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1
Miller, Charles Robert II. "Assessing auditors' business risk." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184302.
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This study estimates the effect that the auditor's assessment of his business risk has on his acquisition of evidence and his pricing of audit services. Auditor's business risk (ABR) is defined as the uncertainty in the auditor's cash flows that arises because there is some probability of the auditor incurring a loss from litigation, adverse publicity or other events arising in connection with his examination of the client's financial statements. The portion of ABR that evidence can reduce is referred to as evidence-sensitive ABR. The portion of ABR that cannot be reduced with evidence is referred to as insurance ABR. The auditor is expected to respond to evidence-sensitive ABR by acquiring costly evidence and to insurance ABR by including a risk premium in his fee offer. Both the amount of evidence and the risk premium are expected to affect the auditor's offer. Audit effort is used to measure evidence and the price per unit of effort is used to measure the risk premium. Audit effort is hypothesized to be positively correlated with evidence-sensitive ABR. The price per unit of effort is hypothesized to be positively correlated with insurance ABR. The regression results support both hypotheses. All four variables selected to represent evidence-sensitive ABR have positive coefficients as predicted. Three of the evidence-sensitive ABR variables are significant at the 0.01 level and the fourth is significant at the 0.06 level. Four of the five variables selected to capture insurance ABR have positive coefficients as predicted. The levels of significance for these coefficients range from 0.01 to 0.13. An unexpected result is that the fifth variable, relating to a client as a going concern, has a negative and significant coefficient.
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Nielsen, Abigail. "Market structure, auditor independence and auditor turnover." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24403.
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This thesis examines some of the relationships between the market structure of public auditing, auditor independence, and the rate of auditor changes over time. The first section of this thesis examines the relationship between market structure and auditor independence with a summary and extension of a recent paper written in collaboration with two other researchers. We concluded that competitive pricing will lead to auditor independence, whereas the existence of economic rents resulting from non-competitive pricing allows for the possibility of non-independence. We also concluded that if a non-competitive market for audits changes to a more competitive state, then a period of disequilibrium occurs where independence may be compromised until the competitive equilibrium is achieved.
The second section of this thesis examines the effects of such a disequilibrium period on auditor independence, auditor fees, and in particular, the rate of auditor turnover. During the disequilibrium, price rivalry should drive auditor fees down to the competitive equilibrium. Incumbent auditors will either reduce fees to match the lower bids of their competitors, or client companies will change to non-incumbent auditors offering identical- audit services at a lower price. A third possibility is that independence may be compromised if incumbents maintain higher fee structures in exchange for non-independent actions. However, as not all auditors will be willing to risk
non-independent action, an empirical implication would be that price rivalry not only lowers fees but, ceteris paribus, also increases auditor turnover.
The empirical portion of this thesis examines the effect of increased rivalry on auditor turnover. After a review of the existing literature on auditor changes, an empirical study of auditor changes between 1969 and 1983 was performed for a random sample of OTC firms. Assuming that the recent removal of AICPA prohibitions on competitive bidding, advertising and direct solicitation have acted as invitations for increased price rivalry, then we would expect to observe an increase in auditor turnover during the period examined. Annual turnover rates were computed, and a series of regression tests were performed using the Michigan Data Analysis System (MIDAS). The results of these tests failed to reject the hypothesis of no change in auditor turnover over the fifteen year period examined. Further market segmentation for changes within Big Eight auditors and for changes within non-Big Eight auditors did not alter the basic result of relatively constant auditor changes over time. Only the changes from non-Big Eight to Big Eight auditors indicated any statistically significant relationship to time. A number of potential explanations as to why this study did not produce the expected results of increased auditor turnover are examined, and areas for future research are discussed.<br>Business, Sauder School of<br>Graduate
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DAVIS, JON STUART. "AUDITOR BIDDING AND INDEPENDENCE: A LABORATORY MARKETS INVESTIGATION (EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS)." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184130.
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This study reports the results of experiments using laboratory markets designed to test several predictions of economic behavior generated by DeAngelo's (1980, 1981) characterization of the auditor-client contractual relationship. These predictions address (1) auditor pricing behavior in the face of start-up costs and transactions costs incurred by the client when switching auditors and (2) the effect of start-up costs and transactions costs on auditor independence. The research was motivated by the recent concern expressed by policy-makers regarding the link between auditor pricing behavior and independence and the unobservability of auditor prices and independence in the naturally-occurring market. It was reasoned that, given the difficulty of obtaining data in the real world, laboratory market research would be a good "first step" in evaluating theories linking auditor pricing behavior to independence. The laboratory markets used to test the predictions were run in two stages. In the first stage, which used a sealed offer auction, subjects offered to sell an imaginary service to a computerized buyer in a series of five-auction markets, with certain payoffs. The contract prices in the first phase of the experiment were used to measure equilibrium predictions in conditions of certain payoffs. The second stage of the experiment, which tested predictions concerning independence and equilibrium prices in a world of uncertain payoffs, was identical to the first stage, except that payments were conditional on outcomes which depended on a decision rule specified by the sellers after each auction. The results of the experiments show significant decreases in independence as theoretical quasi-rents available to the incumbent seller increased. Furthermore, evidence on the relationship between lowballing and independence was inconclusive, due to the inequality of quasi-rents observed in cells where lowballing was allowed or restricted. With respect to pricing behavior, lowballing was observed in all markets where it was permitted, and increased as the theoretical quasi-rent stream increased. In addition, theoretical equilibrium price predictions under conditions of certain payoffs are weakly predictive of winning offers made by sellers. However, in settings with conditional payoffs, equilibrium predictions were not achieved in the experiment, perhaps due to design artifacts, or to the existence of an unspecified, alternative equilibrium.
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Nikkhah-Azad, Ali. "Perceptions of College and University Auditors Concerning the Importance of Selected Factors Associated with Operational Auditing." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1988. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331787/.
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The primary purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the perceptions of college and university auditors concerning the importance of selected factors associated with operational auditing. The secondary purpose was to determine whether the perceptions of certified auditors differ significantly from those of noncertified auditors. Selected factors associated with operational auditing for colleges and universities were categorized in three attribute groups—organizational, personal, and environmental. The identification of organizational and personal attributes was based mainly on concepts set forth in the Standard for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing published by the Institute of Internal Auditors (1978). Identification of environmental attributes was based on a review of the relevant literature, as well as on discussions with selected college and university auditors. Each attribute, whether categorized as organizational, personal, or environmental, was used as a basis for the identification of detailed factors associated with operational auditing. The findings of this study reveal that factors dealing with organizational attributes were perceived as considerably more favorable than were factors dealing with personal or environmental attributes. With regard to the secondary purpose of this research, a total of 14 hypotheses were developed and subjected to t-tests to determine whether the perceptions of certified auditors differed significantly from those of noncertified auditors. Of the 14 hypotheses tested, there were no significant differences between perceptions of the two groups concerning the importance of independence, audit plan, audit program, audit supervision, continuing education, training, audit follow-up, objectivity, technical competence, experience, and interpersonal skills. Certified auditors perceived attributes that deal with audit report and professional certification to be more important to operational auditing than did their noncertified counterparts. With regard to the importance of a knowledge and understanding of the higher education environment (i.e., knowledge of characteristics uniquely identifiable with institutions of higher education) to operational auditing, certified auditors perceived this attribute less favorably than did noncertified auditors.
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Gerlofstig, Carl. "Auditor 2.0 : how Swedish auditors balance the profession with marketing." Thesis, Kristianstad University, School of Health and Society, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-6902.
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<p>This study examines how auditors’ attitude towards marketing and their view on the importance of marketing affect how they balance their time spent on marketing and auditing activities. The purpose is to understand how the changing business environment for auditors affects the relationship between the auditing profession and marketing. The study is based on a survey of 712 auditors in Sweden. The findings suggest that auditors with positive attitude towards marketing spend significantly more time on marketing activities compared to those with less positive attitude. Furthermore, auditors who view marketing activities as important, spend significantly more time on marketing activities. The number of years as approved or authorized auditor, age of the auditor, and bureau affiliation was controlled for. The result indicates that the theoretical distance between the auditing profession and marketing does not exist in practice to the same degree as it used to.</p>
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AlHusaini, Walid A. A. "The Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) scandal : a study of auditing and audit expectations in an international context." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2000. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6032/.
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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.
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Carreiro, Marta Vasco. "The state of the art of internal audit activity in Portugal." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/2772.
