Trucking on: audit in the real world? (Man V Freightliner and Ernst & Young)

Author's draft. Final version published in Professional Negligenc

Fair value in financial reporting: problems and pitfalls in practice - A case study analysis of the use of fair valuation at Enron.

Authors' draft originalyl issued as working paper. Final version published in Accounting forum. Available online at http://www.sciencedirect.comThis paper contributes to the debate on the use of mark to market accounting in financial reporting by means of a case study-based examination of the use of mark to market accounting by Enron Corp. in the years immediately preceding its collapse. Set in the context of historical developments in and theoretical discussion upon asset valuation and income measurement, the case study highlights: (i) the ease with which Enron was able to ‘monetize’ physical assets so as to bring them within the remit of mark to market accounting; (ii) the unreliability of valuation estimates provided by independent third parties; and (iii) the asymmetry between management desire to recognise mark to market gains through the income statement in contrast to their desire to avoid recognising mark to market losses. Notwithstanding the particular features of the Enron case, it is argued in the paper that these issues are generic and should be taken into account by standard setters as they move toward encouraging more widespread use of mark to market accounting under IAS 39, SFAS 157 and previous statements, and by other regulators with an interest in the provision of financial information to the capital markets, such as the SEC in the US, the FSA/FRC in the UK, and the ASIC/FRC in Australia

Audit within the corporate governance paradigm: a cornerstone built on shifting sand?:a cornerstone built on shifting sand?

This paper is a case study-based investigation of aspects of the current paradigmatic approach to ‘good’ corporate governance with its focus on the interlinked roles of internal control and risk management procedures, internal audit and external audit, overseen and co-ordinated by a formal structure of board committees, in particular the audit committee. The evidence that we adduce from the study of four high-profile cases of perceived accounting and governance failure provides limited assurance that this approach will in fact be cost-effective or efficient in preventing further such cases of accounting and governance failure. Specifically, issues as to remuneration and fee dependence; lack of relevant knowledge and expertise; and social and psychological dependence upon executive management appear to have significantly and negatively affected the quality of decision-making of governance gatekeepers. This suggests that further consideration of relevant economic, institutional and cognitive/behavioural factors beyond the rational choice model of traditional economics should underpin future developments in required modes and structures of governance

How does joint provision of audit and non-audit services affect audit quality and independence? A review

The primary aim of this report is to analyse changes in recent years in the market for the provision of non-audit services (NAS), with a particular focus on the joint provision of audit and non-audit services and the potential effects on independence and the quality of audit. This report is relevant to the ongoing debate at both national and European level on issues of competition, liability and regulation in the audit market. and it seeks to contextualise the issue and provide a résumé of the arguments that have beenadvanced for and against allowing such joint provision

A review of audit quality and joint provision of audit and non-audit services (2013)

Report prepared for Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)The primary aim of the proposed research is to investigate and analyse changes in recent years in the market for the provision of non-audit services (NAS) - with a particular focus on the joint provision of audit and non-audit services and the potential effects on independence and the quality of audit. To reflect the need for a better understanding of the importance of non-audit services provision, and in order to further quantify, qualify and categorize these, we investigate how NAS are perceived by the public and investors, and why companies request joint provision from firms. Against a background in which issues of audit competition, efficiency, pricing and value added are on the front stage of the audit debate and audit regulation, this research is designed to provide input relevant to these issues, - input which will inform and be of use to firms, as well as the professional bodies and regulators more widely. Such an investigation provides additional insights on the magnitude and type of NAS provision to a broad spectrum of companies and stakeholders and also develops an understanding how NAS may enhance and/or overlap with their use of audit services.Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW

Audit within the corporate governance paradigm

Working pape

‘Quasi PFI’ in the higher education sector: accounting and economic aspects – a case study approach

Working pape

Observational study on variability between biobanks in the estimation of DNA concentration.

BACKGROUND: There is little confidence in the consistency of estimation of DNA concentrations when samples move between laboratories. Evidence on this consistency is largely anecdotal. Therefore there is a need first to measure this consistency among different laboratories and then identify and implement remedies. A pilot experiment to test logistics and provide initial data on consistency was therefore conceived. METHODS: DNA aliquots at nominal concentrations between 10 and 300 ng/mul were dispensed into the wells of 96-well plates by one participant - the coordinating centre. Participants estimated the concentration in each well and returned estimates to the coordinating centre. RESULTS: Considerable overall variability was observed among estimates. There were statistically significant differences between participants' measurements and between fluorescence emission and absorption spectroscopy. CONCLUSION: Anecdotal evidence of variability in DNA concentration estimation has been substantiated. Reduction in variability between participants will require the identification of major sources of variation, specification of effective remedies and their implementation

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis

The Sense of Agency Scale : A Measure of Consciously Perceived Control over One's Mind, Body, and the Immediate Environment

The sense of agency (SoA) is defined as “the registration that I am the initiator of my actions.” Both “direct” and “indirect” measurement of SoA has focused on specific contextualized perceptual events, however it has also been demonstrated that “higher level” cognitions seemingly affect the SoA. We designed a measure of person's general, context-free beliefs about having core agency—the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS). An exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses on samples of 236 (Study 1) and 408 (Study 2) participants yielded two correlated factors we labeled Sense of Positive Agency (SoPA) and Sense of Negative Agency (SoNA). The construct validity of SoAS is demonstrated by its low-to-moderate correlations with conceptually relevant tools and by the moderate-strong relationship between the SoNA subscale and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms (r = 0.35). We conclude that the SoAS seems to isolate people's general beliefs in their agency from their perceived success in obtaining outcomes