do cliente. Neste sentido, o Lean surge enquanto método de organização do trabalho com vista à redução de custos e desperdícios focando sempre a obtenção de “valor”. Este caminho tem sido traçado e percorrido desde há muitos anos pela atividade empresarial e este estudo pretende esclarecer e estudar a forma como esse caminho é feito, constituindose como mais um contributo teórico e empírico. O foco neste trabalho será a identificação do valor, a definição do fluxo de valor e sua otimização, a melhoria do trabalho numa base de sistema pull e a melhoria contínua na área administrativa, que tem dado nos últimos anos passos importantes nesta área. Desenvolveu-se este projeto no Serviço de Recursos Humanos da Bosch (HRSPO), serviço que se situa no departamento de Recursos Humanos na unidade de Braga, mas que desenvolve atividade na área de Payrol e Time Management para todas as unidades da Bosch a operar em Portugal, a Bosch Security Systems em Ovar/Lisboa, a Bosch Car Multimedia em Braga, a Bosch Termotechnologia em Aveiro, a Bosch central em Lisboa e uma pequena unidade denominada SGPT em Vila do Conde. Recorrendo ao Lean, o objetivo foi estudar, auditar, implementar, melhorar e propor melhorias para o futuro neste serviço. Numa primeira fase verificou-se a existência de desperdícios, ocorrências diárias não conformes que atrasavam o processamento das tarefas e dificultavam o pull. Realizou-se o respetivo enquadramento teórico para assim os combater, recorrendo às ferramentas elencadas pela teoria Lean, como os 5S, Gestão Visual, Poka Yoke, Standard Work, Mapeamento do Fluxo de Valor e Partilha de Conhecimento, apenas para citar algumas. Foram alcançadas melhorias e avançaram-se inúmeras propostas de melhoria.
With the new issues in the economy of the past years, the equilibrium between the operation of the enterprise and the service offered to the customer became more important, but more difficult to obtain. Like in a scale, this two sides aren’t independent. They interrelate and any intervention in one of the “plates” have immediate consequences on the other. The reality is that there are no magic formulas and the intervention must happen on the management of the activity, improve it instead of the simplistic and machiavellian “blind” cut of costs, affecting most of the times the goals, the results and the consequent client satisfaction. In this way, Lean appears as work organization method with the goal of costs cut and waste reduction seeing always the “value” as the main goal. This way has been sketched and traced since a long time ago by the business activity and this study wants to know how this trail has been traveled, constituting as one more theoretical and empirical contribute. The focus on this project will be the identification of value, definition of the value stream and his optimization, the improvement of the work in a pull system basis and the continuous improvement on the administrative area, that has been done important steps in this area on these past years. We developed this project on the Bosch Human Resources Service (HRS-PO), service physically located on the Human Resources department in Braga, but that develops activity in Payrol and Time Management to all the Bosch locations working in Portugal, Bosch Security Systems in Ovar/Lisboa, Bosch Car Multimedia in Braga, Bosch Termotechlonogia in Aveiro, Bosch central in Lisbon and a little unity called SGPT in Vila do Conde. Using Lean, the goal was to study, audit, implement, improve and propose improvements to the future work of this service. In a first phase, we verified the existence of wastes, daily non-conform occurrences that difficulted work process and pull. We developed the respective theoretical framework to fight those wastes calling on the tools listed by Lean theory, like 5S, Visual Management, Poka Yoke, Standard Work, Value Stream Mapping and Knowledge Share, only to cite some. We achieved some improvements and we had advanced innumerous improvement proposals.

M.B.A.
The intention of the study is to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the training programmes run by the Training and Development section in the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). Entering into the 21st century in South Africa, training and development has emerged in business as the way to create employment and develop skills. Worldwide the economy is on a fast path of globalisation. Due to globalisation and the changes required in global markets, training and development is the driving force to meet the demand for technical staff and highly skilled workers to meet with economic challenges. The majority of the South African labour force requires new or significantly expanded skills to keep up with the demands of their jobs. This includes new technology, management, customer service and basic skills training. Through training, employees gain skills, abilities, knowledge and attitudes that help them perform effectively in present and future jobs. The literature examined the determination of training needs, developing training programmes, selection of trainees, training objectives, different training programmes, presentation of training, conditions for effective training, the training practitioner and the evaluation of training. The findings of the research have assessed the functional value of the training from literature; determined the attitudes of the participants in the training programmes; ascertained that the emotional needs of the participants have been met; determined that training and communication within the OAG is adequately managed and determined that training and customer service are sufficiently interfaced.

Public performance auditing is a type of auditing government departments’ use to review three specific aspects (efficiency, effectiveness and economy) of a sector, department or project. Upon completion of a public performance audit, the relevant supreme audit institution releases a performance audit report. The purpose of this study is to determine the level content compliance in these public performance audit reports with the international performance audit standards ISSAI 3000-3001. This study compares the level of content compliance in South Africa, a developing countries against Australia, a developed country. A type of text analysis was used to collate the levels of content compliance in a total of fifty reports, twenty-five reports published by the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) and twenty-five reports published by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), during the period 2006 – 2013. The finding revealed that public performance audit reports published in Australia have a greater level of content compliance than reports published in South Africa. The results of the report further detail the content shortcomings in the reports reviewed. This study will assist both the AGSA and ANAO in highlighting content concerns in these performance audit report, which is the first step towards improvement.