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Mestrado em Gestão/MBA<br>The purpose of this study is to better understand the expanding scope of internal auditing practice in Portugal and how is it comparing with the global results of the Common Body of Knowledge 2006 (CBOK) study developed by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation (IIARF). For the internal audit community, it is important to be aware of how is the current status of the internal audit activity in Portugal and in particular how is ranked with the global results; moreover, how the Portuguese internal audit activity is in compliance with the Standards, allowing to identify shortcomings and find out how to improve it. To realise this dissertation, the database with Portuguese responses to the CBOK 2006 was given by the IIARF, where there was 84 responses considered usable. In conclusion, the internal audit in Portugal is relatively young, as about half of the responses had implemented the internal audit activity (IAA) for less than 10 years; although it seems that is a general tendency from the global results and also the French case. On the topic of the use of the Standards, all Portuguese respondents have an opinion similar to those at a Global level, (being similar to the Spanish respondents opinions) where more than three quarters stated that use the Standards in whole or in part. In particular to the Quality Assurance and Improvement Program, only around a sixth of the Portuguese and Spanish respondents may use the statement that their activities are "conducted in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing"; but it diverges from for the Global results as its percentage is around the double. Regarding the Performance Standards there are significant differences in the responses given by Portuguese CAEs on Standards 2100, 2500 and 2600, comparing with the results reported at Global level. Significant differences where also found on the topics such as the IAA's relationship within the Organization, the relationship with the Audit Committee, the governing documents in the Organization and the Continuing Professional Development.<br>Esta dissertação pretende descrever o alargamento do âmbito da actividade de auditoria interna em Portugal e como a mesma se caracteriza em comparação com os resultados globais do estudo Corpo Comum de Conhecimento 2006 (CBOK), desenvolvido pelo The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation (IIARF). Para a comunidade de auditoria interna, é importante estar consciente de como actualmente se caracteriza a actividade de auditoria interna em Portugal e, em particular, como a mesma se compara com os resultados globais, nomeadamente, quanto à sua conformidade com os Standards, permitindo identificar as áreas que necessitam de melhorias e como desenvolvê-las. Para a realização desta dissertação, a base de dados com as respostas portuguesas ao CBOK 2006 foi cedida pela IIARF, na qual 84 respostas foram consideradas utilizáveis. Concluiu-se que, a auditoria interna em Portugal é relativamente jovem, uma vez que cerca de metade das respostas indicou que a actividade de auditoria interna tem menos de 10 anos; no entanto, afigura-se estar em linha com a tendência dos resultados globais e também com o caso francês. Relativamente ao uso dos Standards, os inquiridos portugueses têm uma opinião semelhante à dada quer ao nível global quer em Espanha, onde mais de três quartos declararam que usam os Standards, no todo ou em parte. Em particular, relativamente ao Programa de Garantia de Qualidade e Melhoramento, apenas cerca de um sexto dos portugueses inquiridos (assemelhando-se aos dados espanhóis) podem utilizar a expressão de que "as actividades desenvolvidas pelos auditores foram conduzidas de acordo com as Normas Internacionais para a Prática Profissional de Auditoria Interna do 11A", no entanto essa proporção diverge dos resultados globais, sendo o dobro. Relativamente às Normas de Desempenho (em particular as Normas 2100, 2500 e 2600), concluiu-se que existem diferenças significativas entre as respostas dadas pelos portugueses e os resultados globais. Foram também encontradas diferenças significativas em temas como o relacionamento da AAI na Organização, o relacionamento com o Conselho de Auditoria, os documentos de governação da Organização e o Desenvolvimento Profissional Contínuo.
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Sim, Marc. "Effects of national culture on group decision making by auditors /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2003. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17629.pdf.
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Stanford, Sharon E. McCarthy John R. "Policy implications from an analysis of the Certified Internal Auditor Examination." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 1993. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p9416875.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1993.<br>Title from title page screen, viewed March 10, 2006. Dissertation Committee: John R. McCarthy (chair), Anthony L. Ostrosky, David L. Tucker, Jeffrey Hecht, Rodney P. Riegle. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-112) and abstract. Also available in print.
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Guan, Jie Qi. "Dysfunctional auditing behaviour : a research on auditors' behaviour in Macau." Thesis, University of Macau, 2009. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b1950712.
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Sriram, Srinivasan. "An Investigation of Asymmetrical Power Relationships Existing in Auditor-Client Relationship During Auditor Changes." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1987. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331678/.
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In recent years, considerable interest has been stimulated concerning potential conflicts of interest between a company's management and their independent auditors. Many researchers examined the association between corporations who changed their present auditors, and factors such as auditor's opinion on the financial statements, management changes, mergers, financial distress, etc. Some of these research efforts resulted in findings that were inconsistent with each other. The current research was therefore undertaken with the objective of developing a theoretical model of auditor change process and to explain the justification for considering certain specific factors that may be present in an auditor-client relationship.
The research design and the methodology for analyses were developed on the basis of the theory on power conflicts found in political science literature and by the use of Wrong's power model on authority relationship. Sources of power such as the size of an audit firm, size of a corporation, the stock exchange membership, the ability of an auditor to qualify the opinion on the financial statements, the ability of the management of a corporation to terminate the audit contract following the issue of a qualified opinion, and change of a corporation's CEO were identified and converted into independent variables.
Data were collected from secondary sources on a sample of 200 corporations, 100 companies that had changed their audit firm at least once during the period 1983-85, and 100 corporations that did not change their audit firm during this period. The resulting data were analyzed using the MDS-ALSCAL procedure and logit regression with maximum likelihood estimators.
The findings of this research support the power model and its relevancy to the study of auditor-client relationship. The variables, client size, stock exchange membership, and audit firm size were found to have a significant association with corporations who changed their audit firms. However, the variable, change of CEO, was not found to be a significant cause of audit firm changes.
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Håkansson, Patricia, and Johansson Annika. "To cooperate with internal auditors or not : is that a dilemma for Swedish external auditors?" Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-12426.
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Purpose - The purpose of this study is to shed light on one part of the external auditor’s work by examining how the cooperation between external auditors and internal auditors is organized and if external auditors face a dilemma when cooperating with internal auditors. The focus will therefore be on what aspects are considered by the external auditor in the decision to cooperate with internal auditors (and to use their work), as well as how the external auditor safeguards the audit quality by maintaining an independently and professionally executed audit. Design/methodology/approach - This study was realized through a qualitative research method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with external auditors that have engagements with internal audit functions. All respondents are employed in the Big 4 and are operating in Sweden. Findings - The results of the study show that external auditors tend to use the work of internal auditors when they cooperate. To gain efficiency improvements is the main beneficial aspect the external auditors consider in the cooperation with internal auditors. The findings would suggest that some external auditors may act after self-interest more than others because if they start the cooperation and spend the time to evaluate the internal auditors’ work, they would prefer to use it. This would also indicate that the external auditors’ independence and professionalism can to some extent be compromised because there seems to be an acceptance of a certain degree of lower audit quality when using the work of internal auditors. Originality/value - The use of semi-structured interviews makes it possible to obtain deeper knowledge and complement prior studies concerning cooperation in the audit industry and how the external auditor considers different aspects in a decision-making environment.
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Wennerholm, Caroline, and Marie Larsson. "Ethics in the auditing profession : A comparison between auditors and students." Thesis, Jönköping University, JIBS, Accounting and Finance, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-401.
