O futuro da profissão de auditoria

Technology is evolving at an unbridled pace, some sectors are not failing to keep up with this evolution. It is estimated that the information processed worldwide in the last 2 years represents 90% of the total information ever created. Software is replacing professionals all over the world, mainly in areas such as accounting, routine data processing tasks are performed without human input and automatically. As the audit profession is highly dependent on data analysis, it is important to understand the impact that this evolution will have on the auditor's life. This dissertation aims to describe the audit profession in this context of global technological evolution. The literature review made it possible to fit into important theoretical concepts and understand how these concepts translate into the audit profession. With the empirical study carried out, the objective is to demonstrate the impacts of these new technologies on the auditor's life. The empirical study was supported by a research with a quantitative analysis, through the use of an inquiry. Through this, it was possible to conclude that the new technologies, despite presenting new risks for the external audit, also present themselves as an opportunity to develop works with more quality and efficiency.A tecnologia está a evoluir a um ritmo desenfreado, alguns setores não estão a conseguir acompanhar esta evolução. Estima-se que a informação processada mundialmente nos últimos 2 anos representa 90% do total de informação alguma vez criada. Softwares estão a substituir profissionais pelo mundo inteiro, principalmente em áreas como a contabilidade, tarefas rotineiras de processamento de dados são desempenhadas sem contributo humano e de forma automática. Sendo a profissão de auditoria altamente dependente de análise de dados é importante perceber o impacto que esta evolução terá na vida do auditor. Esta dissertação tem como finalidade descrever a profissão de auditoria neste contexto de evolução tecnológica global. A revisão de literatura efetuada permitiu enquadrar em importantes conceitos teóricos e perceber como esses conceitos se traduzem para a profissão de auditoria. Com o estudo empírico realizado, procurou-se demonstrar os impactos destas novas tecnologias na vida do auditor. O estudo empírico suportou-se numa pesquisa com uma análise quantitativa, através da utilização de um inquérito. Através deste, foi possível concluir que as novas tecnologias apesar de apresentarem novos riscos para a auditoria externa, também se apresentam como uma oportunidade para desenvolver trabalhos com mais qualidade e eficiência

Constraining the primordial spectrum of metric perturbations from gravitino and moduli production

We consider the production of gravitinos and moduli fields from quantum vacuum fluctuations induced by the presence of scalar metric perturbations at the end of inflation. We obtain the corresponding occupation numbers, up to first order in perturbation theory, in terms of the power spectrum of the metric perturbations. We compute the limits imposed by nucleosynthesis on the spectral index $n_s$ for different models with constant $n_s$. The results show that, in certain cases, such limits can be as strong as $n_s<1.12$, which is more stringent than those coming from primordial black hole production.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures. Corrected figures, new references included. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Particle creation, classicality and related issues in quantum field theory: II. Examples from field theory

We adopt the general formalism, which was developed in Paper I (arXiv:0708.1233) to analyze the evolution of a quantized time-dependent oscillator, to address several questions in the context of quantum field theory in time dependent external backgrounds. In particular, we study the question of emergence of classicality in terms of the phase space evolution and its relation to particle production, and clarify some conceptual issues. We consider a quantized scalar field evolving in a constant electric field and in FRW spacetimes which illustrate the two extreme cases of late time adiabatic and highly non-adiabatic evolution. Using the time-dependent generalizations of various quantities like particle number density, effective Lagrangian etc. introduced in Paper I, we contrast the evolution in these two limits bringing out key differences between the Schwinger effect and evolution in the de Sitter background. Further, our examples suggest that the notion of classicality is multifaceted and any one single criterion may not have universal applicability. For example, the peaking of the phase space Wigner distribution on the classical trajectory \emph{alone} does not imply transition to classical behavior. An analysis of the behavior of the \emph{classicality parameter}, which was introduced in Paper I, leads to the conclusion that strong particle production is necessary for the quantum state to become highly correlated in phase space at late times.Comment: RevTeX 4; 27 pages; 18 figures; second of a series of two papers, the first being arXiv:0708.1233 [gr-qc]; high resolution figures available from the authors on reques

Particle creation, classicality and related issues in quantum field theory: I. Formalism and toy models

The quantum theory of a harmonic oscillator with a time dependent frequency arises in several important physical problems, especially in the study of quantum field theory in an external background. While the mathematics of this system is straightforward, several conceptual issues arise in such a study. We present a general formalism to address some of the conceptual issues like the emergence of classicality, definition of particle content, back reaction etc. In particular, we parametrize the wave function in terms of a complex number (which we call excitation parameter) and express all physically relevant quantities in terms it. Many of the notions -- like those of particle number density, effective Lagrangian etc., which are usually defined using asymptotic in-out states -- are generalized as time-dependent concepts and we show that these generalized definitions lead to useful and reasonable results. Having developed the general formalism we apply it to several examples. Exact analytic expressions are found for a particular toy model and approximate analytic solutions are obtained in the extreme cases of adiabatic and highly non-adiabatic evolution. We then work out the exact results numerically for a variety of models and compare them with the analytic results and approximations. The formalism is useful in addressing the question of emergence of classicality of the quantum state, its relation to particle production and to clarify several conceptual issues related to this. In Paper II (arXiv:0708.1237), which is a sequel to this, the formalism will be applied to analyze the corresponding issues in the context of quantum field theory in background cosmological models and electric fields.Comment: RevTeX 4; 32 pages; 28 figures; first of a series of two papers, the second being arXiv:0708.1237 [gr-qc]; high resolution figures available from the authors on reques