Experience, expertise and expert-performance research in public accounting

Bibliography: p. [22-25]

Emerging technology and auditing practice : analysis for future directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of emerging technology (technology adoption, perceived benefits, technological challenges and ease of use) and the auditing practice of accounting professionals. Design/methodology/approach – The primary method of data collection was a questionnaire directed to newly practicing chartered accountants who are partners of sole proprietorship or partnership firms in India. The data were analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings – The findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between characteristics of emerging technology (technology adoption, technological challenges and ease of use) and auditing practice, while factors of the perceived benefits had a negative relationship with auditing practice. Research limitations/implications – The study model would aid technology enabled audit research by giving a platform for a new study to investigate further detailed solutions to emerging information technology determinants. Practical implications – This study illustrates how tools technique perceived benefit motivates sole proprietorship practicing auditors to adopt emerging technology- enabled auditing software for auditing client’s financial statements. Further, this study has added to the information technology auditing literature and might add benefits to the numerous other audit firms to adopt in emerging technology tools their audit firm. Social implications – Audit firms, generally sole proprietorship and partnership firms, should be given enough awareness about the latest audit software tools to carry out their audit tasks efficiently. Originality/value – The study findings highlight benefits of emerging technology-enabled auditing practice among owners/partners of the sole proprietorship or partnership firms, which is not extensively discussed in the prior studies. Furthermore, it broadens knowledge of perceived benefit, technological challenges and ease of use in technology-enabled audit software in the auditing and accounting literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring the burden of treatment for chronic disease: implications of a scoping review of the literature

Background: Although there has been growing research on the burden of treatment, the current state of evidence on measuring this concept is unknown. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge as well as clear recommendations for future research, within the context of chronic disease. Methods: Four health-based databases, Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, and PsychInfo, were comprehensively searched for peer-reviewed articles published between the periods of 2000–2016. Titles and abstracts were independently read by two authors. All discrepancies between the authors were resolved by a third author. Data was extracted using a standardized proforma and a comparison analysis was used in order to explore the key treatment burden measures and categorize them into three groups. Results: Database searching identified 1458 potential papers. After removal of duplications, and irrelevant articles by title, 1102 abstracts remained. An additional 22 papers were added via snowball searching. In the end, 101 full papers were included in the review. A large number of the studies involved quantitative measures and conceptualizations of treatment burden (n = 64; 63.4%), and were conducted in North America (n = 49; 48.5%). There was significant variation in how the treatment burden experienced by those with chronic disease was operationalized and measured. Conclusion: Despite significant work, there is still much ground to cover to comprehensively measure treatment burden for chronic disease. Greater qualitative focus, more research with cultural and minority populations, a larger emphasis on longitudinal studies and the consideration of the potential effects of “identity” on treatment burden, should be considered

Interplay between technical and social control : Internal control and SOX compliance at Nokia