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<p>Introduktion: Revisionsbranschen har under de senaste åren drabbats av en rad skandaler vilka har fått stor uppmärksamhet i media den senaste tiden. De inträffade företagsskandalerna har bidragit till ökade krav på etik inom revisionsbranschen. För att revisorer ska återfå sin trovärdighet bland klienter och intressenter har kraven i allmänhet ökat på revisorer. Syftet med vår studie är att från ett svenskt perspektiv undersöka graden av etiskt tänkande bland revisorer. Detta kommer även att jämföras med det etiska tänkandet bland studenter för att se om det föreligger skillnader och likheter när det gäller etik.</p><p>Metod: För att uppnå vårt syfte med studien har vi valt att genomföra</p><p>både kvantitativ enkätundersökning samt kvalitativa intervjuer.</p><p>Enkäten genomfördes på totalt 100 respondenter varav 50 revisorer och 50 studenter. Resultaten från enkäten följdes upp av tre djupintervjuer med tre revisorer som även deltog i enkäten.</p><p>Teori: Teorin är indelad i tre större avsnitt; etik i allmänhet, etik inom revisionsbranschen samt etiskt tänkande vid beslutsfattande. Den teoretiska referensramen inleds med ett brett perspektiv på etik för att få en bakgrund till vårt huvudproblem som berör etiskt tänkande bland revisorer.</p><p>Empiri: Resultaten från vår enkätundersökning och de tre intervjuerna är sammanställda i en empirisk diskussion.</p><p>Slutsats: Slutsatserna vi kommit fram till är att revisorer har ett högt etiskt tänkande i beslutsfattandet och de har även ett högre etiskt tänkande än studenter vid etiska dilemman. En annan slutsats är att studenter behöver mer etik undervisning för att vara föreberedda på vad som väntas när de kommer att arbeta på revisionsbyråer. Etikundervising är viktigt då etik är grunden för revisionsbranschen.</p><br><p>Introduktion: Revisionsbranschen har under de senaste åren drabbats av en rad skandaler vilka har fått stor uppmärksamhet i media den senaste tiden. De inträffade företagsskandalerna har bidragit till ökade krav på etik inom revisionsbranschen. För att revisorer ska återfå sin trovärdighet bland klienter och intressenter har kraven i allmänhet ökat på revisorer. Syftet med vår studie är att från ett svenskt perspektiv undersöka graden av etiskt tänkande bland revisorer. Detta kommer även att jämföras med det etiska tänkandet bland studenter för att se om det föreligger skillnader och likheter när det gäller etik.</p><p>Metod: För att uppnå vårt syfte med studien har vi valt att genomföra både kvantitativ enkätundersökning samt kvalitativa intervjuer. Enkäten genomfördes på totalt 100 respondenter varav 50 revisorer och 50 studenter. Resultaten från enkäten följdes upp av tre djupintervjuer med tre revisorer som även deltog i enkäten.</p><p>Teori: Teorin är indelad i tre större avsnitt; etik i allmänhet, etik inom revisionsbranschen samt etiskt tänkande vid beslutsfattande. Den teoretiska referensramen inleds med ett brett perspektiv på etik för att få en bakgrund till vårt huvudproblem som berör etiskt tänkande bland revisorer.</p><p>Emperi: Resultaten från vår enkätundersökning och de tre intervjuerna är sammanställda i en empirisk diskussion.</p><p>Slutsats: Slutsatserna vi kommit fram till är att revisorer har ett högt etiskt tänkande i beslutsfattandet och de har även ett högre etiskt tänkande än studenter vid etiska dilemman. En annan slutsats är att studenter behöver mer etik undervisning för att vara föreberedda på vad som väntas när de kommer att arbeta på revisionsbyråer. Etikundervising är viktigt då etik är grunden för revisionsbranschen.</p><br><p>Introduction: In the recent decades the auditing profession has been faced by several scandals. These scandals have brought up a lot of attention in media. Corporate scandals have led to increased demands for ethics within the auditing profession. To regain the trustworthiness in the auditing profession and to prevent future scandals, the demands on the profession have increased. The aim of the study is, from a Swedish perspective, to investigate the level of ethical reasoning among auditors and accounting students when facing an ethical dilemma.</p><p>Methodology: In order to achieve the purpose of the study, we have chosen to apply both a quantitative- and a qualitative approach. To investigate the level of ethical reasoning we have conducted a survey on 50 auditors and 50 accounting students. This was followed up by three in-depth interviews with three auditors who participated in the survey.</p><p>Theoretical framework: The theory is divided into three major areas; ethics in business, ethics in auditing and ethical reasoning in decisionmaking. The theory starts with a wider perspective to end with the theory concerning the main problem.</p><p>Empirical findings: The results from the survey and the interviews are presented in an empirical discussion.</p><p>Conclusion: The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that auditors posses a high level of ethical reasoning in their decision- making. Auditors also have a higher ethical reasoning than accounting students when facing ethical dilemmas. Another conclusion is that students need more ethics education before entering the auditing profession, since ethics is what the profession is all about.</p>
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Mousa, Mohamed Gehan Abdel-Hady. "The auditors role and responsibilities towards auditing environmental performance of firms." Thesis, Durham University, 2004. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1737/.
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Kusaila, Michelle. "Managing Informal Learning in the Auditing Profession: How Auditors Develop Proficiency." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4647.
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The auditing environment is in a period of innovation, and auditors need to maintain their financial reporting commitment to financial statement stakeholders. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey study was to examine the impact of auditors' perceptions of informal workplace learning contexts on the external auditing profession using a perceived organizational support lens. Organization support theory includes four aspects used to explore informal workplace learning: management support, peer support, supportive organizational culture, and access to work resources. These aspects were used to examine the impact of informal learning on auditors' engagement and performance. Multiple linear regression was used to examine data from a survey of 103 auditing professionals in Connecticut. Data showed that access to work resources, including time and technology, were significant in each model in relation to impact and its subcomponents engagement and performance. This indicated that auditors' access to the resources necessary to stay current has a positive impact in the auditing profession. This study fills the gap in the existing literature on the impact of informal learning on the auditing profession where there is continual change and informal learning is heavily relied upon to diffuse knowledge and skills in a highly knowledge-based environment. Better-qualified auditors can help businesses keep up with ever-changing societal expectations. The accounting profession is in a period of innovation that requires professionals of all levels to adapt to keep pace with the quickly changing globalized organization.
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Gomaa, Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim. "The effect of time pressure, task complexity and litigation risk on auditors' reliance on decision aids." Maastricht : Maastricht : UPM, Universitaire Pers Maastricht ; University Library, Maastricht University [Host], 2005. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=6461.
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Carrington, Thomas. "Framing audit failure : four studies on audit quality discomforts /." Stockholm : Stockholm University : School of Business, Stockholm University [distributör], 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-7124.
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Hedman, Sara, Alexander Törnby, and Lisa Påhlman. "The Production of Comfort : - How Financial Auditors Experience that they Become Comfortable with I T -auditors." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-255986.
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Auditors need to feel comfortable when signing the audit in order to produce comfort to society. Today, most companies use complex IT-systems that require that an IT-audit is performed. Rarely auditors possess the sufficient knowledge to perform the IT-audit and therefore an external part of the audit team is involved, namely IT-auditors. It can therefore be problematic for the auditors to ensure the quality of this part of the audit. In this thesis we aim to widen the understanding of how IT-auditors affect how auditors experience that they become comfortable. To investigate the addressed problem the following research question is asked: How do financial auditors experience that they become comfortable with IT-auditors? Ten auditors were interviewed on how they experience the different senses of the Comfort theory to become comfortable. With these senses as background, the study’s aim is to gain a perception of how auditors in Sweden perceive that they become comfortable with IT-auditors, which makes the auditor comfortable to sign the audit. The conclusions are that certain characteristics, such as technical and social skills together with good communication and understanding of the IT- auditors work is perceived as important factors for auditors to become comfortable
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Andersson, Mary-Ann, and Nilsson Rebecka. "Financial or performance auditing? : the role of elected auditors in Swedish municipalities." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för Hälsa och Samhälle, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-8467.
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The aim of this thesis is to see if the elected auditors in the Swedish municipalities focus more on financial or on performance auditing in the audit report. This is a very important question today in the public sector because of the change in the elected auditor’s duties and responsibility. The public organizations management and accounting today are influenced by the private sector; therefore there must be a change in the elected auditor’s role in the public organization. The investigation was done by going through the audit reports of the municipalities of Sweden. The factors looked at were connected to both financial auditing and performance auditing and public management and accounting. Besides looking for factors, the number of words connected to each factor was counted. Since we only received audit reports from 232 out of 290 municipalities, our result is a little skewed representing the larger municipalities.The results from this study is that there is significantly more information concerning financial auditing rather than performance auditing in the audit report in the municipalities of Sweden. Also the political majority has no effect on the content of the audit report, nor do the political parties affect the amount of information concerning financial or performance auditing. The study also shows that the use of professional auditors in the municipalities can affect the content of the audit reports, both when it comes to financial and performance auditing.
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Seay, Emily Renee. "AN AUDIT COMMITTEE MEMBER’S ROLE IN AUDIT ADJUSTMENT DISPUTES: THE EFFECT OF EXTERNAL AUDITOR ATTACHMENT ON AN AUDIT COMMITTEE MEMBER’S ASC 360 ADJUSTMENT DECISIONS." OpenSIUC, 2016. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1157.
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Audit committee members play a pivotal role in the audit process, specifically, when negotiating disputes between management and the external auditor concerning audit adjustments. According to Auditing Standard 16 (formerly AU Section 380.34-.44), the external auditors are required to discuss, with the audit committee, all significant findings resulting from the completion of the audit including: (i) qualitative aspects of estimates; (ii) uncorrected misstatements; and (iii) disagreements with management (PCAOB 2015). Prior literature suggests an audit committee’s propensity to support the external auditor when dealing with the issues described above (Knapp 1987; DeZoort and Salterio 2001; DeZoort et al. 2003b; DeZoort et al. 2003a). However, these studies do not address how behavioral factors such as a relationship between the external auditors and audit committee members can affect a member’s stance on a proposed audit adjustment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect that the relationship between audit committee members and external auditors has on a member’s recommendation for proposed audit adjustments during a management dispute with the external auditor (i.e., whether they side with the external auditors or management). Specifically, this experiment examines the effects of relationships and the mediating effect of external auditor tenure on an audit committee member's judgments through the application of several social cognitive theories: (i) attachment theory; (ii) social judgment theory; (iii) and internal working models. Results indicate that external auditor/audit committee member relationships and auditor tenure significantly influence an audit committee member’s decision making when faced with an auditor/management dispute. Also, auditor tenure (long) does not negatively affect audit quality.
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Thorne, Linda 1956. "The influence of social interaction on auditors' moral reasoning /." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34471.
