Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Procedure of audit'

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Selection represents a critical human resource intervention by virtue of its ability to regulate the movement of employees into, through and out of the organisation. Selection thus represents a relatively visible mechanism through which access to employment opportunities can be regulated. From the perspectives of both affirmative action and fairness, as well as utility, selection has therefore been under intense scrutiny. This implies that there are two substantial criteria in terms of which selection procedures need to be evaluated, namely equity and efficiency. Should the human resource function be challenged to defend its selection procedure, it should be able to assemble credible evidence to show the efficiency and equity of the disputed intervention by means of a reasoned justification. The problem is, however, that most selection procedures being operated in South Africa would probably not be able to successfully meet this burden of persuasion. The search for equitable and efficient selection procedures thus necessitates the need for psychometric audits to provide the feedback required to adjust selection procedures towards greater efficiency and equity, and to provide the evidence required for the vindication of organisations should they be challenged in terms of the South African anti-discriminatory labour legislation. The Guidelines for the Validation and Use of Selection Procedures developed by the Society for Industrial Psychology (1998) represents an attempt to illustrate the ideal process according to which selection procedures should be developed and validated. Conditional on the acceptance that the Guidelines (1998) set out the most justifiable methodology for the development and justification of selection procedures, it becomes a necessity for organisations to periodically evaluate (i.e. periodically psychometrically audit) their current selection procedures and its developmental history to determine whether the human resource function can convincingly demonstrate: .:. The business necessity of the selection procedure; .:. The validity of the performance theory on which the selection procedure is based; and .:. That the selection strategy combines applicant information fairly. A checklist was developed from relevant psychometric literature for the purpose of the psychometric audit representing a structured list of activities required to justify the use of a selection procedure. A psychometric audit was conducted on a selection procedure for call centre staff of a large SA insurance company. The audit uncovered a number of deficiencies in the call center selection procedure and its developmental history. The performance hypothesis, in which the choice of operational predictor measures is grounded, was neither developed, nor argued, nor documented with sufficient clarity to indicate unambiguously the presumed nature of the nomological network of performance determinants and performance constructs. Problems were found with the external validity of the validation design. No reliability, validity, fairness or utility analyses had been performed at the time of the audit. Subsequent correlation analysis indicates low statistically insignificant correlations between the majority of the chosen predictors and the developed criteria. Nonetheless, linear combinations of predictors were found for each of the three call center positions that significantly explain moderate proportions of criterion variance. The fairness of the use of the CSR multiple regression equation across black and white applicants was examined and found to be acceptable. Due to practical constraints, the utility of the selection procedure has not been evaluated. It is recommended that the current selection procedure be re-examined in detail by the company to bring about positive changes in the performance hypothesis and the operational criterion measures. Thereafter, concrete evidence of reliably generated methodological research needs to be obtained again in order to verify the appropriateness, reliability and the meaningfulness of the inferences made from predictor assessments, thereby limiting, ifnot eliminating, possible cases oflitigation.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Seleksie verteenwoordig 'n kritieke menslikehulpbronintervensie omdat dit die vermoë het om die beweging van werknemers in, deur en uit 'n organisasie te reguleer. Seleksie verteenwoordig dus 'n relatief sigbare meganisme waarmee toegang tot werksgeleenthede gereguleer word. Uit die oogpunt van sowel regstellende aksie as regverdigheid, en ook bruikbaarheid, is seleksie tans geweldig onder die vergrootglas. Hiermee word geïmpliseer dat die twee substansiële kriteria waarvolgens seleksieprosedures geëvalueer moet word, billikheid en doeltreffendheid is. Sou die menslikehulpbronfunksie uitgedaag word om sy seleksieprosedure te verdedig, sal dit met geloofwaardige bewyse voor 'n dag moet kan kom om die regverdigheid en doeltreffendheid van die intervensie onder bespreking deur middel van logiese argumente te regverdig. Die probleem is egter dat die meeste seleksieprosedures wat in Suid Afrika gebruik word, waarskynlik nie aan hierdie vereiste sal kan voldoen nie. Die soeke na regverdige en doeltreffende seleksieprosedures noodsaak dus dat die behoefte aan psigometriese oudits. aangespreek word vir die terugvoer wat nodig -is om die seleksieprosedures meer doeltreffend en regverdig te maak. Dit salook terselfdertyd die bewyse verskaf waardeur organisasies hul keuringsprosedures kan regverdig indien teen organisasies opgetree sou word in terme van Suid Afrika se antidiskriminerende arbeidswetgewing. Die "Guidelines for the Validation and Use of Selection Procedures" wat deur die Vereniging vir Bedryfsielkunde (1998) ontwikkel is, is 'n poging om die ideale proses waarvolgens seleksieprosedures ontwikkel en gevalideer behoort te word, te illustreer. Op voorwaarde dat hierdie Riglyne (1998) aanvaar word as die mees regverdigbare metodologie wat betref die ontwikkeling en regverdiging van seleksieprosedures, word dit noodsaaklik dat organisasies hulle seleksieprosedures en die ontwikkelingsgeskiedenis daarvan van tyd tot tyd evalueer (d.i. 'n periodieke psigometriese oudit) ten einde vas te stelof die menslikehulpbronfunksie die volgende oortuigend kan demonstreer: .:. die noodsaaklikheid van die seleksieprosedure uit 'n besigheidsoogpunt; .:. die geldigheid van die prestasieteorie waarop die seleksieprosedure gebaseer is; en .:. dat die seleksiestrategie die inligting van die aansoeker regverdig kombineer. 'n Kontrolelys is ontwikkel uit relevante psigometriese bronne sodat die psigometriese oudit 'n gestruktureerde lys van aktiwiteite bevat wat die gebruik van 'n seleksieprosedure sal kan regverdig. 'n Psigometriese oudit is gedoen op 'n seleksieprosedure vir die inbelpersoneel van 'n groot Suid Afrikaanse versekeringsfirma. Die oudit het 'n aantal gebreke in hierdie seleksieprosedure en sy ontwikkelingsgeskiedenis uitgewys. Die prestasiehipotese waarop die keuse van operasionele voorspellers gegrond is, was nie met voldoende helderheid ontwikkel, beredeneer of gedokumenteer om 'n onomwonde aanduiding te gee van die nomologiese netwerk van prestasiedeterminante en prestasiekonstrukte nie. Die eksterne geldigheid van die valideringsontwerp was ook problematies. Geen betroubaarheids-, geldigheids-, billikheids- of nutanalises is ten tyde van die oudit uitgevoer nie. 'n Daaropvolgende korrelasie-analise dui op lae, statisties onbeduidende korrelasies tussen die meerderheid van die gekose voorspellers en die ontwikkelde kriteria. Daar is desnieteenstaande lineêre kombinasies van voorspellers gevind vir elk van die drie inbelsentrumposte wat beduidend matige proporsies kriteriumvariansie verklaar. Die billikheid van die gebruik van die CSR meervoudige regressievergelyking vir wit en swart aansoekers is ondersoek en aanvaarbaar gevind. As gevolg van praktiese beperkinge is die nut van die seleksieprosedure nie geëvalueer nie. Daar word aanbeveel dat die huidige seleksieprosedure weer noukeurig deur die maatskappy ondersoek sal word om positiewe veranderinge aan die prestasiehipotese en die operasionele kriteriumtellings aan te bring. Daarna moet konkrete bewyse uit betroubaar gegenereerde, metodologiese navorsing weereens verkry word om die relevansie, betroubaarheid en betekenisvolheid van die afleidings wat gemaak is op grond van voorspellerevaluerings te verifieer, om op dié manier moontlike regsgedinge te beperk, indien nie uit te skakel nie.

The goal of the submitted thesis "Audit of Commercial Insurance Company" is to introduce the process of the audit of the insurance company. Theoretical part of the thesis contains a general introduction to audit, general auditors procedures and audit legislation. Practical part describes the audit of commercial insurance company with main focus on audit of the financial investments, gross premiums written, technical reserves and claim payments.

The job of an auditor has still been quite a new one in the Czech Republic. It is connected with the transformation of our economy in the late 80s and early 90s. Despite its relatively short history the job's importance is going up. Just the external audit itself can lower the information inequality between the owner and the manager. Internal audit, on the other side, is a means of precaution how to prevent problems or solve them already before their coming into existence. My diploma work aimed at deeper insight into the problems of an auditor's job.

