Proposed safeguards for the independence of the internal audit function

La presente investigación tiene por objetivo proponer un conjunto de salvaguardas que sirva de referencia a auditores internos y entidades, con el fin de garantizar la existencia de independencia en la función de auditoría interna. Para conseguir este objetivo se aplicó el método Delphi. Los principales resultados obtenidos evidencian que no existen opiniones diferentes por grupos de expertos sobre la importancia de las salvaguardas, pudiéndose proponer un uniforme conjunto de salvaguardas, con la excepción de la externalización de la función de auditoría interna, la cual, según el grupo de auditores internos, es considerada como la menos importante. La independencia sobre las actividades y los sistemas de control interno es la salvaguarda considerada de forma unánime como la más importanteThe present document has as its aim to propose a set of safeguards that may be used as a reference for internal and regulatory auditors and entities, in order to ensure the independence in this function. To obtain this aim, the applied research Delphi method was used. The results obtained demonstrated that there was no difference of opinion between experts on the importance of the safeguards. Thus, a uniform set of safeguards can be proposed, with the exception of the outsourcing of the function of internal audit, it being considered to be less important for the group of internal auditors. The independence of auditing activities and the internal control systems was unanimously considered to be the most important safeguard

La prestación de servicios adicionales por parte de las empresas de auditoría: Un nuevo negocio. Análisis de los posibles efectos negativos en la independencia del auditor

En los últimos años estamos asistiendo a un fuerte incremento de la oferta de trabajos que realizan las empresas auditoras. Estas han pasado de realizar auditorías exclusivamente, a ampliar su abanico de servicios ofertados: como por ejemplo consultoría y asesoría. En definitiva, en muchas ocasiones el objetivo perseguido por las mismas es ofrecer un servicio integral a sus clientes. A esto se une, además, la existencia de una preferencia por parte de las empresas usuarias a demandar estas tareas a los auditores. Este trabajo pretende analizar dicha situación y, en concreto, intentar estudiar si el hecho de que los auditores oferten otros servicios a sus clientes, puede afectar a su necesaria cualidad de profesionales independientes. Finalmente, tomaremos una visión crítica ante el problema para intentar proponer algunas soluciones

Los incentivos y las amenazas que condicionan a la independencia del auditor

La fiabilidad y validez de la actividad de auditoría está completamente condicionada a que los profesionales que ejercen esta labor la realicen con total independencia. Sin embargo, en nuestros tiempos, y como consecuencia de la multitud de escándalos financieros en los que los auditores en muchas ocasiones se han visto envueltos, parece existir una percepción generalizada de que la actividad de verificación de cuentas carece de una utilidad real y verdadera. Lo anterior resulta, sin lugar a dudas, verdaderamente preocupante. Aunque es cierto que esta situación existe en la actualidad, desde nuestro punto de vista, tal circunstancia no podrá mantenerse de forma indefinida en el futuro. En definitiva, no creemos que la actividad de auditoría pueda seguir existiendo si no cumple, al menos de forma aparente, con su función de añadir credibilidad a la información contable. Por todo ello, consideramos que es necesario realizar esfuerzos para paliar esta situación, fundamentalmente concienciando a las partes implicadas y conociendo cuáles son los principales factores que suponen una amenaza para la misma y qué elementos pueden contribuir a incentivarla.The reliability and validity of audit is completely conditional on the total independence of the professionals exerting this activity. Nevertheless, as a result of the multitude of financial scandals in which auditors in many occasions have been involved themselves, at present there seems to be a general perception that the activity of account verification lacks a real and true utility. Undoubtedly, this is truly worrisome. Although it is certain that this situation does currently exist, from our point of view it cannot continue like that for an indefinite period of time in the future. We definitely do not believe that the audit activity can survive if it does not fulfil, at least in apparent form, its function of adding credibility to the account information. Therefore, we think it is necessary to make efforts to mitigate this situation, arousing fundamental awareness among the implied parties and finding the main factors of threat and incentive for the audit activity

Los sistemas de compensación para ejecutivos en el trabajo de las empresas auditoras

Los sistemas de compensación para ejecutivos, conocidos bajo el nombre de stock options, se han venido desarrollando en los Estados Unidos desde los años sesenta, dando lugar no sólo a grandes emolumentos para los altos ejecutivos, sino a una amplia problemática contable que ha derivado en multitud de trabajos que analizan muchas de las vertientes que esta cuestión depara (su valoración desde la óptica de la Teoría de la Contabilidad, sus repercusiones en el mercado de valores, su incidencia en la política salarial de la empresa, etc.). Este tipo de política retributiva ha sido seguida por las empresas españolas con un cierto retraso, de hecho, en nuestro país sólo se ha producido su eclosión y conocimiento por el ciudadano medio en esta última década, sobretodo a raíz del caso Telefónica. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar, desde el punto de vista de la Auditoría, y por ende de la Contabilidad, no sólo la repercusión que esta política retributiva puede tener en el informe emitido por el auditor, sino como las empresas auditoras están abordando esta nueva problemática, desde la incidencia en el juicio del auditor, manifestado en el informe de auditoría, hasta los servicios adicionales que las empresas auditoras ofrecen a sus clientes