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Although auditors engage in considerable social interaction (Gibbins & Mason, 1988; Solomon, 1987), little is known about how social interaction influences an auditor's moral reasoning process. In order to address this gap, this study used an experiment to examine the effect of social influence on 288 auditors' moral reasoning on realistic moral dilemmas. The results of this study indicate that social interaction influences the moral reasoning of auditors. Auditors' level of prescriptive reasoning appears to increase after engaging in discussion of a realistic moral dilemma, particularly for those which discuss dilemmas with others at high levels of moral development, while auditors' level of deliberative reasoning appears to decrease after engaging in discussion of a realistic moral dilemma. At a practical level, these findings suggest that auditors should be encouraged to prescriptively discuss moral dilemmas with others of high levels of moral development as this tends to result in the use of more principled moral reasoning. In contrast, auditors should avoid deliberative discussion of moral dilemmas, as this tends to result in the use of less principled moral reasoning than would be used in the absence of discussion.
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Lucas, Nicholas. "Commercialism or Professionalism among Auditing Leaders." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2005. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/772.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf<br>Bachelors<br>Business Administration<br>Accounting
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Beer, Gabrielle Jamie. "Auditing the Auditors: The Role of Accounting Firms in the 2008 Financial Crisis." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/516.
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Until recently, the role of auditors in the 2008 financial crisis had largely been overlooked by regulators and the general public. Though not responsible for the meltdown, accounting firms have been criticized – and sued – for failing to warn investors about problems at financial institutions before the crisis.
Auditors can and should take steps to improve their function as independent overseers in the financial world. But there also is a gap between the expectations of auditors and their true responsibilities. As Lord Justice Lopes at the Court of Appeal in England famously said more than a century ago: The auditor “is a watchdog but not a bloodhound.” This thesis examines the so-called expectations gap and recommends ways to improve the audit quality of financial institutions.
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Ackerman, Christo. "Internal auditors perceptions of the impact of control elements on internal control systems." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008158.
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The objective of this research report was to determine which internal controls are perceived, by internal auditors, to be contributing to the effectiveness of an internal control structure. The Committee for Sponsoring Organisations (COSO) integrated internal control framework was used as a basis for the questionnaire construction and respondents were asked to rate the perceived control effectiveness of each of the components of internal control. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the basic meaning of the data. The questionnaire was completed by following a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which was sent to two internal auditors in audit firms. Thirty one responses were obtained; all the respondents have experience in the evaluation and assessment of internal control systems. This research showed that control elements as outlined in COSOs integrated internal control framework, if implemented, could contribute to the effectiveness of the internal control system.
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Santos, Fabiano Pereira dos. "A relação entre o parecer de auditoria e a troca de auditores: uma investigação nas instituições financeiras brasileiras." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/11262.
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Previous issue date: 2008<br>The main purpose of this study is to verify whether there is a relationship between the spontaneous change of an independent auditor and the qualified audit report issued in the previous year and also whether there is a positive relationship between the turnover of auditors and the issuing of qualified audit reports in the year of the turnover and subsequent years. This paper is justified by its proposal to scientifically evaluate the impact of the administration’s influence and adopting the auditing turnover in the independence of the external auditor, without bias by the interested of the professional involved, since this is solely a documental study. Therefore, one arrives at diverse hypotheses in regard to the occurrence of a qualified report as a factor that encourages the administration to change auditors and in relation to the mandatory turnover of auditors favoring the issuing of qualified reports. In addition to the documental study, this paper is also comprised of a review of the academic and specialized literature that is the basis for the made questions addressed. The results obtained after the considerations and verification observed in the bibliographic studies, and the tests results from the Chi-square statistics, verify that the administration is more favorable to changing auditing firms when it receives a report modified by relevant safety clauses and emphases than when it receives a clean report from the current auditing firm. Another verification is the absence of a relationship between adopting the mandatory auditing turnover and issuing modified reports in the years after such change takes place.<br>Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal verificar se há relação entre a troca espontânea da auditoria independente e o parecer não limpo emitido no ano anterior e também se há relação positiva entre o rodízio de auditores e a emissão de pareceres não limpos no ano do rodízio e nos seguintes. Justifica-se este trabalho pela proposta de avaliar cientificamente o impacto da influência da administração e da adoção do rodízio de auditoria na independência do auditor externo, sem ser enviesado pelos interesses dos profissionais envolvidos, uma vez que esta é uma pesquisa exclusivamente documental. Portanto, chega-se a diversas hipóteses quanto à ocorrência de parecer não limpo como fator motivador para a troca de auditores por parte da administração e quanto ao rodízio obrigatório de auditorias propiciando a emissão de pareceres não limpos. Além da pesquisa documental, este trabalho também é composto por revisão da literatura acadêmica e especializada, que fundamentam e respaldam as principais questões abordadas. Os resultados obtidos, após as considerações e constatações observadas nas pesquisas bibliográficas, e nos resultados dos testes da estatística qui-quadrado, verificam que a administração é mais propensa a trocar a firma de auditoria quando recebe um parecer modificado por ressalvas e ênfases relevantes que quando recebe um parecer limpo da firma de auditoria atual. Outra constatação é a ausência de relação entre a adoção do rodízio obrigatório de auditoria e a emissão de pareceres modificados nos anos após esta troca.
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Matar, Soud. "The impact of legal responsibility of external auditors on auditing quality and investment level." Thesis, Brunel University, 2012. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/11988.
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This research aims to study the effects of legal liability rules on auditing quality in order to devise and implement a guideline for the optimal liability rules that can be applied to the auditing profession within society, and thus encourage investment. In an emerging market like Kuwait state, there is a weakness in the legal system, which may cause users to place less reliance on financial reports and auditing services. This environment does not encourage investment. The position in Kuwait state will be studied as an example of how emerging economies can add to the understanding of the role of the auditor, for the purposes of improving audit quality and encouraging a greater amount of investment. Where this position can be understood, this study gives a strong impression of how the legal liability of external auditors can impact on the auditing quality and, importantly, the chances of obtaining investment. For this reason the study is applied in Kuwait state. This research differs from the other literature in several important ways. First, the study has been performed in an environment of weak governance. Second, it studies the effects of the civil legal liability system from two views at the same time, so the research is carried out in relation to two different sides: first, the demand side of the auditing services represented by the users of financial information; and second, the supply side of the auditing services represented by the auditors. This has been done through two questionnaires, one distributed for each side. The results of users' questionnaire revealed that the existence of civil legal liability will increase the demand for auditing service. Also, consideration is directed towards the main determinant of auditing quality, which is the legal liability system, more so than other factors. As well as, through increasing auditor liability, trust in financial information will be enhanced, subsequently prompting investment within society. Moreover, the users, besides their needs for auditing services, require auditors to provide collateral for their investment process in order to increase their investment level. On other side, the results of auditors' questionnaire detected that the auditors hold the view that the demand for auditing services by companies will not be affected by the existence or non-existence of the liability rules. However, auditors believe that the existence of legal liability rules will make financial statement users more trustful in financial information, thereby increasing the number of users of audited financial reports. Also, the auditors do not agree that their liability should be increased since this will make auditing services more costly through the need to collect more evidence, increase the time of auditing, increase the sample size, etc. The increase in liability will also limit their acceptance of risky clients, make them increase their efforts, and due care. Furthermore, the introduction of legal liability may cause them to reduce their supply of audit services. Finally, a statistical test is carried out to compare the answers of the two groups. It is found that there are differences in views concerning the effects of the existence of legal liability on the demand for auditing. As well as, there are differences regarding their preferences about the alternative civil legal rules. The results of this study will help legislators by comparing the effects of available legal rules on audit quality and investment level. Accordingly, legislators can select the appropriate legal structure for auditors’ liability that achieves benefits to the business environment.
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Granfeldt, Sandra, and Inez Nastasi. "Relationship marketing for auditors : A qualitative study on how SME auditing firms practicerelationship marketing." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-39886.
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Background: Previous research show that there is a need for marketing strategies in SMEs that offer professional services, such as auditing firms. Also, the combination of marketing and auditing is a fairly new concept, due to legal and ethical regulations. Besides, since marketing and auditing have different business functions, it can be challenging for the auditors to practice marketing that does not discredit the profession. Lastly, the new competitiveness in the industry, calls for a need for marketing but since these SMEs lack in resources it is believed that relationship marketing can be a beneficial strategy for these firms due to its low cost approach. Research question: How do SME auditing firms practice relationship marketing? Purpose: The study aims to describe how and why SME auditing firms use relationship marketing as a marketing strategy. Method: This study is based on an abductive approach with semi-structured interviews with twelve people with different positions at firms in Halland and Malmö. Theoretical Framework: The theory consists of four blocks, which mainly focus on relationship marketing. However, theory about SMEs, services and professional services marketing is also presented due to the choice of industry and delimitations. Findings: The findings show that many SME auditing firms lack formal plans and strategies for relationship marketing, often due to lack of resources, interest or knowledge. However,the firms practice relationship marketing even if they do not define it as such, through value adding activities or services for their customers, that lie on top of the fundamental servicethey offer.