博士
逢甲大學
商學研究所
100
This paper uses corporate governance characteristics as well as auditor traits to analyze the impact of the purchase of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance). The results indicate that corporate governance affects the demand for D&O insurance; in particular, the pledged shares and insufficient shareholdings of directors and supervisors are significantly positively correlated to insurance demand and negative audit opinions. Companies without insurance have better corporate governance mechanisms compared to those with insurance. Although the corporate governance of companies with insurance is comparatively weaker, these companies compensate for the inadequacy of their governance mechanisms by inviting industrial specialists and Big 4 firms. The empirical results suggest that D&O insurance can strengthen external governance. Meanwhile, auditors will provide better evaluations of the financial statements prepared by companies with D&O insurance. In other words, D&O insurance has supervision effects on management and substitute effects on industrial experts.

Celem pracy było określenie adekwatności i skuteczności audytu systemu zarządzania jakością w organizacjach publicznych, a wraz z tym roli zintegrowanych systemów zarządzania w doskonaleniu tych systemów na przykładzie procesu audytu i warunków doskonalenia systemu zarządzania jakością. Dla potwierdzenia założeń badawczych przeprowadzone zostały badania ankietowe i analizy porównawcze danych dotyczących audytów i działań zapobiegawczych / korygujących / doskonalących z dwóch powiatów, z dwóch urzędów marszałkowskich, z dwóch urzędów wojewódzkich i z dwóch ministerstw z lat 2010 – 2012, które wdrożyły system zarządzania jakością. Badane organizacje administracji publicznej zaobserwowały korzyści wynikające z wdrożenia Systemu Zarządzania Jakością i pozytywne efekty działań doskonalących / zapobiegawczych / korygujących. Mimo tego niektóre z nich rezygnują z recertyfikacji systemu. Najczęściej potwierdzanymi czynnikami utrudniającymi funkcjonowanie systemu zarządzania jakością były: brak zaangażowania najwyższego kierownictwa, brak szkoleń dla personelu, za mały budżet na doskonalenie systemu i za duże koszty audytów wewnętrznych i certyfikujących.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the quality management system in public organizations, and with this the role of integrated management systems to improve these systems on the example of the audit process and improving the conditions of the quality management system. To confirm the research objectives had been conducted the questionnaire survey and comparative analysis of data related to audits and preventive / corrective / improvement actions of the two districts offices, of the two marshal offices, of the two voivodeship offices and of the two ministries in the years 2010 - 2012, which implemented a quality management system. The studied public administration organizations had observed the benefits of implementing a Quality Management System and the positive effects of the improvement / preventive / corrective actions. Despite this, some of them resigned of the system recertification. The most common factors hindering the functioning of the quality management system were: lack of involvement of top management, lack of training for staff, too small budget for improvement of the system and too high costs of internal and certification audits.

"The audit process of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) has inherent limitations and weaknesses that need to be addressed in order to keep pace with the development of the SAV. This could be realized if a strategy to change the audit process of the SAV is conducted. The research aims to improve the SAV to meet international auditing standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), using the Australian Government audit process as a direct comparison in order to identify issues in the change management processes required for the SAV to introduce Australian Government audit processes and to propose a methodology to resolve these issues. The change management processes are thus the key focus of the research. The evaluative framework was based on the literature, identifying three major issues of concern. They are technology, costs and people. The research design is a combination of document review and semi-structured in-depth individual interview methods. The document review includes analysis of relevant auditing processes, standards, methods, procedures and reports, and policies; and review of change management theories, models and practices. The goal of the document review is to obtain an overall picture of the research topic that informed the in-depth interviews. Semi-structured in-depth individual interviews were selected as the major research methodology because it is able to provide a considerable amount of detailed data and a deeper understanding of the research problem. The research methodology involved the analysis of the interview transcripts using Thematic Content Analysis (TCA). This mutual relationship between the interviews and the document reviews was discussed further in the data synthesis and analysis. In the study, 30 individual interviews were conducted for two groups of stakeholders (auditors and managers of the SAV) at the headquarters of the SAV in Hanoi City, the capital of Vietnam. The research findings indicated agreement over previous attempts by the literature review. These findings suggested that the change management process may face various issues arising from personal barriers to the change, the SAV culture, application of technology to auditing, costs for the change, the SAV auditor human resource quality and training, and the SAV organizational and operational model. The proposed strategic framework to resolve these issues addressed removing personal barriers to the change, improving infrastructure, human resource, training and legal framework of the SAV, and implementing changes in the SAV culture. The research outcomes might be applied to the SAV. These outcomes will assist the SAV in developing an effective audit process complying with international auditing standards and principles in order to ensure transparency and effectiveness of public sector expenditure."--Abstract.