Abstract In New Zealand there are currently no regular external audits to verify the full treatment chain in radiotherapy. This thesis reports on a project to devise such an audit procedure suitable to assess the accuracy of the delivery of prescribed radiotherapy doses to patients over the full treatment process. The National Radiation Laboratory (NRL), regulatory authority, will use the method developed to conduct biennial audits of all radiotherapy centres. A commercial chest phantom with a MOSFET dosimetry system was provided for this project. The MOSFETs were commissioned and their characteristics determined, namely reproducibility, energy dependence and angular dependence. The MOSFETs were also tested in a clinical environment with the phantom. Measurements were carried out to test the MOSFET capabilities in both lung and soft tissue in the phantom. Two plans were devised for the audit process, a straightforward one with two parallel opposed beams and a more complex one involving lung tissue and wedges. These plans were designed to test the entire treatment planning and delivery process. It was found that each MOSFET detector needed to be individually calibrated. Reproducibility was found to have an average standard deviation of 2% on standard sensitivity and 1.2% on high sensitivity. The angular dependence of the detectors showed that when the MOSFET was rotated by 90 degrees to the beam axis a drop in response of 3% was observed with 6 MV. The energy dependence factor was constant within uncertainty for all MOSFETs. Overall, the MOSFET and phantom dosimetry system was determined to be suitable for the audit. The measurements with phantom showed that doses in high dose regions could be determined accurately. The greatest variation from the Treatment Planning system dose to the measured dose was 6%. The trial runs of the audit in two New Zealand radiotherapy centres showed that the procedure created is able to find discrepancies within the desired 5%, recommended by the ICRU, in the prescribed dose to the phantom.

5S is a lean tool, which is a visual housekeeping technique that can be implemented in a shop floor to eliminate waste and improve the process. The performance of the 5S tool in a workplace is evaluated using a 5S audit checklist and the observers perform the evaluation. The scores of the completed checklist reflect the performance of 5S tool in the workplace. A study by Natarajan (2011) has shown that the current 5S audit checklist commonly being used in aerospace had low rater-reliability scores in a particular scenario. Therefore the objective of this thesis was to improve the reliability for the 5S audit checklist. First, the content validity of the checklist was tested with the help of five industry people and the checklist was modified. Then, a training procedure was developed on how to rate a workplace using the modified audit checklist. Then a study was performed to test the reliability of the modified checklist. For the study two groups of students were selected as raters. The first group, the control group, did not receive any training. The control group was asked to rate a virtual reality model of a factory workplace using the modified checklist. The second group, the experimental group, received the specially developed training on how to rate a workplace and was asked to rate the same virtual reality model. This study was performed again with a time gap of 3 weeks and the experimental group dint receive any training while doing it for the second time. The obtained results were analyzed using SPSS software and the control group results showed that the modified checklist had impact on improving the rater-reliability scores of the modified checklist but the experimental group results showed that training the raters has helped in improving the rater-reliability of the modified checklist. This suggests that training the raters before audits could produce good results because training will create a common frame of reference within the raters.<br>Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Thesis (MScEng (Chemical Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.<br>304 leaves single sided printed,preliminary pages i-xxii and numberd pages 1-282. Includes bibliography,list of figures and tables, used a Bizhub 250 Scanner to pdf format (OCR) 57pages contain figures in color.Digitized at 300 dpi 24-bit Color to pdf format (OCR),used a Hp Scanjet 8250<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ecosystems and natural water sources are constantly under threat from pollutants and all efforts should be made to minimise polluting factors. In the last decade growing concern has been expressed with regard to the environmental threat posed by wastewater produced by wineries and distilleries. Research into winery wastewater commenced in the early nineties mainly in Australia and France. These investigations characterised winery wastewater, indicating a large diversity in quality and quantity between wastewaters emanating from wineries. Owed to changes in South African legislation, in conjunction with an augmented environmental awareness, the need for an environmental assessment of wineries became apparent. In South Africa, research of this nature had not yet been conducted. Previous research on winery wastewater treatment employed mostly biological technologies, with success but also shortfalls. In South Africa the majority of wineries are located in the Western Cape Province, several within the same water catchment area. Wineries may produce approximately 1 to 10 litres of wastewater per litre of wine produced, which are turbid and acidic and typically contain high levels of organic compounds (thus oxygen deficient), and suspended material. Usually these wastewaters are irrigated onto land, in close proximity to natural water resources. The pollution of water tables and down-stream water sources may occur. The quantification, qualification and treatment of this type of wastewater are addressed in this study. Winery wastewater produced from the predominantly red wine producing Rupert and Rothschild Vignerons, served as case study for a two-year wastewater audit strategy. The most common analyses performed on winery wastewater include the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), pH and turbidity. A thorough analysis in the form of a comprehensive audit was performed on the water and vinification processes. This allowed for an accurate determination of contamination sources and properties. The audit entailed a designed sampling protocol, the format of which was tailored as an initial environmental assessment for the development of an Environmental Management System (EMS) unique to Rupert and Rothschild Vignerons. The EMS includes projected future objectives for wastewater quality (COD, SS, pH, turbidity), as well as an environmental policy. In order to reach the proposed quality objectives, a suitable wastewater treatment system must be installed. The efficiency of the treatment system present at Rupert and Rothschild Vignerons was evaluated and piloted the investigation of physico-chemical treatment technologies. Research into the applicability of induced sedimentation (coagulation) and chemical oxidation (ozone) was the first of its kind for winery wastewater as substrate, and provided an interesting dimension in the sense of pragmatic and economic feasibility. Dissolved and suspended particles present in winery wastewater do not settle by gravity alone, thus requiring sedimentation agents (coagulants). Benchscale experiments were conducted employing four types of pre-polymerised metal salt coagulants (polyaluminium chloride). Successful sedimentation of turbidity inducing compounds (up to 98 %) and suspended solid fractions (up to 92%) was achieved. These coagulants are highly suitable for the treatment of winery wastewater since the investigation showed that they are effective over a broad pH and dosage range. In addition, rapid sedimentation rates were observed, favouring thickener design economy. Ozone is a potent oxidising agent, and has been reported to increase the biodegradability of dissolved organic compounds and result in the decolouring of wastewaters. Ozonation is highly pH dependent, with hydroxyl radical activity dominating at alkaline pH. In the majority of gas-liquid contacting systems, the kinetics of the heterogeneous reaction is not limited by the chemical reaction rate, but by the transport of ozone to the liquid phase. To compensate, the ozone concentration in the gas phase is increased. Coupled to the primary investigation on the applicability of ozone treatment for winery wastewater, thus emerged a secondary investigation into an enhanced mass transfer system, realised by the use of impinging stream technology. The ozone transfer in a conventional bubble-column was compared to that of an impinging-stream jet-reactor. The latter significantly improved the ozone transfer to the winery wastewater, resulting in the rate-limiting step being the chemical reaction rate. Ozonation resulted in the increased biodegradability of the winery wastewater, and complete colour and odour elimination. Concerning jet-reactors, the principal importance lies in the substantial reduction in the initial ozone concentration requirement, thereby rendering the process more economically feasible. Following the investigation of the wastewater dynamics, the determination of eco-toxicology during irrigation should be conducted in future. When considering induced sedimentation, further studies should be directed towards ascertaining the most economic yet efficient dosage of the coagulant. Similarly, a study concerning the economic viability of ozone efficiency should be realised in terms of the energy requirements for both ozone generation and the operation of jet-reactors. Although the jet reactor poses a benefit for enhanced mass transfer, the essential criterion concerning residence time in the reactor must be addressed for positive results. Since no single solution exists for the treatment of winery wastewaters, the application of the considered technology must be carefully selected and incorporated in a treatment design; the two foremost criteria for selection being efficiency and economy.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ekologiese stelsels en natuurlike waterbronne word gedurig bedreig deur besoedeling, dus moet ten aile tye gepoog word om besoedeling te minimiseer of te voorkom. Gedurende die laaste dekade is al hoe meer kommer uitgespreek oor die besoedeling van afloop water afkomstig van wyn en spiritualiee-vervaardiging. Navorsing aangaande wynafloopwater het ontstaan in die vroee negentigs, hoofsaaklik in Australie en Frankryk. Hierdie navorsing het gelei tot die karakterisering van wynafloopwater, en die uiteenlopendheid van hierdie water aangaande die kwaliteit en kwantiteit tussen kelders, is aangetoon. As gevolg van veranderinge in die SuidAfrikaanse wetgewing, asook 'n groeiende bewuswording van omgewingsake, het die noodsaaklikheid van omgewings impak-studies vir wynkelders na vore getree. Tot op hede is navorsing van hierdie aard nog nie in Suid Afrika gedoen nie. Vorige navorsing op die behandeling van wynafloopwater het meestal biologiese tegnologiee behels, met 'n mate van sukses maar ook met tekortkominge. Die meederheid wynkelders in Suid Afrika is in die Wes-Kaap gelee, baie binne dieselfde opvanggebied. Wynkelders kan tussen 1 tot 10 liter afloop water produseer per liter wyn geproduseer. Hierdie afloop het tipies 'n hoe konsentrasie organiese stowwe (is dus arm aan suurstof), is troebel en suur, en bevat gesuspendeerde materiaal. Gewoonlik word die wynafloop water besproei in die nabyheid van natuurlike waterbronne. Die besoedeling van watertafels en waterbronne kan dus plaasvind. Die kwantifisering, kwalifisering en behandeling van wynafloopwater word ondersoek in hierdie tesis. Die wynafloopwater van die hoofsaaklik rooiwyn produserende Rupert en Rothschild Vignerons, het gedien as proefstudie tydens 'n twee-jaar wynafloopwateroudit. 'n Deeglike analise in die formaat van 'n veelomvattende oudit is uitgevoer op die wynmaakproses en die waterafvoerstrome. 'n Akkurate bepaling van die oorsprong van waterkontaminasie, asook die eienskappe daarvan is bewerkstellig. Die oudit behels 'n spesifiek ontwerpte monsternemingprotokol, waarvan die formaat geformuleer is om te dien as 'n beginpunt vir die ontwikkeling van 'n Omgewingsbestuurstelsel (08S), uniek vir Rupert en Rothschild Vignerons. Hierdie 08S sluit toekomstige doelstellings vir die kwaliteit (chemiese suurstofbehoefte, gesuspendeerde vaste stowwe, pH, turbiditeit) van wynafloopwater in, asook 'n omgewingsbeleid. Die installering van 'n waterbehandelingsisteem moet geskied om te voldoen aan hierdie voorgestelde doelstellings. Die effektiwiteit van die huidige behandeling sisteem teenwoordig by Rupert en Rothschild Vignerons is geevalueer en het gelei tot navorsing oor fisieschemiese behandelingstegnologiee. Navorsing aangaande die toepassing van geinduseerde sedimentasie (koagulasie) en chemiese oksidasie (osoon), is vir die eerste keer toegepas op wynafloopwater, en het interessante gevolge in 'n pragmatiese en ekonomiese sin. Opgelosde en gesuspendeerde partikels teenwoordig in wynafloopwater sak nie onder normale gravitasie uit nie, en dus word die toediening van sedimentasie-induserende middels benodig. Eksperimente is in die laboratorium uitgevoer met vier verskillende gepolimeriseerde metaalsoutkoagulante (poli-aluminiumchloriedes). Dit het gelei tot die effektiewe sedimentering van stowwe wat troebelheid (turbiditeit) veroorsaak (tot 98 %) en ook gesuspendeerde stowwe (tot 92 %). Dit is gevind dat hierdie tipe koagulante hoogs geskik is vir die behandeling van wynafloop water, aangesien hulle effektief is by 'n wye pH- en doseringsreeks. Die uitsaktempo is vinnig, wat dus die ontwerp van 'n uitsaktenk (verdikker) ekonomies maak. Osoon is 'n sterk oksideermiddel, terwyl talle verslae aandui dat dit die biologiese ontbinding van opgelosde stowwe verhoog en die ontkleuring van afloopwaters tot. gevolg het. Osonering is pH afhanklik; by alkaliese pH oorheers die werking van hidroksielradikale. In die meerderheid gasvloeistofkontaksisteme word die kinetika van die heterogene chemiese reaksie nie beperk deur die intrinsieke reaksietempo nie, maar deur die vervoer van osoon na die vloeistoffase. Om te kompenseer hiervoor, word die osoon konsentrasie in die gasfase verhoog. Gekoppel aan die primere ondersoek aangaande die toepasbaarheid van osoonbehandeling op wynafloopwater, het 'n tweede ondersoek onstaan aangaande verhoogde massa-oordragssisteme deur die gebruik van hoeintensiteit spuitreaktore. Die osoonoordrag in konvensionele borrelkolomme is vergelyk met die van 'n hoe intensiteit spuitreaktor. Laasgenoemde het die osoonoordrag na die wynafloopwater aansienlik verhoog, met die gevolg dat die chemiese reaksie die beperking op die reaksie tempo geplaas het. Osonering het die biodegradasie van die wynafloop water verhoog, asook die kleur en reuk verwyder. By die spuit-reaktor Ie die belangrikheid daarin by die aansienlike veriaging in die aanvanklike behoefte aan osoonkonsentrasie, derhalwe is hierdie oordragsisteem meer ekonomies. Na afloop van die ondersoek op die dinamika van wynafloopwater, moet die ekotoksisiteit gedurende besproeiing bepaal word vir toekomstige doeleindes. Indien ge"induseerde sedimentasie verlang word, kan verdere studie gedoen word om die mees ekonomiese dosis van die koagulant te bepaal. Ooreenstemmend, moet die ekonomiese lewensvatbaarheid van die osoon effektiwiteit bepaal word ten opsigte van die energiebehoefte van beide die osoongenerasie en die werking van die hoe-intensiteit spuitreaktor. Alhoewel die spuitreaktor verhoogde massa-oordrag bewerkstellig, moet die effek van die residensietyd in die reaktor inag geneem word word ten einde positiewe resultate te verkry. Geen enkele oplossing bestaan vir die behandeling van wynafloop water nie, derhalwe moet die toepassing van die beoogde sisteem versigtig gekies word en ingesluit word in die ontwerp van 'n behandelingsisteem; die twee vernaamste maatstawwe is ondermeer effektiwiteit en ekonomiese aspekte.