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Guedes, Antonio Carlos dos Santos. "O parecer da auditoria independente antecipa a necessidade de republicação das demonstrações contábeis?" reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/11034.
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Previous issue date: 2008<br>O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a relação existente entre a ressalva imposta no parecer da auditoria independente e a reapresentação exigida pelo Banco Central, a existência de forte correlação entre haver ressalva e reapresentação por exigência, indicariam que o parecer teria capacidade de antecipar exigência de reapresentação por parte do Banco Central. Selecionamos o grupo formado pelos bancos que tem ações negociadas na bolsa de valores e mapeamos as combinações formadas pelo tipo de parecer com o tipo de apresentação, de igual modo utilizamos este método em dois estratos da amostra, por porte da firma de auditoria e por haver ou não algum nível de Governança Corporativa. Os resultados não mostraram relação significativa entre parecer com ressalva e reapresentação, nem os estratos demonstraram percentuais significativamente melhores em relação aos demais estratos ou mesmo em relação à amostra. Concluímos que não há relação entre parecer e reapresentação por exigência, nem relevância com relação ao porte ou a governança corporativa, porém os resultados mostraram haver maior percentual de reapresentação espontânea no estrato por governança corporativa, o que indicaria um cuidado maior em relação às demonstrações independente do parecer da auditoria independente.
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Moroney, Robyn Ann Accounting Australian School of Business UNSW. "An investigation and comparison of the decision-making process used by industry specialist and other auditors." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Accounting, 2003. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/19242.
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Large accounting firms have been structuring their audit divisions along industry lines for some years. Industry specialisation is seen as a means of differentiation between otherwise similar accounting firms. At the individual level industry specialists are identified as being so designated within their firm. They spend a substantial amount of their time auditing clients in that industry. The purpose of this study is to determine what industry specialist auditors do that is different and similar when working on industry-based tasks, one of which they specialise in. Behavioural decision theory is used to investigate the differences and similarities in the decision-making processes of industry specialist and other auditors. It is known that industry specialists perform better on tasks set in their industry. The purpose of this study is to learn why. To that end, the pre-information search, information search and decision processing phases of the decision-making process are examined. It is expected that industry specialists are more efficient and effective at each stage of the decision-making process when completing a case set in the industry they specialise in. Two controlled experiments were conducted in the offices of each of the Big 4 international accounting firms. Participants included manufacturing and superannuation industry specialists from each firm. Each participant was invited to take part in both experiments, which were conducted consecutively via the internet. The first experiment comprised two cases, one set in each industry setting (manufacturing and superannuation). Participants completed both cases. The purpose of the first experiment was to conduct a within-subject examination unveiling similarities and differences between industry specialists and other auditors during the pre-information search, information search and decision processing phases of the decision-making process. Their performance on each case was also monitored and measured. Significant results were found for information search and performance. Moderate results were found for one proxy each of the pre-information search and the decision processing phases. The relationship between efficiency at each stage of the decision-making process and performance was also measured. A significant relationship was found for the pre-information search and decision processing phases. The second experiment comprised two strategic business risk tasks set in each industry setting (manufacturing and superannuation). Participants completed both sets of tasks. The purpose of the second experiment was to examine effectiveness during the pre-information search (listing key strategic business risks), information search (listing key inputs) and decision processing (listing key processes) phases of the decision-making process and their ability to identify and list key outputs (accounts and assertions) for an identified risk (technological change for the manufacturing industry task and solvency due to insufficient funding for the superannuation industry task) within each industry setting. The results were very significant overall. Industry specialist auditors were able list more key strategic business risks, inputs, processes and outputs when the task was set in the industry in which they specialise. The relationship between effectiveness at each stage of the decision-making process and performance was also measured. A significant relationship was found between effectiveness in listing key inputs and effectiveness in listing key outputs (accounts).
30
Davidson, Ronald Allan. "Selection-socialization control in auditing firms: A test of Ouchi's model of control." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184571.
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This research tests the descriptive validity of Ouchi's model of organizational control when it is applied to auditing firms. An analysis of Ouchi's model and other writings indicates that the selection-socialization type of control (or clan control or control by a strong organizational culture) would be expected to be used in auditing firms and that it would he evidenced by similarities in values perceived to be held by clan members. Empirical evidence is gathered from graduating students who are accounting majors and from professional staff in auditing firms using SYMLOG to measure perceived values. This evidence provided some support for the descriptive validity of Ouchi's model, but the evidence is mixed. The sets of perceived values found in staff of auditing firms do not appear to come from a single set, but the perceived values of each firm are different. Offers do appear to be made to individuals who have different sets of perceived values when compared to people who did not receive offers. No evidence was found to indicate that length of association within firm results in more similar sets of perceived values being held by firm members.
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Tidrick, Donald E. "Auditors' planning stage materiality judgments and the mediating effects of level of responsibility, firm affiliation, and audit technology: An experiment /." The Ohio State University, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487585645579161.
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Trifunovski, Alexandar, and Max Steén. "Micro-firms and the auditor : a study of the individual-firm commitment between auditors and exempted firms in Sweden." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-9585.
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Purpose: The purpose with this dissertation is to examine the individual–firm commitment between auditors and exempted firms from the client perspective and how it is influenced by relational influencing factors. The impact of these factors is investigated through a three component model incorporating affective, calculative and normative commitment. Method: The study encompasses a triangular research method and can be seen as a twofold complementary approach. The choice of methodology seeks to qualitatively investigate how auditors actively work to impact the level of trust, social bonds and satisfaction as well as the level of commitment in their relationship with the exempted firm. The intention is to complement the findings from the qualitative study with quantitatively measured factors from the client’s perspective using a survey strategy. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that micro-firms are predominantly affectively committed to their auditor based on positive feelings of attachment and less due to normative and calculative reasons. Trust and satisfaction proved to be the most significant factors in ensuring long-term and enduring relationships between auditors and micro-firms. Implications: Affective commitment proved to be the most significant construct in explaining the characteristics of the auditor-micro firm relation in this study. By critically evaluating the relationship, the auditor can assess to which degree trust, social bonds and satisfaction can be implemented to strengthen the commitment of the exempted firm, thus influencing their long-term staying intention.
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Tarlton, Ron E. "Behavioral Styles: Comparing Audit Partners, Audit Managers, and Staff Auditors in Large CPA Firms." NSUWorks, 2011. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/hsbe_etd/111.
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A review of the literature concerning the personalities of accountants revealed that styles and preferences have remained consistent through the years. However, the job requirements of upper-level management in large CPA firms have been changing, especially in this post-SOX regulated era.
Studies related to the personalities of accountants have been conducted concerning various behavioral issues. However, the influence of behavioral style on specific attitudes at each of the three levels in large auditing firms has not been addressed. As a result, this study identified the styles of auditors at three levels (staff auditor, audit manager, audit partner) using DiSC Indra, a self-evaluation assessment tool. In addition, the changes (if any) in specific behavioral attitudes of CPAs at each of the three levels were measured using a Survey of Attitudes.
Analysis revealed statistically significant correlations existed between dominant interpersonal relationship styles and role conflict, professional commitment, and affective professional commitment. In addition, statistically significant correlations between the three organizational levels and role conflict, organizational identification, professional commitment, and affective professional commitment also were found.
As expected, the study found that the interpersonal relationship styles of auditors in this study were significantly different from those of the general working population. In addition, the study found statistically significant differences in the frequency of interpersonal styles between levels of auditors. This may indicate that as auditors move up in their firm, they must work out of their natural interpersonal style.
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Swanepoel, Elmarie. "An empirical survey of certain key aspects of the use of statistical sampling by South African registered auditors accredited by the Johannesburg securities exchange." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17835.
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Thesis (MAcc)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The quality of external audits has increasingly come under the spotlight over the last
decade as a result of a number of audit failures. The use of scientifically based statistical
sampling as a sampling technique is allowed, but not required by International Standards
on Auditing. The science behind this sampling technique can add to the credibility and
quality of the audit. Accordingly the main objective of this study was to explore certain key
aspects of the use of statistical sampling as a sampling technique in the audits of financial
statements done by South African Registered Auditors accredited by the Johannesburg
Stock Exchange (JSE).
A literature review of the most recent local and international studies related to the key
aspects addressed in this study was done. An empirical study was then done by means of
a questionnaire that was sent to the JSE-accredited auditing firms for completion. The
questionnaire focused on what was allowed by the firms’ audit methodologies regarding
the key aspects investigated in this study and not on the actual usage of statistical
sampling in audits performed by the firms.