There are high expectations for companies to act responsibly and provide transparent and reliable information about their operations and financial status. Regulations such as the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) have put pressure on companies to increase their technical controls and formalize their internal control and compliance systems. At the same time, authorities are adding significantly more weight on company ethics and the “tone set at the top” in determining whether a compliance program is comprehensive and effective. For example, the most recent DOJ guidance (U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division 2019) on evaluating corporate compliance programs does not recommend that companies adopt a specific set of policies or procedures. Rather, it instructs prosecutors to assess whether a company has “incorporated the culture of compliance into its day-to-day operations.” This study is about understanding the relationship between these written rules (i.e., technical control) and the culture of compliance (i.e., social control). Technical controls constitute written rules and procedures, whereas social controls are about the efforts to persuade people to adapt to certain values, norms, and ideas about what is good and important in terms of work. Increased attention toward this softer aspect of controls is because, in many accounting fraud scandals, the issue has not been the lack of technical controls but the existence of toxic culture and poor tone at the top. To meet the stakeholders’ expectations of acting as responsible corporate citizens, companies need both technical and social controls. Despite this realization, the research around management control systems has still been largely focused on technical control systems. Social controls have been studied in the sociological literature, with only a few studies focusing on the relationship between social and technical controls. This study explores the different elements of control systems and their interrelations in a rather unexplored context: focusing on the design and implementation of an internal control system under a SOX compliance program. The study seeks to understand what happens when an organization introduces new technical controls as part of its SOX implementation project. More specifically, the focus is on the relationship between technical and social controls. Furthermore, this study seeks to differentiate between the control design, which is a management task, and the control implementation, which is about how the controls are introduced to and adopted by the employees. Empirical analysis is drawn from a case setting in which Nokia, a Finnish-based public company subject to SOX legislation, has designed an internal control system and introduced it to its employees globally. This study provides managerial and legislative implications and contributes to the literature on both management control and internal control systems. The management control literature has previously considered internal control as primarily related to controls that are in place to safeguard assets and ensure financial reporting quality. This study widens this traditional view and brings the definition of internal control closer to the concept of management control. The key finding of this study is that the social controls can play a significant role in implementing technical controls. This study suggests that these two control types should not be considered as isolated in the control design process because their continuous interplay will affect how the controls are perceived and performed. It is a matter of how managers apply social control when designing and introducing technical controls. They must consider that employees do not always follow the controls as a result of rational decision-making; instead, employees’ emotions affect how they decide to act. In this study, employees who had strong emotions toward the controls were also more likely to perform the controls. Thus, emotions are tied with employee perceptions of the controls. Even though today’s technology provides endless possibilities for automated, system-based controls, a human factor will always be central in an effective internal control system. KEYWORDS: internal control, management control systems, technical control, social control, SOX compliance, global companies, NokiaYrityksiltä odotetaan vastuullisuutta, läpinäkyvyyttä ja luotettavaa raportointia toiminnastaan ja taloudellisesta asemastaan. Yhdysvalloissa vuonna 2002 säädetty Sarbanes–Oxley laki eli niin kutsuttu SOX-lainsäädäntö on lisännyt Yhdysvaltain pörssissä noteerattujen yritysten painetta kiinnittää huomiota sisäisen valvonnan järjestämiseen