La presente Tesi di Laurea Specialistica considera, partendo da un'analisi della normativa vigente e delle procedure aziendali interne, il Sistema di Gestione Integrato Qualità  Sicurezza Ambiente (SGI QSA) di HERA SpA con particolare attenzione alle tematiche relative alla Prevenzione e Protezione sul luogo di lavoro in riferimento al Testo Unico sulla sicurezza (D.Lgs 81/2008) . Nello specifico, l'elaborato si basa sull'esperienza maturata durante cinque mesi di stage effettuati presso l'ufficio "Servizio Prevenzione e Protezione" della Struttura Operativa Territoriale (SOT) Bologna. Durante la mia permanenza in HERA SpA, ho avuto modo di osservare e prendere parte alle attività  quotidianamente svolte sia in ufficio che presso gli impianti dislocati nel territorio della provincia di Bologna con particolare riguardo alla raccolta, gestione e fruibilità  dei dai inerenti la sicurezza dei luoghi di lavoro. Nell'ambito dello stage, ho avuto anche la possibilità , estremamente formativa, di prendere visione dei processi, delle tecnologie e delle modalità  operative sottostanti l'erogazione di servizi da parte di una Multiutility; acquisire consapevolezza e know how in merito alle energie messe in campo per effettuare attività  quali la raccolta e lo smaltimento di rifiuti piuttosto che rendere disponibile alle utenze la fornitura di acqua e gas. Ritengo che questo possa darmi un valore aggiunto sia da un punto di vista professionale che da un punto di vista umano. Scopo primario di questa trattazione è effettuare l'istantanea di un'azienda complessa e in rapida evoluzione come HERA a partire della Salute e Sicurezza dei Lavoratori con l'obiettivo di indicare le attività  eseguite durante lo stage e il contributo fornito allo sviluppo e al mantenimento del SGS (Sistema di Gestione per la Salute e la sicurezza). Per meglio evidenziare la diversa natura delle informazioni riportate, l'elaborato risulta diviso in due parti fondamentali: La I PARTE riguarda lo studio della normativa che regola il settore con particolare riferimento al TUSL Testo Unico per la Sicurezza sui Luoghi di Lavoro (norma vigente in Italia) e allo standard britannico OHSAS 18001 a cui possono fare riferimento le organizzazioni che intendono certificare il proprio sistema di gestione in materia di sicurezza. In seguito si andranno ad analizzare le norme ISO 9001e ISO14001 che riguardano rispettivamente la possibilità  di certificare il proprio sistema di gestione in merito a Qualità  del servizio e tutela dell'Ambiente. Infine saranno proposte alcune riflessioni riguardanti la necessità  di sviluppare un sistema di gestione integrato e certificato che permetta di avere una visione unitaria di Qualità  Sicurezza e Ambiente. Nella II PARTE si entrerà  nel merito delle attività  svolte dall'ufficio Prevenzione e Protezione: a partire dalle procedure aziendali che fungono da punto di contatto fra gli obblighi normativi e la necessità  di regolare l'operatività  dei lavoratori, saranno descritte le mansioni che mi sono state affidate e le attività  svolte durante lo stage.