The following main conclusions were drawn in respect of the four key aspects that were
investigated:
1. In investigating the extent to which statistical sampling is used by auditing firms, it was
found that the majority of them was allowed to use the principles of statistical
sampling. Upon further investigation it was found that only 38% were explicitly allowed
to use it in all three sampling steps (size determination, selection of items and
evaluation of results). The evaluation step was identified as the most problematic
statistical sampling phase.
2. Two reasons why auditors decided not use statistical sampling as a sampling
technique were identified, namely the perceived inefficiency (costliness) of the
statistical sampling process, and a lack of understanding, training and experience in
the use thereof.
3. In investigating how professional judgement is exercised in the use of statistical
sampling, it was found that the audit methodologies of the majority of the auditing firms
prescribed the precision and confidence levels to be used, and further that the minority indicated that they were allowed to adjust these levels using their professional
judgement. The partner in charge of the audit was identified to be typically responsible
for final authorisation of the sampling approach to be followed.
4. It was found that approximately a third of the auditing firms did not use computer
software for assistance in using statistical sampling. The majority of the auditing firms
did however have a written guide on how to use statistical sampling in practice
available as a resource to staff.
The value of this study lies in its contribution to the existing body of knowledge in South
Africa regarding the use of statistical sampling in auditing. Stakeholders in statistical
sampling as an auditing technique that can benefit from this study include Registered
Auditors in practice, academics, and, from regulatory, education and training perspectives,
the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors and the South African Institute of
Chartered Accountants.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na aanleiding van 'n aantal oudit mislukkings in die afgelope dekade het die kwaliteit van
eksterne oudits toenemend onder die soeklig gekom. Die gebruik van wetenskaplik
gebaseerde statistiese steekproefneming word deur die International Standards on
Auditing toegelaat, maar nie vereis nie, as 'n steekproefnemingstegniek. Die wetenskap
agter hierdie steekproefnemingstegniek kan tot die geloofwaardigheid en die kwaliteit van
die oudit bydra. Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was gevolglik om sekere sleutel aspekte
van die gebruik van statistiese steekproefneming as 'n steekproefnemingstegniek in die
oudits van finansiële state soos gedoen deur Suid-Afrikaanse Geregistreerde Ouditeure
geakkrediteer deur die Johannesburgse Effektebeurs (JSE), te verken.
'n Literatuurstudie van die mees onlangse plaaslike en internasionale studies wat verband
hou met die sleutel aspekte wat in hierdie studie aangespreek word, is gedoen. 'n
Empiriese studie is daarna gedoen met behulp van 'n vraelys wat vir die voltooiing aan die
JSE-geakkrediteerde ouditeursfirmas gestuur is. Die vraelys het gefokus op wat toegelaat
word deur die firmas se oudit metodologieë ten opsigte van die sleutel aspekte ondersoek
in hierdie studie en nie op die werklike gebruik van statistiese steekproefneming in oudits
wat deur die firmas uitgevoer word nie.
Die volgende hoofgevolgtrekkings is gemaak ten opsigte van die vier sleutel aspekte wat
ondersoek is:
1. In die ondersoek na die mate waarin statistiese steekproefneming gebruik word deur
ouditeursfirmas, is gevind dat die meerderheid toegelaat was om die beginsels van
statistiese steekproefneming te gebruik. By verdere ondersoek is gevind dat slegs
38% uitdruklik toegelaat word om dit te gebruik in al drie steekproefneming stappe
(grootte-bepaling, keuse van items en evaluering van resultate). Die evalueringstap is
geïdentifiseer as die mees problematiese statistiese steekproefnemings fase.
2. Twee redes waarom ouditeure besluit het om nie statistiese steekproefneming as 'n
steekproefnemingstegniek te gebruik nie is geïdentifiseer, naamlik die vermeende
ondoeltreffendheid (hoë koste) van die statistiese steekproefnemingsproses, en 'n
gebrek aan begrip, opleiding en ondervinding in die gebruik daarvan. 3. Met die ondersoek van die wyse waarop professionele oordeel uitgeoefen word in die
gebruik van statistiese steekproefneming, is gevind dat die presisiepeil en
vertrouensvlakke wat gebruik word deur die meerderheid van die ouditeursfirmas se
oudit metodologieë voorgeskryf word, en verder het die minderheid aangedui dat hulle
hierdie vlakke mag aanpas deur hul professionele oordeel te gebruik. Die vennoot in
beheer van die oudit is geïdentifiseer as tipies verantwoordelik vir die finale
goedkeuring van die steekproefnemingsbenadering wat gevolg word .
4. Daar is gevind dat ongeveer 'n derde van die ouditeursfirmas nie gebruik maak van
rekenaarsagteware vir bystand in die gebruik van statistiese steekproefneming nie.
Die meerderheid van die ouditeursfirmas het egter 'n geskrewe gids oor hoe om
statistiese steekproefneming in die praktyk te gebruik as 'n hulpmiddel aan personeel
beskikbaar.
Die waarde van hierdie studie lê in sy bydrae tot die bestaande liggaam van kennis in
Suid-Afrika met betrekking tot die gebruik van statistiese steekproefneming in ouditkunde.
Belanghebbers in statistiese steekproefneming as 'n oudittegniek wat kan baat vind by
hierdie studie sluit in Geregistreerde Ouditeure in praktyk, akademici, en, vanuit
regulerings-, opvoedings- en opleidingsperspektiewe, die Independent Regulatory Board
for Auditors en die Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut van Geoktrooieerde Rekenmeesters.
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Delkic, Emina, and Farsad Sara Akbarzadeh. "What strategies are used when creating and maintaining trust in an auditor-client context? : A comparative study between experienced and newly appointed auditors." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-42430.
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Background Trust is an important factor in many contexts, especially in inter firm relationships. Here, trust is essential in order to maintain the tenure of inter-organizational relationships. Auditors are in need of trust when it comes to accomplishing their audit tasks. Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how experienced and newly appointed auditors create and maintain trustful relationships with their clients. The research will focus on how auditors with different levels of experience approach their clients when building trust. By taking the limited mandate period of the auditor into consideration, the study will adopt a further aspect which has not been researched upon before. This will provide auditors as well as other professionals with insight of how to establish and maintain trustful relationships. Method The research will be conducted from an interpretivist standpoint, as the human interest will be in focus. The research method of this study has a qualitative approach, where eight interviews were conducted with auditors who were from the all of the Big 4. The auditor possesses different levels of experience. The empirical findings will be analyzed based on the stages of trust development by Lewicki and Bunker. Conclusion Availability, knowledge, experience and being able to identify the client’s needs were factors that were considered to be important when building trust. Prior relationship building was a deviant strategy used the experienced auditors. The limited term of office was not considered to affect the level of dedication to build trustful relationship with the client, the findings suggested that it rather was a motivation for the auditor to implement trust building strategies in an early stage of the relationship.
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Asare, Stephen Kwaku. "The auditors' going concern opinion decision: Interaction of task variables and the sequential processing of evidence." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184633.
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Drawing on the relevant psychology literature, three procedural variables that could influence the auditors' information processing when making going concern opinion decisions were identified. These procedural variables are the decision frame, the order in which evidence is evaluated and the initial belief held by the auditor. With respect to the decision frame, it was predicted that belief revision after processing contrary information (mitigating factors) is higher for auditors who frame their initial hypothesis in terms of viability (failure). This prediction hinges on the assumption that more weight is put on disconfirmatory information than on confirmatory information, holding "information content" constant. Second, denoting P(C) as the auditors' judgment just before processing contrary information (mitigating factors), it was hypothesized that contrary information (mitigating factors) has a bigger effect on belief revision as ex ante P(C) increases (decreases). Finally with respect to the order of evaluating evidence, it was posited that recency effects occur in belief revision and that these recency effects will be manifest in the auditors' opinion decision. These predictions were tested in a field experiment using 70 experienced auditors from four Big Eight firms. Results of the experiment provided support for the predictions relating to the initial belief and the order in which evidence was evaluated. However, the predictions relating to the decision frame were not supported. Furthermore, the study indicated that auditors exhibited considerable variability in their interpretation of substantial doubt (the standard of proof in SAS 59). Whereas some auditors interpreted this requirement as the preponderance of probability, others required a substantially higher level of probability as a threshold of proof for issuing unqualified opinions. Incidentally, it was discovered that this variability was partly accounted for by auditors' firm affiliation. Implications of these results for the audit review, the standard setting process and the nature of expertise in auditing are discussed.
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Jubb, Christine A. "Choosing an auditor : corporate governance, interpersonal associations and investor confidence /." Connect to thesis, 2000. http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000383.
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Quarles, Ross. "Professional Commitment, Organizational Commitment, and Organizational-Professional Conflict in the Internal Audit Function Model: Development and Test." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1988. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331961/.
