Practical training and the audit expectations gap: The case of accounting undergraduates of Universiti Utara Malaysia

The accounting profession has long faced the issue of an audit expectation gap; being the gap between the quality of the profession’s performance, its objectives and results, and that which the society expects.The profession believes that the gap could be reduced over time through education.Studies have been carried out overseas and in Malaysia to determine the effect of education in narrowing the audit expectation gap. Extending the knowledge acquired, this paper investigates whether academic internship programs could reduce the audit expectation gap in Malaysia.Using a pre-post method, the research instrument adapted from Ferguson et al.(2000) is administered to the Universiti Utara Malaysia’s accounting students at the beginning and end of their internship program.The results show there is a significant change in perceptions among students after the internship program. However, changes in perceptions do not warrant an internship program as a means of reducing the audit expectation gap as misperceptions are still found among respondents on issues of auditing after the completion of the internship program. Nevertheless, an internship program can still be used to complement audit education in a university as it is an ideal way to expose students to professional issues and enables them to have a better insight of the actual performance and duties of auditors

Discarded cigarette butts attract females and kill the progeny of aedes albopictus

Discarded cigarette butts (DCB) waste occurs worldwide, pollutes landscapes, is unsightly, and results in added debris removal costs. There is, therefore, a great deal of current interest in making use of DCBs in beneficial ways. Despite evidence that DCBs are harmful to water fleas (Daphnia magna), which breed in aquatic environments as do mosquito larvae, their impact on dengue vectors is unknown. We examined whether Aedes albopictus alters its ovipositional responses, larval eclosion, and development in response to presence of DCBs in its habitats. We found oviposition activity in DCB-treated water similar to that of control water and that ovipositional activity in DCB solutions steadily increased over time as those solutions aged to 10 days. Larval eclosion was initially suppressed on day 1 in DCB solution, but increased thereafter to levels similar to control larval eclosion rates. The DCB-water solutions produced significantly higher mortality in both 1st and 2nd instars over control larvae for several days after initial exposure. Mortality rates decreased sharply 3 to 5 days postexposure as DCBs continued to decompose. We found increased survival rates during late development, but daily input of fresh DCBs prevented most young larvae from completing development. Taken together, these observations suggest that decomposing did not deter gravid Ae. albopictus females from ovipositing in treated containers and that DCB solutions had larvicidal effects on early instars. Our results are discussed in the context of DCB use to control container-breeding Ae. albopictus, a competent dengue vector in Asia and other parts of the world