Master of Science<br>Department of Civil Engineering<br>Kyle Riding<br>Over the past few years, state governments and entities have become concerned with energy consumption and efficiency at their facilities. The Department of Energy has become increasingly involved in energy code enforcement, and has established initiatives to help states monitor and improve energy consumption. In order to reduce energy consumption and increase building efficiency, facilities must be compared to a baseline building and changes made accordingly. The thesis objectives are to establish a process that all states and state-funded facilities can follow that determines the baseline, establish an energy auditing procedure, and recommend monitoring techniques. In addition, this report documents a procedure developed to make recommendations for improvements and select building and equipment upgrades based and return on investment calculations. The procedures and processes established are designed so that any employee, especially non-engineers, can accomplish changes that will improve facility energy efficiency. In order to develop simplified energy auditing procedures for large and dispersed organizations, a literature review of prevalent energy codes and standards was conducted, as well as documents outlining energy audit procedures. An energy audit workbook outlining a simplified auditing procedure was created. Six KDOT facilities were audited using the procedure as part of the case study. The audit results were then used to determine practical economic calculations and determine viable improvements that reduce energy consumption. As a result of this research and case study, a simplified energy audit procedure was created. This procedure was developed to include selecting a baseline of requirements, conducting an energy audit, and selecting viable improvements using economics. All of these procedures are able to be executed by any state employee, specifically those at the facilities who may not be engineers.

Dissertação submetida como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Contabilidade e Finanças<br>A auditoria interna desempenha um papel fundamental na estrutura de uma organização, na medida em que procura fazer face às necessidades dos mercados e corresponder às expectativas de todas as partes interessadas, contribuindo, desse modo, para o sucesso organizacional. Numa época de novas tecnologias, avanços informáticos, entre outros, denota-se que o mercado está cada vez mais exigente. As empresas procuram, cada vez mais, a eficácia e eficiência nas suas decisões, a fim de se diferenciarem da concorrência, num mercado cada vez mais competitivo. O controlo interno é encarado como um fator chave para o entendimento dos vários processos existentes em cada empresa, bem como dita confiança às demonstrações financeiras apresentadas. Por outro lado, a auditoria traz uma almofada de fiabilidade não demonstrada em empresas sem esse controlo. O manual de controlo interno torna-se assim uma peça fundamental como base de trabalho para a auditoria interna, uma vez que descreve todos os procedimentos a adotar considerando as regras de controlo necessárias e adaptadas a cada organização e estrutura. Não esquecendo contudo, que o planeamento das ações de auditoria começou a ter em conta, os principais riscos negativos da empresa. Esta mudança de perspetiva levou a que a auditoria convencesse os intervenientes dos processos de controlo, que as suas recomendações têm como objetivo melhorar os procedimentos com impacto direto na satisfação do cliente. Assim, teremos o controlo interno de braço dado com a auditoria interna, na prossecução de objetivos comuns que se complementam entre si. Após a análise, salienta-se a importância da definição de um manual de controlo interno adequado à organização, bem como o impacto que a falta de um sistema de controlo interno tem na empresa. Este trabalho teve por base um estudo de caso, através da observação direta e participativa dos processos da empresa, além de entrevistas com vários funcionários, caracterizando assim além dos processos e procedimentos de controlo interno adotados, a empresa e a sua atividade. Com base na informação recolhida, foram elaborados os manuais de procedimentos para a área dos recebimentos e dos pagamentos. A análise seguinte incidiu com a confrontação dos processos realizados, com um sistema de controlo interno adequado à estrutura e organização da empresa, de forma a detetar as falhas, e quais os sistemas de controlo interno que deverão ser implementados, efetuando para tal as devidas sugestões.<br>Internal auditing plays a key role on the organizations as it seeks to meet market needs and stakeholders expectations, and therefore, contributes to organizational success. In an age of new technologies, computer advances, among others, it is noted that the market is increasingly demanding. Companies are increasingly looking for efficiency and effectiveness in their decisions in order to differentiate themselves from the competition in a more competitive market. Internal control is seen as a key factor for understanding the various processes in each company, as well as reinforces the reliance on the presented financial statements. On the other hand, the audit brings a reliability cushion not demonstrated in companies without this control. The internal control manual thus becomes a fundamental piece as a basis/guide for internal audit work, since it describes all the procedures to be adopted considering the control rules necessary and adapted to each organization and structure. Not forgetting however, that the planning of audit actions began to take into account the main negative risks of the company. This change of perspective has led the audit to convince all the active intervenient in the control processes that their recommendations aim to improve procedures, in order to obtain a direct impact on customer satisfaction. Thus, we will have the internal control linked with the internal audit, in the pursuit of a single objective that will complement each other. The analysis highlights the importance of defining an appropriate internal control manual for the organization as well as the impact that the lack of an internal control system has on the company. This work was based on a case study, through the direct and participative observation of the company's processes, as well as interviews with several employees, thus characterizing in addition to the internal control processes and procedures adopted, the company and its activity. Based on the collected information, the procedures manuals for the area of receipts and payments were prepared. The following analysis focused on the comparison of the processes carried out, with an internal control system adequate to the structure and organization of the company, in order to detect failures, and which internal control systems should be implemented, making the appropriate suggestions.

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais<br>O presente relatório tem como principal objetivo descrever pormenorizadamente as atividades desenvolvidas no âmbito do estágio curricular realizado na empresa de auditoria Victor José & Associados, SROC, Lda., durante um período de 4 meses. No âmbito do estágio, foi também realizado um estudo sobre o procedimento de confirmação externa, que é considerado um dos mais importantes procedimentos de auditoria amplamente usado para a obtenção de prova persuasiva que permita ao auditor emitir uma opinião no seu relatório de auditoria. O estudo realizado teve como principal objetivo aprofundar o entendimento sobre o procedimento de confirmação externa e o seu uso no âmbito de uma auditoria financeira.<br>The main purpose of this report is to describe in detail the activities carried out under the curricular internship at the Victor José & Associados audit firm, SROC, Lda., over a period of 4 months. As part of the internship, a study on the external confirmation procedure was also undertaken which is considered one of the most important audit procedures widely used to obtain persuasive evidence enabling the auditor to express an opinion on his audit report. The main objective of the study was to deepen the understanding of the external confirmation procedure and its use in the context of a financial audit.<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Data Analytics is one of the fast-developing applications of IT in organizations worldwide. This Master's thesis examines data analytics in the context of internal and external audit. Principal aim of the thesis is to identify the opportunities for data analytics application in both audit disciplines. Secondary goal is to design a data-analytical procedure, apply it to actual business data and thus demonstrate the benefits of employing data analytics. The thesis builds on a summary of theoretical sources of the relevant area, followed by a survey conducted by the author. The survey maps current state of data analytics usage in both internal and external audit in the Czech Republic. The added value of this thesis is, apart from the identification of audit areas in which it is beneficial to use data analytics, the design of an analytical procedure and its application. Another benefit is the survey revealing current state of the art and the insights of interviewed auditors, pointing to both benefits and problems of data analytics application to the performance of the audit profession.

This diploma paper is focused on the problems of internal audits. The goal of the paper is to inform readers on the profession of the internal auditor. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part background information is provided on the origin and development of the auditor profession, kinds of audit, and the relationship between external and internal audits. Next in this part is an overview of the internal audit; namely its development, requirements on the person of the internal auditor, law concerning internal audits in the Czech Republic and the procedures of internal auditing starting with risk analysis, planning and realization of the internal audit and concluding with the reporting of results and assessment of the internal audit. In the second part a case study is provided of an internal audit at the Ministry of Education. In this part I describe the history of the department, and an internal audit of the department - its position and individual results accomplished by the internal audit.