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This dissertation is a descriptive, exploratory examination of professional commitment, organizational commitment, and conflict between those commitments in the internal audit profession. That conflict has been suggested in prior studies as the source of dysfunctional outcomes such as increased role stress, high turnover, decreased job satisfaction, and the exercise of improper judgment leading to audit failures. The descriptive aspect of this study deals with the development of a more comprehensive structural model of the factors and relationships involved in commitment and conflict than has been developed by previous research dealing with accountants. The exploratory aspect deals with the testing and refinement of the developed model utilizing the internal audit profession as the field of examination. The model developed in this study is derived from the synthesis of factors suggested by role theory, the concept of side bets, the cosmopolitan-local construct, and the concept of commitment as a process. This research utilizes a questionnaire administered to 205 practicing internal auditors in order to test 30 hypothesized relationships. Path analysis is used to determine the significant direct relationships between variables with a process of theory trimming being conducted in order to produce more parsimonious structural models. Indirect relationships between significant variables are identified and their redundant or suppressive nature determined. Explanations of these suppressive or redundant relationships are provided based on the theoretical considerations identified above. Such a determination and explanation of the redundant and suppressive indirect relationships involved in the commitment-conflict relationship has not been accomplished in earlier studies of the subject. Although the procedures used here do not support causal conclusions, the findings of this study indirectly provide evidence that conflict between the two commitments in the internal audit area is not to be considered inherent. The findings also suggest a possible undesirable relationship between organizational formalization and professional commitment.
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Varli, Fehmi, and William Barhe. "Hur har digitaliseringen förenklat revisionsprocessens arbetssätt? : En kvalitativ studie med tonvikt på revisionsbyråernas förändrade arbetssätt inom revisionsprocessen." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Företagsekonomi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-45539.
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Digitization has fundamentally changed the auditing profession. Audits are now performed using digital systems and tools that have revolutionized the audit process. Digitization has created opportunities to carry out a simplified audit process by simplifying the working method. For the leading audit firms, it is a basic precondition to adopt the digital tools in order to maintain competitiveness. This study aims to investigate and describe how digitalisation has changed the working methods of the audit process at the leading audit firms. The question asked in the study is how it has changed and what will be investigated is which working methods have changed and what the change has been. The study is characterized by aqualitative research approach in which eight semi-structured interviews were conducted, which together with the study's theoretical frame of reference form the basis for the study's produced results. Previous research states that working methods have changed and that this is the basis for the revision process, thus surveys are carried out with the results as a basis for ensuring the previous research. The results indicate that the audit process has been facilitated with the help of the digital tools that the audit firms' IT department works with to design. The working methods have changed because the auditor, with the help of digital tools and systems, has been given a different communication system and the handling of data has been facilitated. The result of the digitization also frees up time for the auditor, who devotes more value-creating time to the client, which may involve work as an advisor
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Labuschagne, Mario. "The role of internal auditors with specific reference to fraud investigation." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021385.
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The role of internal auditors is evolving to enable them to provide stakeholders with assurance and to assist organisations to achieve objectives and remain competitive to ensure the future existence of their organisations. The research for this study was guided by the question of whether the Institute of Internal Auditors guidance pronouncements provide sufficient guidance in the light of expectations of both the institute and management (stakeholders) relating to the role of internal auditors in respect of fraud investigation. Literature reviewed on the role of internal auditors showed that there is limited guidance provided with regards to fraud investigation, knowledge and skills required by an internal auditor to perform fraud investigations. The research methodology used for this study consisted of a qualitative case study of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University committees, namely, Council, Senate and MANCO as well as a combination of deductive and inductive interpretative analysis methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data from participants who were randomly selected from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Council, Senate and MANCO committees. The interviews revolved around three themes, namely, the role of internal audit, the information expected from internal audits and the role that the internal audit plays with regard to fraud. The interviews were recorded by means of a digital voice recorder which were transcribed by a qualified transcriber. The collected data was then manually coded by making use of standardised coding methods to assist with the analyses of the data. After considering the participant responses in relation to the themes, it could be deduced that a greater awareness needed to be created regarding the role of the internal audit and the services which internal audits could provide to organisations and management structures. The results of the analyses revealed that an expectation gap existed with regard to the Institute of Internal Auditors, guidance pronouncements and stakeholder expectations of internal auditor roles with specific reference to fraud investigations. This study showed that the IIA’s guidance pronouncements do not provide sufficient and adequate guidance in respect of the knowledge, skills and competency capabilities in relation to fraud investigations.The results of the study further showed that the expected role of internal auditors in an organisation should include fraud investigations.
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Tolleson, Thomas D. (Thomas Dale). "The Impact of Contextual Variables on Internal Auditors' Propensity to Communicate Upwardly." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1996. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279252/.
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The author examined whether contextual variables impact internal auditors' self-assessed likelihood of whistleblowing. The author synthesized a theoretical framework and developed research hypotheses that predict relationships between the self-assessed likelihood of whistleblowing and (1) magnitude of the consequences (2) channels of communication and (3) type of wrongdoing. To test these hypotheses, the author provided internal auditors (n=123) with a scenario and asked them to self-assess the likelihood of reporting evidence of a malfacation to their internal audit director even though their audit manager told them to ignore the wrongdoing.
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Singtokul, Ong-Ard. "Experience, episodic knowledge and judgment in an audit committee member task: experimental evidence." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/34663.
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I conduct experiments to investigate how episodic knowledge obtained from prior experience as an auditor or a manager affects audit committee members' judgment in supporting the auditor in a disagreement with management. This paper sheds light on the advantage of first-hand accounting-related experience in the important oversight task. It also brings to bear the potential benefit from direct manager experience as claimed by researchers and regulators. I find that the episodic knowledge obtained from prior experience as an auditor, especially the experience of having been a diligent auditor, strengthens the degree of auditor support of participants in the role of an audit committee member. By contrast, the effect of episodic knowledge from first-hand experience as a manager on the likelihood of auditor support varies with the manager type. While the episodic knowledge acquired from direct experience as an aggressive manager augments the level of auditor support, such knowledge attained by prior experience as a conservative manager has no significant effect.
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O'Donnell, Ed. "The Effect of Auditor Knowledge on Information Processing during Analytical Review." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1995. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279095/.
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Auditors form judgments by integrating the evidence they gather with information stored in memory (knowledge). As they acquire experience, auditors have the opportunity to learn how different patterns of evidence are associated with particular audit problems. Research in experimental psychology has demonstrated that individuals with task-specific experience can match the cues they encounter with patterns they have learned, and form judgments without consciously analyzing the individual cues. Accounting researchers have suggested that auditors develop judgment templates through task-specific experience, and that these knowledge structures automatically provide decisions in familiar situations. I examined whether auditor knowledge leads to reliance on judgment templates. To test this thesis, I synthesized a theoretical framework and developed research hypotheses that predict relationships between task-specific experience (my surrogate for knowledge) and (1) measures of cognitive effort, (2) accuracy of residual memory traces, and (3) performance with respect to identifying potential problems. To test these predictions, I provided senior auditors with comprehensive case materials for a hypothetical client and asked them to use analytical procedures to identify potential audit problems. Subjects acquired information and documented their findings on personal computers using software that I developed to record their activities.
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Granberg, Lars, and Linn Höglund. "The auditors' way to acquire knowledge about a company's environment." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för Hälsa och Samhälle, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-8433.
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The purpose with this study is to identify and explore how auditors proceed when acquiring knowledge about a company’s environment; and which difficulties that arise when acquiring this knowledge. A qualitative research method has been used to do this study and eight auditors have been interviewed. The risks in a company depend on which industry the company operates within. Therefore, it is very important that an auditor has an understanding of the whole company. ISA 315 requires an auditor to have an understanding of a company and its environment. This understanding will affect the auditor’s risk assessments during audit process. This study shows that interviews with the clients is an important information source when the auditors want to have knowledge about a company’s environment. Other information sources the auditors in this study use are different media sources, colleagues and key ratios. One difficulty with acquiring knowledge about a company’s environment is according to the respondents that it is hard to get a whole picture of a company. Another difficulty is that it might be hard for the auditors to know when they have enough information about a company’s environment; information that makes it possible to do accurate risk assessments.
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Sena, Sandra Regina Siqueira de. "Estudo sobre a alteração do conteúdo dos pareceres de auditoria independente após a adoção da lei 11.638/2007." Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, 2011. http://tede.mackenzie.br/jspui/handle/tede/885.