Una revisión sobre la consolidación empresarial en España

La continua y veloz evolución que están experimentando los mercados actuales de todo el mundo, han propiciado la concentración de numerosas empresas con la finalidad de dar respuesta a las estrategias de crecimiento y la mejora de desarrollo que esta nueva situación conlleva. La importancia del fenómeno de concentración empresarial en España en los últimos años, justifica la necesidad de realizar un nuevo estudio sobre la situación actual española. El presente trabajo toma como unidad de análisis el total de grupos que cotizan en la actualidad en la Bolsa española, tratando de mostrar su realidad. De este modo, permite conocer la estabilidad que tienen dentro del mercado español y, al mismo tiempo, aproximamos al método de consolidación empleado, las características de las sociedades dependientes y otros rasgos claves que faciliten un mayor conocimiento de tales entidades

Epigenetic deregulation of the histone methyltransferase KMT5B contributes to malignant transformation in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor in adulthood. Epigenetic mechanisms are known to play a key role in GBM although the involvement of histone methyltransferase KMT5B and its mark H4K20me2 has remained largely unexplored. The present study shows that DNA hypermethylation and loss of DNA hydroxymethylation is associated with KMT5B downregulation and genome-wide reduction of H4K20me2 levels in a set of human GBM samples and cell lines as compared with non-tumoral specimens. Ectopic overexpression of KMT5B induced tumor suppressor-like features in vitro and in a mouse tumor xenograft model, as well as changes in the expression of several glioblastoma-related genes. H4K20me2 enrichment was found immediately upstream of the promoter regions of a subset of deregulated genes, thus suggesting a possible role for KMT5B in GBM through the epigenetic modulation of key target cancer genes.This research was funded by the Health Institute Carlos III (Plan Nacional de I+D+I) cofounding FEDER (PI15/00892 and PI18/01527 to MF and AF); the Government of the Principality of Asturias PCTI-Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Asturias co-funding 2018–2022/FEDER (IDI/2018/146 to MF); AECC (PROYE18061FERN to MF); FGCSIC (0348_CIE_6_E to MF); Severo Ochoa Program BP17-165 to PS-O and BP17-114 to RP); the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (VL, Juan de la Cierva fellowship IJCI-2015-23316; JT, Juan de la Cierva fellowship FJCI-2015-26965); FICYT (AC and MG); FINBA-ISPA (VL); and IUOPA (VL and CM). The IUOPA is supported by the Obra Social Cajastur-Liberbank, Spain.Peer reviewe

A crowdsourcing database for the copy-number variation of the Spanish population

Background: Despite being a very common type of genetic variation, the distribution of copy-number variations (CNVs) in the population is still poorly understood. The knowledge of the genetic variability, especially at the level of the local population, is a critical factor for distinguishing pathogenic from non-pathogenic variation in the discovery of new disease variants. Results: Here, we present the SPAnish Copy Number Alterations Collaborative Server (SPACNACS), which currently contains copy number variation profiles obtained from more than 400 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. By means of a collaborative crowdsourcing effort whole genome and whole exome sequencing data, produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes, is continuously collected. Once checked both, the Spanish ancestry and the lack of kinship with other individuals in the SPACNACS, the CNVs are inferred for these sequences and they are used to populate the database. A web interface allows querying the database with different filters that include ICD10 upper categories. This allows discarding samples from the disease under study and obtaining pseudo-control CNV profiles from the local population. We also show here additional studies on the local impact of CNVs in some phenotypes and on pharmacogenomic variants. SPACNACS can be accessed at: http://csvs.clinbioinfosspa.es/spacnacs/. Conclusion: SPACNACS facilitates disease gene discovery by providing detailed information of the local variability of the population and exemplifies how to reuse genomic data produced for other purposes to build a local reference database

Impact of mediterranean diet promotion on environmental sustainability: a longitudinal analysis

[EN]This article aims to estimate the differences in environmental impact (greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, land use, energy used, acidification and potential eutrophication) after one year of promoting a Mediterranean diet (MD). Methods Baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 5800 participants in the PREDIMED-Plus study were used. Each participant's food intake was estimated using validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, and the adherence to MD using the Dietary Score. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The association between MD adherence and its environmental impact was calculated using adjusted multivariate linear regression models.SIPublicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCL

Effectiveness of a strategy that uses educational games to implement clinical practice guidelines among Spanish residents of family and community medicine (e-EDUCAGUIA project):A clinical trial by clusters

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias FIS Grant Number PI11/0477 ISCIII.-REDISSEC Proyecto RD12/0001/0012 AND FEDER Funding.Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been developed with the aim of helping health professionals, patients, and caregivers make decisions about their health care, using the best available evidence. In many cases, incorporation of these recommendations into clinical practice also implies a need for changes in routine clinical practice. Using educational games as a strategy for implementing recommendations among health professionals has been demonstrated to be effective in some studies; however, evidence is still scarce. The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a teaching strategy for the implementation of CPGs using educational games (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) to improve knowledge and skills related to clinical decision-making by residents in family medicine. The primary objective will be evaluated at 1 and 6months after the intervention. The secondary objectives are to identify barriers and facilitators for the use of guidelines by residents of family medicine and to describe the educational strategies used by Spanish teaching units of family and community medicine to encourage implementation of CPGs. Methods/design: We propose a multicenter clinical trial with randomized allocation by clusters of family and community medicine teaching units in Spain. The sample size will be 394 residents (197 in each group), with the teaching units as the randomization unit and the residents comprising the analysis unit. For the intervention, both groups will receive an initial 1-h session on clinical practice guideline use and the usual dissemination strategy by e-mail. The intervention group (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) strategy will consist of educational games with hypothetical clinical scenarios in a virtual environment. The primary outcome will be the score obtained by the residents on evaluation questionnaires for each clinical practice guideline. Other included variables will be the sociodemographic and training variables of the residents and the teaching unit characteristics. The statistical analysis will consist of a descriptive analysis of variables and a baseline comparison of both groups. For the primary outcome analysis, an average score comparison of hypothetical scenario questionnaires between the EDUCAGUIA intervention group and the control group will be performed at 1 and 6months post-intervention, using 95% confidence intervals. A linear multilevel regression will be used to adjust the model. Discussion: The identification of effective teaching strategies will facilitate the incorporation of available knowledge into clinical practice that could eventually improve patient outcomes. The inclusion of information technologies as teaching tools permits greater learning autonomy and allows deeper instructor participation in the monitoring and supervision of residents. The long-term impact of this strategy is unknown; however, because it is aimed at professionals undergoing training and it addresses prevalent health problems, a small effect can be of great relevance. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02210442.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Population-based multicase-control study in common tumors in Spain (MCC-Spain): rationale and study design

Introduction: We present the protocol of a large population-based case-control study of 5 common tumors in Spain (MCC-Spain) that evaluates environmental exposures and genetic factors. Methods: Between 2008-2013, 10,183 persons aged 20-85 years were enrolled in 23 hospitals and primary care centres in 12 Spanish provinces including 1,115 cases of a new diagnosis of prostate cancer, 1,750 of breast cancer, 2,171 of colorectal cancer, 492 of gastro-oesophageal cancer, 554 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and 4,101 population-based controls matched by frequency to cases by age, sex and region of residence. Participation rates ranged from 57% (stomach cancer) to 87% (CLL cases) and from 30% to 77% in controls. Participants completed a face-to-face computerized interview on sociodemographic factors, environmental exposures, occupation, medication, lifestyle, and personal and family medical history. In addition, participants completed a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire and telephone interviews. Blood samples were collected from 76% of participants while saliva samples were collected in CLL cases and participants refusing blood extractions. Clinical information was recorded for cases and paraffin blocks and/or fresh tumor samples are available in most collaborating hospitals. Genotyping was done through an exome array enriched with genetic markers in specific pathways. Multiple analyses are planned to assess the association of environmental, personal and genetic risk factors for each tumor and to identify pleiotropic effects. Discussion: This study, conducted within the Spanish Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology & Public Health (CIBERESP), is a unique initiative to evaluate etiological factors for common cancers and will promote cancer research and prevention in Spain.The study was partially funded by the “Accion Transversal del Cancer”, approved on the Spanish Ministry Council on the 11th October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/0533, PI08/1359, PS09/00773, PS09/01286, PS09/01903, PS09/02078, PS09/01662, PI11/01403, PI11/01889, PI11/00226, PI11/01810, PI11/02213, PI12/00488, PI12/00265, PI12/01270, PI12/00715, PI12/00150), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (API 10/09), by the ICGC International Cancer Genome Consortium CLL, by the Junta de Castilla y León (LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0571), by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP 061/10), by the Recercaixa (2010ACUP 00310), by the Regional Government of the Basque Country by European Commission grants FOOD-CT- 2006-036224-HIWATE, by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation, by the The Catalan Government DURSI grant 2009SGR1489