The currently dominating approach for rendering audio content in interactivemedia, such as video games and virtual reality, involves playback of static audiofiles. This approach is inflexible and requires management of large quantities of audio data. An alternative approach is procedural audio, where sound models are used to generate audio in real time from live inputs. While providing many advantages, procedural audio has yet to find widespread use in commercial productions, partly due to the audio produced by many of the proposed models not meeting industry standards. This thesis investigates how procedural audio can be performed using datadriven methods. We do this by specifically investigating how to generate the sound of car engines using neural audio synthesis. Building on a recently published method that integrates digital signal processing with deep learning, called Differentiable Digital Signal Processing (DDSP), our method obtains sound models by training deep neural networks to reconstruct recorded audio examples from interpretable latent features. We propose a method for incorporating engine cycle phase information, as well as a differentiable transient synthesizer. Our results illustrate that DDSP can be used for procedural engine sounds; however, further work is needed before our models can generate engine sounds without undesired artifacts and before they can be used in live real-time applications. We argue that our approach can be useful for procedural audio in more general contexts, and discuss how our method can be applied to other sound sources.<br>Det i dagsläget dominerande tillvägagångssättet för rendering av ljud i interaktivamedia, såsom datorspel och virtual reality, innefattar uppspelning av statiska ljudfiler. Detta tillvägagångssätt saknar flexibilitet och kräver hantering av stora mängder ljuddata. Ett alternativt tillvägagångssätt är procedurellt ljud, vari ljudmodeller styrs för att generera ljud i realtid. Trots sina många fördelar används procedurellt ljud ännu inte i någon vid utsträckning inom kommersiella produktioner, delvis på grund av att det genererade ljudet från många föreslagna modeller inte når upp till industrins standarder. Detta examensarbete undersöker hur procedurellt ljud kan utföras med datadrivna metoder. Vi gör detta genom att specifikt undersöka metoder för syntes av bilmotorljud baserade på neural ljudsyntes. Genom att bygga på en nyligen publicerad metod som integrerar digital signalbehandling med djupinlärning, kallad Differentiable Digital Signal Processing (DDSP), kan vår metod skapa ljudmodeller genom att träna djupa neurala nätverk att rekonstruera inspelade ljudexempel från tolkningsbara latenta prediktorer. Vi föreslår en metod för att använda fasinformation från motorers förbränningscykler, samt en differentierbar metod för syntes av transienter. Våra resultat visar att DDSP kan användas till procedurella motorljud, men mer arbete krävs innan våra modeller kan generera motorljud utan oönskade artefakter samt innan de kan användas i realtidsapplikationer. Vi diskuterar hur vårt tillvägagångssätt kan vara användbart inom procedurellt ljud i mer generella sammanhang, samt hur vår metod kan tillämpas på andra ljudkällor

The application of analytical procedures has become an integral part of the audit process and indications are that the application of these procedures will increase in audits of the future. The factors that are causing a shift in audit methodologies towards increasing the application of analytical procedures are the adaptation of a business risk audit methodology, technological advancements and the incorporation of non-financial information in an audit. These factors enable the auditor to incorporate both financial and non-financial information into decision making and thus develop more precise expectations. Numerous studies have been conducted in various countries on the auditor s application of analytical procedures in the audit process. However, little is known about exactly how auditors in South Africa apply analytical procedures as part of the audit process. Owing to an ever-changing audit environment, a closer look into the application of analytical procedures by South African auditors was deemed both timely and appropriate. The overall objective of this study was to investigate the application of analytical procedures by auditors in the audit process. To achieve the objective of this study, a qualitative research approach was applied whereby semi-structured interviews were held with senior audit managers from large audit firms in South Africa. This provided the researcher with rich and detailed descriptions of the application of analytical procedures by auditors in the audit process. The findings of this study, which resulted from data analysis, indicated that there is a need to apply analytical procedures because this adds value to the audit and can enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. However, numerous challenges have been associated with the application of analytical procedures. The findings also indicated that the application of analytical procedures depends on the availability and integrity of clients data and that it is difficult to obtain reliable data for the development of an expectation. It also emerged from the findings that auditors are unsure of the results obtained from analytical procedures owing to a lack of guidance in the auditing standards on the extent of assurance that can be placed on analytical procedures and on how to apply professional judgement in drawing conclusions. Auditors competence to perform analytical procedures limits them in applying these procedures. There seems to be a gap between university studies and audit practice relating to the application of analytical procedures (also data analysis) and the use of information technology. The advantages, however, outweigh the challenges and it is therefore foreseen that the application of analytical procedures will increase in the future.<br>Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2015.<br>Auditing<br>MCom<br>Unrestricted

Analyzing scientific and normative literature and making an empirical research in Lithuanian companies of trading and audit, it is set the particularities of accounting ant audit of goods, main problems of the audit of goods and solution of those problems. The object of research – accounting and audit of goods. The aim of research – systematize, ground and to offer decisions for improvement of accounting and audit of goods after analyzing various aspects of accounting and audit of goods theoretically and practically. The main tasks: 1)after explore scientific and normative literature of subject-matter, to define conception of goods in accounting and audit, to concretize tasks of audit of goods, and to substantiate importance of inventory in accounting and audit of goods; 2)to determine main requirements for accounting of goods and applied principles of accounting; to analyze practical possibilities and difficulties of their application; to analyze regulatory system of accounting goods in Lithuania; 3)following results of performed empiric research of accounting of goods as well as analysis of scientific and normative literature, to determine reasons of choosing methods of valuation of goods and ways of accounting as well as problems of their application and to offer possible methods of solving problems; 4)after studying scientific literature about to determine possible problems of audit and to offer ways of their solving; 5)to create model of sequence of performing audit of... [to full text]

Theoretical part writes down an audit history from the beginning till its present form, world trend and present legislation in Czech Republic. First part is also focused on definition and description of external and internal audit and their comparison. General auditing procedures for verifying financial statements are described within theoretical part too. Practical part focuses on particular auditing procedures for verifying receivables and payables which were applied by auditor for real company.

The thesis focuses audit of annual financial statement. Theoretical part addresses Czech legislation which sets rules, content and form for elaboration of financial statement. It also describes situation when international accounting standards can be utilised. Czech audit regulation is explained together with demands placed on auditing profession. Finally, it analyzes preparation of an accounting entity and audit procedures from order receipt to audit opinion. Practical part covers real financial of a real unnamed company.

The thesis focuses on the problematic of financial statements auditing. In the first chapter historical development on auditing in highly developed countries in Europe and in the Czech Republic is characterized. The second part describes legal and ethical auditing requirements in the Czech Republic. In the third chapter auditors' procedures and techniques which are in progress from accepted contracts to issued auditors' report are explicated. The final part is focused on concrete auditors' procedures by verifying accounts receivables and inventories in a practical application in the case of two real companies.

The statutory auditor is required to submit an independent professional opinion about whether the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial situation of the company and whether the financial statements are prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards. Auditor reinforces credibility of information included in financial statements. External users are then able to make reasonable economic decisions based on those financial statements. Auditor performs many activities during audit and substantive procedures are one of them. Substantive procedures are tests of account balances and transactions that auditor performs to obtain information about the completeness, accuracy and relevance of the financial records. The goal of the theoretical part of the thesis is to describe the development of the audit profession, applicable legal and ethical standards regulating the audit profession and describe all the stages of the audit process. The goal of the practical part is to describe and audit of fictional manufacturing company with a focus on substantive procedures that the auditor performs on tangible and intangible assets.

The thesis is focused on non-profit organizations auditing, especially on public benefit corporations. Thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. Theoretical part is dedicated to general definition of non-profit sector and specification of public benefit corporations. This is followed by the definition of auditing and auditing procedures. In the practical part of thesis these auditing procedures are applied to the selected public benefit corporation. The main aim of the thesis is to acquaint the reader with the specifics of auditing in non-profit sector

Tyrimo objektas – vidaus auditas įmonėse. Tikslas – išanalizavus įmonių vidaus audito teorinius ir praktinius ypatumus, nustatyti problemas, bei pasiūlyti jų sprendimo būdus ir tobulinimo kryptis. Darbo uždaviniai. Nustatytam tikslui pasiekti, sprendžiami tokie uždaviniai: • išnagrinėti vidaus audito sampratą ir nustatyti jos kitimą; • išnagrinėti vidaus audito tikslus bei uždavinius; • išanalizuoti vidaus audito etapų nuoseklumą ir naudotinas audito procedūras; • Kauno įmonėse atlikti empirinį tyrimą, siekiant nustatyti vidaus audito praktines problemas, bei išsiaiškinti vidaus audito atlikimo etapus bei procedūras; • pateikti problemų sprendimo būdus ir pasiūlymus vidaus audito procesui tobulinti. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės ir ekonominės literatūros analizė ir sintezė, loginė analizė, palyginimas, anketinė apklausa, grafinis vaizdavimas. Išanalizavus vidaus audito teoriją, bei atlikus praktinį tyrimą, nustatytos ir išanalizuotos šios srities problemos, bei pateikti jų sprendimo būdai ir pasiūlymai vidaus audito procesui tobulinti.<br>Research object is internal audit in company. Research aim is to analyze theoretical and practical internal audit peculiarity, to identify the problems and offer the solutions and development ways of internal audit. Objectives. To achieve the aim we have to solve these objectives: • To analyze the conception of internal audit and its variation. • To research inter audit aims and objectives; • To analyze internal audit stages consistency and useful procedures; • To make empirical research in companies of Kaunas, in purpose to determine practical problems and to clear internal audit stages and procedures in the companies; • To identify decisional ways of defined problems and give the improvement proposals for internal audit process. The methods of the research: scientific and normative literature analyzes, logical analyzes, syntheses, comparison, questionnaire survey, graphical representation. After analyzing internal audit theory, and making practical research, it was defined and analyzed internal audit problems, and given decisional ways of defined problems and improvement proposals for internal audit process.