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Previous issue date: 2011-11-04<br>Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa<br>The primary goal of this study is to verify whether there have been any changes in the reports issued by independent auditors after the adoption of Act Number 11638/2007. The sample is composed of non-financial listed companies whose shares are traded on the Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange) with released Financial Statements in the period between 2006 and 2009, totaling 449 companies with 1.796 observations, whose data was extracted from the database of the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission). The auditors reports were analyzed as divided among the Big Four auditing firms, i.e., Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu;Ernst & Young; PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, and the Non Big Four representing the other auditing firms. The conclusion was that the contents of the auditors reports maintained
the same standards along the four fiscal years considering the following types of reports:unqualified; qualified; disclaimer of opinion and adverse opinion. Particular attention was
given to the utilization of emphasis paragraphs which may be found in unqualified and qualified reports pointing out that the observations therein contained referred several times to
uncertainties which would not have had any impact on the financial statements. It was also identified that the majority of the open capital companies chose to hire the Big Four during the period analyzed, moreover, the Non Big Four appeared to be more conservative, because they presented a significantly higher level of observations as compared with the Big Four.The collected data suggested that the Non Big Four have greater independence in the development of their auditing work, expressing their opinion in a more forceful manner, even if unfavorable to the audited company. However, we must question whether the Big Four issue almost all their opinions as unqualified because the companies hiring them are large corporations and, consequently, have more strict requirements through their audit committees with the necessary internal controls, or if the Big Four are, apparently, more dependent on their contracting companies thus suffering pressure to issue unqualified opinion reports due to agency conflicts, since the hiring company is responsible for the fees paid to the audit firms.<br>O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal verificar se houve alteração nos pareceres emitidos pelas auditorias independentes após adoção da Lei 11.638/2007. A amostra foi
composta por companhias abertas, não financeiras, com ações negociadas na Bovespa, as quais apresentaram Demonstrações Contábeis no período de 2006 a 2009, totalizando 449 empresas geradoras de 1.796 observações, cujos dados foram extraídos do banco de dados da CVM Comissão de Valores Mobiliários. Foi realizada uma análise de conteúdo nos pareceres de auditoria, segregados entre firmas de auditoria Big Four, ou seja, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Ernst & Young; PricewaterhouseCoopers e KPMG, e Non Big Four, que representaram as outras empresas de auditoria. Constatou-se que o conteúdo dos pareceres de auditoria manteve o mesmo padrão ao longo dos quatro exercícios analisados, considerando os tipos de pareceres: sem ressalvas; com ressalvas; com abstenção de opinião e com parecer adverso. Observou-se vasta utilização dos parágrafos de ênfase, que podem constar em pareceres com, ou sem ressalvas, destacando que as observações neles contidas se referiam muitas vezes a incertezas que não trariam impacto nas demonstrações contábeis. Identificouse,também, que a maioria das companhias abertas optou pela contratação das Big Four durante o período analisado, e, ainda, que as firmas de auditoria Non Big Four se mostraram mais conservadoras, pois apresentaram um nível de observações em seus pareceres, significativamente, superior as das Big Four. Os dados sugerem que as Non Big Four têm mais independência na realização do trabalho de auditoria, pois expressaram sua
opinião de forma mais contundente ainda que desfavorável à companhia auditada. No entanto,vale questionar se as Big Four emitem quase a totalidade de seus pareceres sem ressalva,porque as companhias que as contratam são grandes corporações e, consequentemente,possuem um regime de governança mais rigoroso através da existência de comitê de auditoria com os devidos controles internos, ou se as Big Four têm, aparentemente, maior dependência das companhias que as contratam e sofrem pressão para que seus pareceres sejam emitidos sem ressalvas devido ao conflito de agência, já que a companhia contratante é responsável pelos honorários das firmas de auditoria.
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Taylor, Eileen Zalkin. "The effects of in-group bias and decision aids on auditors' evidence evaluation." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2006. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0001572.
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Šimůnková, Andrea. "Ověření účetní závěrky auditorem ve vybraném podniku." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2010. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-75953.
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The aim of this thesis is to analyse auditing methods, which are specified in International Standards on Auditing - ISAs, and consequently apply some of these theoretical outputs to the financial statement of a real company.
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Venable, Carol Frances. "An analysis of auditor independence and its determinants." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184416.
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This study analyzes the concept of auditor independence and develops a theoretical model for examining an auditor's independence and the methods that can be used to assess, instill and maintain independence. In addition, this research reports the results of an empirical test of a portion of the model. In this work, independence is described as a multifaceted concept that includes both independence in appearance and independence in fact. By incorporating literatures from economics and sociology, relationships between these two forms of independence are developed to show that the observable structures and behaviors of the profession (independence in appearance) form the basis for implying the level of an individual auditor's independence (independence in fact). In this context, independence is operationally defined as: an auditor's perceived right to make audit judgments free from client and firm influences. The model further suggests that the observable structures of the profession form the socialization contexts for an individual's professional development. A survey of newly hired employees from five national accounting firms was conducted to examine the multidimensional aspects of auditor independence and the link between educational socialization processes and professional development. The results provide some support for the theoretical model and provide a basis for refining the linkages between educational socialization and professional development.
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Eglund, Amanda, and Anna Gidlund. "The implementation of the clarified International Standards on Auditing : The impact on the audit process in Sweden." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Redovisning och Rättsvetenskap, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-18073.
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On all Swedish audits on fiscal years starting 1st of January 2011 or later, the clarified ISAs should be applied. Before that, the Swedish auditing standards were called RS, which were a direct translation of the elder version of the ISAs but with considerations of Swedish law and Swedish traditions. The EC states that there will be no fundamental changes for the Swedish audits when the clarified ISAs is implemented, and IFAC states that all audits will realize significant changes when the clarified ISAs is implemented. The purpose of this study is therefore to explain how the audit process has been affected by the implementation of the clarified ISAs and what effects it has given rise to. The study also aims at explaining the relationship between audit firm size and impact on the audit process. This study was conducted using qualitative methods for both collecting and analyzing data. The data have been collected using both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through questionnaires in order to get as many opinions as possible but interviews were conducted as well in order to get a deep insight about the subject and to make sure that the questions in the questionnaire was relevant. What emerged in this study is that both the EC and IFAC were right about the implementation of the clarified ISAs in Sweden. The auditors that participated in this study explained that the way they are doing an audit has not changed, which means that no fundamental changes have occurred in the audits. However, the auditors have experienced some changes in the audit process, for example an increased amount of requirements on documentation and a more complicated and time consuming auditor’s report. How much the audit process has changed differs depending on the size of the audit firm. Generally, the impact on the audit process at the “big four” are less than it is on small audit firms due to the fact that many of the “big four” have worked with ISA before. Overall, the auditors have experienced that the implementation of the clarified ISAs have meant an increased cost for doing audits, in the form of updates in audit methodologies, educations and more procedures to perform. However, the auditors have not experienced that the audit quality has increased due to this. This means that the costs for an audit have increased while the quality remains the same.
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Ahmi, Aidi. "Adoption of generalised audit software (GAS) by external auditors in the UK." Thesis, Brunel University, 2012. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7357.
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This research is motivated by the interest in understanding the usage of the Generalised Audit Software (GAS) by external auditors within public accounting firms. GAS is a tool used by auditors to automate various audit tasks. It helps auditors to analyse accounting data electronically where it is quite impossible to do so manually. GAS is claimed to be the most influential Computer Assisted Audit Tools and Technique (CAATTs) that can facilitate the audit objective. However, research has found that there is little evidence that auditors have extensively adopted GAS. Even greater benefits have been promoted since the existence of GAS, but auditors do not really seem to be interested in this tool. Most previous studies have focused on either internal auditors, large accounting firms, other countries or merely adopters of GAS. However, there is little evidence that the study of GAS has been conducted on external auditors, especially in small and medium sized accounting firms in the United Kingdom (UK). This study helps to fill this gap by exploring the use of GAS among them, and covers both adopters and non-adopters of GAS. Through an online survey using both close and open-ended questions, this issue has been investigated among registered statutory auditors. The primary aim of this study is to explore the current usage of GAS and to understand the factors that influence the use of GAS as well as the perceptions and expectations of using GAS. The views are gathered from both auditors who are already implementing GAS and those who are not using GAS. A framework was developed to identify a range of relevant factors which are important when considering the application of GAS. Responses from 205 statutory auditors across the UK were then mapped against the framework. Of the 14 variables used to test the factors that influence the use of GAS, only six of them are found to be significant from logistic regression analysis. These are firm size, experience of auditors in computerised auditing, organisational influence, client factor, audit engagement allocation and perceived usefulness. The findings show that the utilisations of GAS is unusually low among audit firms in the UK. Almost 73% of external auditors make no use of GAS, due to the limited perceived benefit of using GAS for auditing small clients. While some respondents recognised the advantages of GAS, they were put off by what they believed to be high implementation costs; the significant learning curve and adoption process; and lack of ease of use. Some auditors expressed their awareness of GAS, but most of them showed a preference for using traditional auditing methods instead. A few problems have also been identified in causing the limitation of GAS usage. This study contributes to the literature on suggestions to improve the use of GAS that can be used by small and medium sized public accounting firm, which is lacking in existing research related to this group. In sum, this study has deepened current understanding of the GAS usage among small and medium sized audit firms in the UK, and has provided useful insights for audit professionals, software developers, vendors, standards setters, academicians and researchers. This study has also opened up the possibilities for further study on GAS or related areas either in the UK or other places in the world.