ja compliance-ohjelmien rakentamiseen. Usein tämä johtaa siihen, että, yrityksissä otetaan käyttöön helposti todennettavia kontrolleja, kuten ohjeita ja sääntöjä sekä henkilöstölle suunnattuja koulutusohjelmia. Samaan aikaan viranomaiset ovat lisänneet huomattavasti enemmän painoarvoa eettisesti kestävään yrityskulttuuriin ja johdon osoittamaan esimerkkiin, kun ne arvioivat, onko yrityksen compliance-ohjelma kattava ja tehokas. Esimerkiksi viimeisimmän Yhdysvaltain oikeusministeriön (Department of Justice, DOJ) asettaman compliance-ohjelmien arviointia koskevan ohjeistuksen mukaan ei ole suositeltavaa laatia ainoastaan toimintapolitiikkoja tai menettelytapoja. Sen sijaan DOJ kehottaa syyttäjiä arvioi¬maan, onko yritys "sisällyttänyt asianmukaisen toimintakulttuurin päivittäiseen toimintaansa". Tämän tutkimuksen ytimessä ovat näiden formaalien sääntöjen eli todennettavien kontrollien sekä yrityskulttuuriin pohjautuvien sosiaalisten kontrol¬lien välisen vuorovaikutuksen ymmärtäminen. Todennettava kontrolli muodostuu kirjallisista säännöistä ja menettelytavoista, kun taas sosiaalinen kontrolli tarkoittaa pyrkimystä saada ihmiset sisäistämään tietyt arvot, normit ja ajatukset siitä, mikä on hyvää ja tärkeää sekä yksittäisen työntekijän että organisaation edun kannalta. Lisääntynyt huomio tälle pehmeämmälle ohjaukselle johtuu siitä, että monissa yritysskandaaleissa kysymys ei ole ollut todennettavan kontrollin puutteesta, vaan myrkyllisen yrityskulttuurin erilaisista ilmentymistä. Yritykset tarvitsevat sekä todennettavaa että sosiaalista kontrollia pystyäkseen vastaamaan sidosryhmien odotuksiin toimia vastuullisina yrityskansa-laisina. Tästä huolimatta johdon ohjausta koskeva tutkimus on edelleen keskittynyt suurelta osin todennettaviin ohjausjärjestelmiin. Sosiaalista kontrollia on tutkittu sosiologisessa kirjallisuudessa, ja vain harvat tutkimukset keskittyvät sosiaalisten ja todennettavien kontrollien väliseen suhteeseen. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan ohjausjärjestelmien eri elementtejä ja niiden välisiä suhteita melko tutkimattomassa yhteydessä: tutkimus keskittyy sisäisen valvonnan rakenteiden suunnitteluun ja toteuttamiseen SOX-compliance -ohjelman kontekstissa. Tutkimuksella pyritään ymmärtämään, mitä tapahtuu, kun organisaatio ottaa käyttöön uusia todennettavia kontrolleja osana SOX-projektiaan. Tarkemmin sanottuna keskitytään todennettavien ja sosiaalisten kontrollien väliseen vuorovaikutukseen. Lisäksi tässä tutkimuksessa pyritään erottamaan sisäisen valvonnan suunnittelu, joka on johdon tehtävä, ja sisäisen valvonnan käytännön toteutus, mikä liittyy siihen, miten kontrollit esitellään organisaatiolle, ja miten työntekijät ovat lopulta valmiita noudattamaan niitä. Empiirinen analyysi perustuu tapaustutkimukseen, jossa Nokia Oyj, suomalainen SOX-lainsäädännön alainen julkinen yritys, on suunnitellut sisäisen valvonnan järjestelmän ja ottanut sen käyttöön maailmanlaajuisesti läpi organisaation. Tutkimus kontribuoi johdon ohjausta ja sisäistä valvontaa koskevaan kirjallisuuteen. Aiempi kirjallisuus on liittänyt sisäisen valvonnan käsitteen vahvasti kirjanpidon luotettavuuden varmistamiseen ja yrityksen omaisuuden turvaamiseen. Tämä tutkimus laajentaa sisäisen valvonnan määritelmää ja tuo sen lähemmäksi johdon ohjauksen määritelmää. Tämän tutkimuksen keskeinen löydös on, että sosiaalisella kontrollilla voi olla merkittävä rooli siinä, miten hyvin ja laajasti henkilöstö ottaa sisäisen valvonnan ohjeita ja sääntöjä käyttöön. Tutkimuksen tärkeimmät tulokset viittaavat siihen, että näitä kahta ohjaustyyppiä ei tulisi tarkastella erillään sisäisen valvonnan suunnitteluprosessissa, sillä niiden jatkuva vuorovaikutus vaikuttaa siihen, miten kontrolleihin suhtaudutaan ja miten ne lopulta suoritetaan – tai jätetään suorittamatta. Avainasemassa on se, miten esihenkilöt soveltavat sosiaalisia kontrolleja, kun he suunnittelevat ja panevat täytäntöön todennettavia kontrolleja. Heidän on otettava huomioon, että työntekijät eivät aina noudata kontrolleja järkevän päätöksenteon seurauksena; sen sijaan työntekijöiden käsitykset ja tunteet vaikuttavat siihen, miten he päättävät toimia. Tässä tutkimuksessa työntekijät, joilla oli voimakkaita tunteita kontrolleja kohtaan, myös suorittivat kontrolleja todennäköisemmin. Siten tunteet ovat sidoksissa siihen, miten työntekijät suhtautuvat kontrolleihin. Vaikka teknologia tarjoaa lähes rajattomat mahdollisuudet automatisoituun, järjestelmiin perustuvaan valvontaan, inhimillisen tekijän merkitys on aina keskeinen tehokkaan sisäisen valvonnan järjestämisessä. ASIASANAT: sisäinen valvonta, johdon ohjausjärjestelmät, todennettava kontrolli, sosiaalinen kontrolli, SOX, globaalit yritykset, Noki