This diploma paper is amed on the area of external audit and it's purpose is to present audit profession from theoretical and practical side. The paper is divided into three parts, where the first two parts introduce theoretical background, historical development of audit profession, relation of external and internal audit and the most important legal rules and regulations, which concern the area of audit. Besides this basic information is also mentioned the new bill about auditors, which has to implement European Commission Directive, considerating compulsory audit of final account, into Czech system of law. The third part is practical, and shows how audit works on particular contract.

Diploma thesis is focused on analysis of selected audit procedures. Theoretical definition of conditions for statutory audit and necessary requirements according to standards on auditing are featured in the thesis. It analyses audit risks and the concept of materiality during audit. Descriptions of audit procedures are focused on cash and cash equivalents, property, payroll expenses, equity, accounts receivable, accounts payable and physical inventory inspection.

The thesis deals with the verification the financial statements and annual reports of the selected company. The aim of the thesis is to characterize the financial statements and the annual report and subsequent application of the theoretical basis for the practical demonstration of the audit contract specific firm. The theoretical part of the thesis is divided into six separate parts. The first chapter describes the concept of audit, defines its basic objectives and principles and provides information about its development. The second chapter pursues to the regulation of the audit, both in terms of international standards and the czech law. The main legal standards are Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2006/43/EC., Act No. 93/2009 on Auditors and International Standards on Auditing. The third chapter defines the professional audit regulatory and characterizes the Code of Ethics. The fourth chapter focuses on the use of audit methods and procedures during the audit engagement. The last chapter of the theoretical basis discusses an audit documentation, as one of the possible means of proof audit trail. The last chapter of the thesis is represented by a practical part where the specific entity Zemský hřebčinec Písek státní podnik presents selected audit procedures and methods with a focus on work as an assistant of the auditor. An important part of the thesis consists of an annex that contains selected parts rather stable and normal component auditor's documentation.

The goal of the thesis “Audit of the financial statements in an enterprise” is to analyze methods specified by International Standards on Auditing and to apply these to a chosen enterprise. In the first part of this thesis I explain origins of an audit, I define it and clarify its elemental characteristics. The second part is dedicated to an explanation of individual audit phases and a specification of methods which are used to audit execution. In the concluding part, I apply knowledge gained in previous chapters to a practical verification of true and fair view of accounts payable of the chosen enterprise.

A rapid growth in the national electricity demand is placing an ever-increasing demand on the national electricity supply utility, Eskom. Projections show that the load demand in South Africa may exceed the installed capacity by as early as 2007. This is mainly due to the increase in demand in the residential sector as a result of the electrification of rural and previously disadvantaged communities. However, the industrial and commercial sectors also have a role in this increase. In an attempt to reduce the demand for electricity Eskom has adopted its Demand Side Management (DSM) initiative. This initiative is aimed at lowering the electricity demand in peak times through energy efficiency (EE) or load shift, out of peak demand times. Eskom is implementing the DSM strategy by financing Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to reduce the demand load of major electricity end-users during peak times. Buildings consume a large percentage of the total energy supply in the world. Most of the energy consumed in buildings is used by the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, as well as lighting. However, a large potential for energy savings exists in buildings. Studies have shown that up to 70% of the electricity consumption of a building can be saved through retrofit studies. However, to capitalise on these opportunities, the ESCOs require tools and procedures that would enable them to accomplish energy savings studies quickly and efficiently. It should be a holistic approach to the typical ESCO building audit. A study of current available software programs showed the lack of holistic tools aimed specifically at retrofit audits, and therefore also the need for such a program. The building simulation program most suited to the retrofit study was chosen and it was used in a retrofit audit. By emulating a retrofit audit with this software, its performance in the field, both positive and negative, could be established. With the experience gained from the retrofit study, as well as input from ESCOs in the industry, a need for such a retrofit tool was established. The simulation program that was tested in the retrofit study is the tool Quickcontrol, as well as the newer version of the program, entitled QEC. The case study showed that even though these packages are well suited to ESCO work, they have certain drawbacks in view of the holistic project approach. The ESCOs require a simple, fast, and integrated procedure for energy audits. This procedure should be embodied in a software program. This study proposes a new integrated procedure for energy audits and the analyses of buildings, in the form of a software tool. This new tool is geared towards the ESCO building audit, in both South A6ica and internationally. It is designed to enable a diplomate engineer to accomplish a building energy and retrofit analysis in two weeks, leading the user through all the main project steps, from data acquisition to writing of the final project report. This is a significant improvement, since it normally takes 50 man-days for an experienced and trained engineering team to complete a full building audit. This tool was used in a case study to test its validity and accuracy. It was found that certain situations would arise in which the criteria that were set for the program would not be adequate. The results from the case study were favourable and satisfied the criteria that were set for the procedure.<br>Thesis (Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The goal of this thesis is explanation of audit profession theoretically and practically. It focuses on audit process and its implementation in real audit practice. The thesis explains basic definitions of audit profession, it shows differences between external and internal audit and identifies subjects authorized to carry out audit work and their rights and obligations. It is also devoted to legal framework of audit profession. This thesis contains treatise on International Standards on Auditing (ISA). A great part of this thesis is devoted to audit procedures. Finally it offers transfer of requirements and knowledge in practice. The audit process is demonstrated on the Mechanics Ltd.

When developing client acceptance and retention policies and procedures, an audit firm's policy-makers are required to adhere to quality control and auditing standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that are not well defined. As a result, the policies and procedures across firms may differ significantly. These differences arise from the development as well as the implementation of client acceptance and retention policies when evaluating prospective and continuing clients. My research study examines these differences in client acceptance and retention policies and procedures and also investigates the potential differences in policies and procedures across firms of different sizes (international, national, and regional). Using a qualitative setting, I interview risk management and local office partners across multiple firms to gather firm-specific and partner-specific information about client acceptance and retention policies and procedures. My results contribute to the existing literature on the processes and procedures developed by audit firms to assess and evaluate risks that may arise from prospective and/or continuing clients.<br>Doctor of Philosophy<br>Auditing standards provide requirements and recommendations for audit firms to follow when performing financial statement audits. These auditing standards also include both required and recommended procedures related to an audit firm’s decision to accept new clients and retain existing clients. Using a qualitative research methodology, I interview audit partners from five audit firms who are responsible for helping establish the firm-specific policies and procedures around client acceptance and client retention processes. I also interview partners from the same five audit firms who are responsible for performing those procedures when deciding whether to accept a prospective client or keep an existing client. I find that there are differences between the two partner groups as to the importance of certain client acceptance and client retention procedures. I also find that there are differences among the firms as well as the individual partners within each firm as to which procedures are key considerations in the client acceptance and retention processes.

Sammanfattning   Revision är ett än mer aktuellt ämne nu än på flera decennier då det debatteras vitt och brett kring vad en revisor skall eller bör göra. I och med de tidigare införda byrårotationskraven begränsar det företag av allmänt intresse att inte under mer än maximalt tio år använda samma revisionsbyrå, med chans till förlängning. Vi har därför valt att undersöka hur längden på revisionsuppdragen kan inverka på stora onoterade bolag i en mindre geografisk zon, i vårt fall Umeå kommun med omnejd genom att intervjua tre revisorer och deras klienter.   Baserat på problemdiskussionen har vi bestämt följande problemformulering för studien.      Hur upplever revisionsbyråerna och deras klienter att oberoendet samt revisionskvalitet samspelar med revisionsprocessen vid korta respektive långa revisionsuppdrag?   Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur förhållandet mellan klient och revisor upplevs ha en samverkan med kvaliteten i revisionen samt på revisorernas oberoende till deras klienter över tid. Detta kan ligga till grund för framtida diskussioner gällande byrårotation för huruvida oberoende och revisionskvalitet utvecklas över tid under revisionsuppdraget.   Med en kvalitativ ansats har vi genomfört nio intervjuer med tre revisorer samt sex klienter. Klientförhållandena till respektive revisor är ett långvarigt revisionsuppdrag (fler än fem år) och ett kortvarigt revisionsuppdrag (mindre än 5 år sedan övertagandet). Denna unika inblick i revisor-klientförhållandet kopplas till flertalet faktorer samt teorier vilka kan ha en samverkan och förklaring till förändringen i oberoendet samt revisionskvaliteten.    Vi kommer i vår studie fram till att revisionsprocessen ser väldigt lik ut vid korta samt långa revisionsuppdrag där första året är speciellt omfattande, men år 2 och framåt vanligtvis är lika omfattande år efter år. Vad gäller oberoende finner vi att desto längre relation som skapas mellan klient och revisionsbyrå desto mer omfattande blir rådgivningen till klienten vilket kan påverka revisionsbyråns oberoende mot klienten rent finansiellt. Vidare är revisionskvalitet en term som definieras olika, men i teorin hävdar flertalet att detta kan speglas av oberoendet till klienten. I vår studie har definitionen uppfattats olika mellan revisor och klient vilket visar på ett förväntningsgap mellan de båda. Enligt respondenterna är revisionskvalitet något som skulle kunna förbättras av byrårotation när flera anser att långa revisionsuppdrag kan bli för rutinmässiga och att det skulle vara bra om nya individer kommer in och tittar på uppdraget från ett nytt perspektiv.   Förslag till vidare forskning skulle till exempel vara en enkätundersökning med ett mer omfattande geografiskt område där fler företag av större storlek innefattas av populationen för att kunna jämställa dessa med de företag som redan omfattas av reglerna om obligatorisk byrårotation.   Nyckelord: Audit, big four, big seven, audit quality, audit independence, audit firm rotation, auditor rotation, expectation gap, evidential matter, audit procedures och audit tenure.

The main task of this thesis is to describe wage area in the accountancy and in the external audit. The theoretical part of this thesis deals in particular with the legal regulations in the area of the audit, wage accounting and accounts payable (wages) and accounts receivable. The practical part represents auditing procedures and examples from real company.

The thesis deals with the verification the financial statements of the selected company. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the methods that the auditor performs during his work and subsequently to apply the theoretical basis for the practical demonstration of the audit in the particular company. Methodical part explains the concept of audit, audit objectives and describes historical development of audit. The following chapters include information about legislation of the audit and procedures for verifying the financial statements. The second part of the thesis is the practical part which includes the presentation of the company itself and subsequent application of the theory to DACHSER Czech Republic co.

The aim of this thesis is to describe a process of audit and due diligence of an accounting entity. The work is devided into two parts, the first part is theoretical and the second one is practical. The theoretical part is focused on description of audit including audits procedures. This part is followed by determination of due diligence, which continues with differences and comparison of both these processes. Within practical part audit of financial statements and process of due diligence are performed in different accounting entities.

<p>China and France have both adopted the International Standards on Auditing (ISA). Thelargest firms in auditing and accounting in the world, known as Big Four, are established inFrance as well as in China. Auditors from those firms apply procedures that have beenharmonized worldwide within Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst &Young. When it comes to audit, French auditor and Chinese auditor talk the same language,use the same software, boundaries seem to be knocked over. On the other hand, what BigFour firms are not able to standardize is the culture of their auditors. Does auditor’s culturemay shatter all efforts that have been put to deliver the same services throughout the world?Does auditor’s culture may call the work of the International Auditing and AssuranceStandards Board (IAASB) into question? Do either French or Chinese auditors enable ahigher audit risk to the audited client? Many other questions could be raised about the effectof cultures on the audit process.</p><p>The purpose of this research is to explore, measure and analyse the cultural impact on theaudit process. In order to highlight the difference(s) of the audit outcome due to culture,countries have to exemplify a certain numbers of cultural differences. China and France havebeen chosen because their belonging to the Eastern and Western clusters, and as we know,Eastern and Western countries have substantial cultural differences (Hofstede, 2001).According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Individualism (versus Collectivism) andUncertainty Avoidance are the two dimensions that get the higher cultural differences whenhe compares Chinese and French Culture. We want to discover how Chinese and Frenchauditors rely on analytical procedures and assess audit evidence and internal controlenvironment. We want to study if their audit results reflect the cultural differences betweenChina and France based on the two cultural dimensions.</p><p>In order to manage our empirical research, we use a sample of 28 Chinese auditors and 14French auditors. We use primary data collection through our design questionnaire. Theauditors’ answers were analysed using a quantitative approach to reveal the eventual existenceof a connection between the auditor’s cultural background and how the audit process iscarried out.</p><p>Our findings about cultural differences within Big Four companies are not so categorical. We did not find significant differences regarding Chinese and French auditors’ culture. However,Chinese auditors appear to have a higher willingness to refuse a misstatement in the client’s financial statements, due to collectivism cultural dimension, than French auditors. Auditors from both countries assess in similar way audit evidence, but they do not consider of the same importance some components of the internal control environment. French auditors considerof greater importance components that can directly influenced the accuracy of the accountingreporting process, because an individualism society as France tends to “encourage”accounting and cut-off errors within organizations.</p>

The thesis deals with the verification of the financial statements and annual reports. The aim of the thesis is to characterize the procedures that the auditor performs an audit of financial statements and describe the application of these procedures to specific financial statements of the particular company. The theoretical part of the thesis defines the concept of audit, lists its objectives, functions and legal and professional regulation. The practical part is devoted to auditing procedures, both generally and in terms of application to specific financial statements. The thesis includes annexes that contain the particular company financial statements and auditor's report.

The main goal of the thesis is to provide its readers information about external audit and describe individual phases and audit procedures of auditing the financial statements. The practical part of the thesis is then focused on application of theoretical knowledge on practical example. Audit is performed for area of long-term tangible and intangible assets in the selected company. The conclusion of the thesis includes deficiencies identified during the audit and proposed solutions of these deficiencies.

The aim of the diploma thesis "Tests carried out in audit" is evaluation of the general purpose financial statements performed by the asistent auditor in the trainee program. The theoretical part explains the basic concepts of the auditing profession, defines the person authorized to perform audit activities, their rights and obligations. As well it analyses each phase of the audit, characterize the audit process and analyze the audit risk, the concept of materiality and the substantive tests. The practical part of the thesis is focused on the analysis of selected audit procedures in the basic part of the General purpose financial statements (tangible assets, accounts receivable, payroll, cash and cash equivalents).

The aim of this thesis is to characterize the various procedures that the auditor performs during his work and describe the process of the financial statement and annual report audit of the particular company.

A presente pesquisa objetiva verificar se os procedimentos utilizados pela Auditoria Interna na detecção de fraudes em uma empresa privada operadora de planos de saúde permitiram a coleta de evidências confiáveis e suficientes para suportar as conclusões dos auditores sobre os fatos reportados nos relatórios de auditoria interna. Para realização do estudo, adotou-se como estratégia investigativa, o estudo de caso único. As técnicas utilizadas ao longo de toda a pesquisa foram as análises documentais e de conteúdo, baseadas nos objetivos propostos no estudo e na fundamentação teórica. A pesquisa concentrou-se nas análises dos relatórios de auditoria interna que reportaram ocorrências de fraudes na empresa estudada, emitidos nos anos de 2010, 2011 e 2012; contudo optou-se, também, por descrever as rotinas e práticas operacionais relacionadas à atuação do departamento de auditoria que contribuíram para uma melhor compreensão dos dados e do resultado do estudo. Os principais achados demonstram que os procedimentos utilizados pela Auditoria Interna na detecção de fraudes permitiram a coleta de evidências de auditoria confiáveis e suficientes para suportar as conclusões dos auditores. O resultado da pesquisa indica, também, que não existe um padrão de utilização dos procedimentos de auditoria. De acordo com o tipo de fraude e objetivo, o auditor interno deve definir quais os procedimentos de auditoria devem ser utilizados na obtenção de evidências de auditoria confiáveis e suficientes para suportar as suas conclusões.<br>The present research has the purpose to verify if the procedures used by an Internal Audit in order to detect frauds in a private company that deals with health insurance allowed enough gathering of reliable evidences to support the auditors conclusions about facts described in the reports from internal audit. To achieve this goal, it has been used as an investigative strategy, the single event study. The techniques used along the whole research were documentary and contents analyses, based on the goals proposed in the study and in the theoretical reason. The research focused on the analyses of the internal audits reports which reported frauds occurrences in the company that has been studied, issued in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, however, was also an option in describing the routines e operational practices related in the performance of the audit department which contributed for a better comprehension of data and the study result. The main results demonstrate that the procedures been used by the Internal Audit in the fraud detection allowed enough gathering of reliable evidences to support the auditors conclusions. The research result also indicates that there is no using standard in the audit procedures. According to the type of the fraud and goal, the internal audit should define which audit procedures must be used to obtain reliable evidences to support its conclusions.