The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Internal Control’s Prevention and Detection of Fraud

This study explores the Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on internal control effectiveness in preventing and detecting fraud within the financial sector of a developing economy – Nigeria. Using a triangulation of questionnaire and interview techniques to investigate the internal control activities of Nigerian Internal Auditors in relation to their use of ICT in fraud prevention and detection, the study made use of cross-tabulations, correlation coefficients and one-way ANOVAs for the analysis of quantitative data, while thematic analysis was adopted for the qualitative aspects. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Omoteso et al.’s Three-Layered Model (TLM) were used to underpin the study in order to provide theoretical considerations of the issues involved. The study’s findings show that Nigerian Internal Auditors are increasingly adopting IT-based tools and techniques in their internal control activities. Secondly, the use of ICT-based tools and techniques in internal control positively impacts on Internal Auditors’ independence and objectivity. Also, the study’s findings indicate that Internal Auditors’ use of ICT-based tools and techniques has the potential of preventing electronic fraud, and such ICT-based tools and techniques are effective in detecting electronic fraud. However, continuous online auditing was found to be effective in preventing fraud, but not suited for fraud detection in financial businesses. This exploratory study sheds light on the impact of ICT usage on internal control’s effectiveness and on internal auditors’ independence. The study contributes to the debate on the significance of ICT adoption in accounting disciplines by identifying perceived benefits, organisational readiness, trust and external pressure as variables that could affect Internal Auditors’ use of ICT. Above all, this research was able to produce a new model: the Technology Effectiveness Planning and Evaluation Model (TEPEM), for the study of ICT adoption in internal control effectiveness for prevention and detection of fraud. As a result of its planning capability for external contingencies, the model is useful for the explanation of studies involving ICT in a unique macro environment of developing economies such as Nigeria, where electricity generation is in short supply and regulatory activities unpredictable. The model proposes that technology effectiveness (in the prevention and the detection of fraud) is a function of TAM variables (such as perceived benefits, organisational readiness, trust, external pressures), contingent factors (size of organisation, set-up and maintenance cost, staff training and infrastructural readiness), and an optimal mix of human and technological capabilitie

D3.2 Cost Concept Model and Gateway Specification

This document introduces a Framework supporting the implementation of a cost concept model against which current and future cost models for curating digital assets can be benchmarked. The value built into this cost concept model leverages the comprehensive engagement by the 4C project with various user communities and builds upon our understanding of the requirements, drivers, obstacles and objectives that various stakeholder groups have relating to digital curation. Ultimately, this concept model should provide a critical input to the development and refinement of cost models as well as helping to ensure that the curation and preservation solutions and services that will inevitably arise from the commercial sector as ‘supply’ respond to a much better understood ‘demand’ for cost-effective and relevant tools. To meet acknowledged gaps in current provision, a nested model of curation which addresses both costs and benefits is provided. The goal of this task was not to create a single, functionally implementable cost modelling application; but rather to design a model based on common concepts and to develop a generic gateway specification that can be used by future model developers, service and solution providers, and by researchers in follow-up research and development projects.<p></p> The Framework includes:<p></p> • A Cost Concept Model—which defines the core concepts that should be included in curation costs models;<p></p> • An Implementation Guide—for the cost concept model that provides guidance and proposes questions that should be considered when developing new cost models and refining existing cost models;<p></p> • A Gateway Specification Template—which provides standard metadata for each of the core cost concepts and is intended for use by future model developers, model users, and service and solution providers to promote interoperability;<p></p> • A Nested Model for Digital Curation—that visualises the core concepts, demonstrates how they interact and places them into context visually by linking them to A Cost and Benefit Model for Curation.<p></p> This Framework provides guidance for data collection and associated calculations in an operational context but will also provide a critical foundation for more strategic thinking around curation such as the Economic Sustainability Reference Model (ESRM).<p></p> Where appropriate, definitions of terms are provided, recommendations are made, and examples from existing models are used to illustrate the principles of the framework

Cohort profile: the Siyakhula cohort, rural South Africa

No abstract available

Habitual accountability routines in the boardroom: How boards balance control and collaboration

open3siCorporate accountability is a complex chain of reporting that reaches from external stakeholders into the organization’s management structure. The transition from external to internal accountability mechanisms primarily occurs at the board of directors. Yet outside of incentive mechanisms, we know surprisingly little about how internal actors (management) are held to account by the representatives of external shareholders (the board). This paper explores the process of accountability at this transition point by documenting the routines used by boards to hold the firm’s management to account. In so doing we develop our understanding of the important transition between internal and external firm accountability.embargoed_20190401Nicholson, Gavin; Pugliese, Amedeo; Bezemer, Pieter JanNicholson, Gavin; Pugliese, Amedeo; Bezemer, Pieter Ja