The master´s thesis is focused on the external audit. It is about a description of each stages and procedures for the audit of financial statements by an auditor. In the practical part, theoretical knowledge is applied to the selected corporations with focusing on audit procedures in the field of tangible and intangible fixed assets. The thesis contains descriptions of identified mistakes of each individual corporations and suggested solutions to overcome them.

This thesis called "The audit from the perspective of the audited entity" is focused on the audit, but from a different point of view than most of the specialized publications about audit. It is possible to divide the thesis into two parts. In the theoretical part, there is explained the issue of audit from the historical view, which is followed up with the legislation and professional treatment. Briefly there are mentioned the International Standards On Auditing, that have gradually replaced nowadays invalid Czech Auditing Directives. At the end of the theoretical part, the whole audit procedure is processed in details. The main emphasis is put on the moments, which affected the audited entity in the meaning that it is necessary its active cooperation with auditor, for example communication with auditor during the contract for audit, providing of various background materials for audit or negotiations of management with auditors during the audit. In the second, practice, part of this thesis the theory is put into practice in the real existed entity NÁBYTEK a.s.. The main goal is to map the audit of NÁBYTEK a.s. from the perspective of the audited entity, not from the view of auditor or auditor's company.

Titel: Revision i tider av social distansering Inledning: En kris är något som påverkar det normala och bidrar till en avvikelse i en organisation. Coronapandemin har bland annat satt krav på implementering av hemarbete och dess strategier. En revisors roll i företaget är att ge en rättvisande bild av företagets finansiella information. Som revisor behöver man säkerställa att man bibehåller den revisionskvalitet som krävs, även i tider av social distansering. Syfte och frågeställning: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om, och hur, den sociala distanseringen, till följd av Coronapandemin, har påverkat kvaliteten på revisorns arbete. Hur har revisionskvaliteten påverkats av de krav som ställts på den sociala distanseringen till följd av Coronapandemin?Hur har följande fem punkter påverkats av Coronapandemin? Revisorsarvode Revisorns lön Fortlevnadsprincipen Revisionsförfarande HumankapitalSkiljer sig resultatet åt ifall man arbetar på “Big Four” eller inte?Teori: Studien bygger på den teoretiska studien gjord av Albitar, Gerged, Kikhia och Hussainey (2020), för att nå ytterligare bredd har även annan forskning bidragit till den teoretiska referensramen. Detta för att undersöka Coronapandemins påverkan på de fem ovan nämnda nyckelaspekter i ett senare stadie av Coronapandemin än den tidigare forskningen av Albitar med flera (2020).Metod: Studien antar ett deduktivt synsätt med inslag av induktion för att få en djupare förståelse kring ämnet. Genomförandet är av kvantitativ karaktär och genomförs genom enkäter med respondenter från revisionsbyråer Sverige över.Slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar en viss påverkan på branschen till följd av Coronapandemin. Bland annat så har bedömningen om fortlevnad försvåras då framtiden är oviss för många av klienterna. Denna studie påvisar även att revisorsarvoden inte har sänkts till följd av Coronapandemin, inte heller revisorers löneutveckling. Vidare har de krav på digitalisering effektiviserat revisorers arbete som fått implementera andra arbetssätt för att samla in de ekonomiska underlag som krävs för revisionen. Det kan inte, i nuläget, påvisas att revisionskvaliteten påverkats av Coronapandemin. Det framforskade resultatet visar att de som arbetar inom "Big Four" är mer motiverade av lön när det handlar om utfört arbete jämfört med de som inte arbetar inom "Big Four". Resterande punkter skiljer sig inte parterna sig mellan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2010.<br>Advisor: Martin G. Fennema, Florida State University, College of Business, Dept. of Accounting. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed on July 20, 2010). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 78 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this project is to create a game audio engine based on procedural audio. I designed an audio engine in the visual programming language Max/MSP that I call High Score. High Score receives data from a game that I designed in the game development program Unity3D. The data that it receives controls an algorithmic composition that serves as the musical score of the game as well as several processes that synthesize various sound effects in the game. This approach to game audio proves to be very flexible and offers new aesthetic possibilities for game music and sound design.

Topic of this master's thesis is testing of selected items of financial statements from the auditor's perspective. Thesis is divided into 4 main chapters. The first three are methodological where the first of them describes characteristics of auditing as such, its meaning, functions, purpose and object. It also explains a role of the auditor, their job description, competence, responsibility and subsequently describes The Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic. The second chapter analyses legal regulations of the audit, ie. laws, regulations and standards that effect both the accounting and the audit. The third and final theoretical chapter describes the methodology and steps of the audit and all the activities that audit involves. The fourth, practical chapter includes explained methodology on selected financial statement items such as tangible and intangible fixed assets, personnel expenses, short-term financial assets, inventory, receivables, equity, reserve fund, revenues and expenses related to their own production and production margin.

Procedurally implemented synthetic audio could offer greater interactive potential for audio in games than the currently popular sample based approach does. At the same time, synthetic audio can reduce storage requirements that using sample based audio results in. This study examines these potentials, and looks at one game interaction in depth to gain knowledge around if players prefer and chooses objects with interactive sounds generated through procedurally implemented modal synthesis, over objects with traditionally implemented sample based sound. An in-game environment listening test was created where 20 subjects were asked to throw a ball, 35 times, at a wall to destroy wall tiles and reveal a message. For each throw they could select one of two balls; one ball had a modal synthesis sound that varied in pitch with how hard the ball was thrown, the other had a traditionally implemented sample based sound that did not correspond with how hard it was thrown but one of four samples was called at random. The subjects were then asked questions to evaluate how realistic they perceived the two versions to be, which they preferred, and how they perceived the sounds corresponding to interaction. The results show that the modal synthesis version is preferred and perceived as being more realistic than the sample based version, but wether this was a deciding factor in subjects’ choices could not be determined.

The purpose of this thesis is to prepare the audit of the financial statements of DELTA, a. s., focusing in particular on long-term assets. The selected company deals with the processing and sale of wood, and the supply of foundries and steelworks with ferro-alloys and metals. The default information for the procedure and making audit of the financial statements is the theoretical and analytical part of the thesis, which is then based in the practical part, where are applied selected audit procedures in field of long-term assets and suggested specific recommendations for the company.

Five humans were exposed to a matching to sample task in which the delay (range = 0 to 32 seconds) between sample stimulus offset and comparison onset was manipulated across conditions. Auditory stimuli (1” tone) and arbitrary symbols served as sample stimuli for three (S1, S2, S3) and two (S4 and S5) subjects, respectively. Uppercase English letters (S, M, and N) served as comparison stimuli for all subjects. Results show small but systematic effects of the retention interval on accuracy and latency to selection of comparison stimuli. The results fail to show a difference between subjects exposed to auditory and visual sample stimuli. Some reasons for the failure to note a difference are discussed.

In questo elaborato sono stati progettati ed implementati un insieme di algoritmi capaci di indentificare le parti con il maggior contenuto informativo di una procedura chirurgica registrata tramite l’utilizzo di un “medical recorder”. Il lavoro in particolare tratterà di due algoritmi in grado di identificare rispettivamente le parti importanti del contenuto informativo del tracciato audio e le sezioni con maggior contenuto informativo della sequenza video. Rispettivamente il primo algoritmo avrà lo scopo di identificare le parti in cui il medico parla, mentre il secondo algoritmo avrà lo scopo di identificare quando uno dei dispositivi medici in sala verrà utilizzato. Il secondo algoritmo è stato pensato con scopo generale, ovvero per integrare il maggior numero di dispositivi possibili, ma in questo elaborato i sistemi di imaging testati sono stati fluoroscopi ed ecografi intravascolari. Il sistema “medical recorder” utilizzato in questo elaborato è il sistema OneViewX prodotto dall’azienda SPARKBIO S.R.L. Il primo algoritmo verrà valutato su tre principali parametri di confronto: durata totale dei marker audio, numero dei marker audio inseriti dall’algoritmo, quantità di audio perso (risultato ottenuto gold standard < 2%) uniti a un insieme di grafici che rappresenteranno la distribuzione dei marker in base alla loro durata. Per il secondo algoritmo verrà effettuata una analisi frame-by-frame in modo da calcolare true positive rate (sensibilità, risultato ottenuto > 97%) e true negative rate (specificità, risultato ottenuto > 97%). Entrambi gli algoritmi sono stati testati su procedure reali avvenute in alcuni centri collaboratori, il primo su circa 12 ore di filmati, mentre il secondo su circa 4 ore che corrispondo a più di 300 mila frames. Lo scopo di entrambi gli algoritmi è quello di ottimizzare ed automatizzare il processo di video editing senza perdere contenuto informativo.