No description available.

The recent financial crises in the world in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular, contrary to the contents of audit reports indicating that companies are financially healthy, suggest that auditors may not be providing accurate information about their state of affairs or of those who invest after the release of audit reports in companies that later lacked understanding of the content of the report. The study seeks to determine whether the users of audit reports understand the contents and meanings of words used in audit reports in Saudi Arabia. It also examines whether users of audit reports are interested in a change in the structure, contents and information of audit reports. The theoretical framework of the research is based on representation and legitimacy theories, which are related to the qualitative paradigm employed to explain how users appreciate or understand the contents or words employed in an audit. The primary data for the study was collected through semi-structured interviews, comprising twenty-seven interviewees drawn from three groups: institutional investors (creditors or lenders), audit firms, and the officials of the regulator the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants. The interviews were taped, transcribed and managed with the use of computerised qualitative analysis software (NVIV09). It was found that users do not attach much value to the contents of audit reports. Audit reports are drafted in a vague and ambiguous language and users lack basic knowledge of the terms used. Reports are drafted to protect auditors from liabilities. The credibility attached to audit reports is based on the status of the auditing firm. The audit reporting standards in Saudi Arabia are outdated. The majority of the users prefer detailed information in an audit report. The review of audit language methodologies and standards of reporting, putting into consideration the users, is recommended.

No description available.

The main objective of this study is to explore the emerging practice of CSR in Bangladesh. As this is the first comprehensive study of CSR in Bangladesh it is primarily exploratory in nature. Using the lens of stakeholder theory the study examines whether the current practice of CSR in Bangladesh is motivated by a desire to discharge accountability to all relevant stakeholders or is mainly driven by the imperative of strategic management of powerful stakeholders only with a view to advancing corporate economic interests. In investigating this question, a qualitative analysis of corporate social disclosures is made in order to examine corporate attitudes towards social, ethical and environmental issues as represented in the texts of annual reports. The sample of reports analysed comprises 79 top listed companies (including six multinationals) as well as eight public sector companies under the control of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). In addition to this analysis of published reports 34 semi-structured interviews with managers and stakeholder groups have been carried out to critically examine their perceptions towards the phenomenon of CSR in Bangladesh. The results of the study show that Bangladeshi companies make very few social disclosures. The majority of the companies studied do not address the crucial issues of corruption, child labour, equal opportunities and poverty alleviation. Analysis of disclosures indicates that companies attach far more importance to the economically dominant stakeholders such as, shareholders, customers and employees ignoring the rights of social stakeholders such as local community, natural environment and the wider society. The interviews with managers emphasised the paramount importance of strategic management of key economic stakeholders. Interviews with various stakeholder groups suggest that they view the corporate response to social, ethical and environmental issues as essentially cosmetic and part of a public relations campaign. While both the managerial group and the stakeholder groups indicated a belief that CSR would increase in future, inter alia, the driving force behind such increase appears to be strong pressure from `outside' forces such as parent companies of multinationals, international buyers and international agencies. The study concludes that in their pursuit of CSR corporations are basically motivated by their desire to strategically manage their key powerful stakeholders. They achieve this, sadly, often at the expense of economically weak social stakeholders.

Orientador: Prof. Stella Regina Reis da Costa , D.Sc. / Dissertação apresentada ao Curso de Mestrado em Sistemas de Gestão da Universidade Federal Fluminense como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Sistemas de Gestão / Muitas são as formas e os conceitos teóricos a respeito da auditoria. No setor público ela ganha maior importância, pois trata-se da análise dos atos e fatos que envolvem a gestão de recursos oriundos do contribuinte. Com a introdução de alguns paradigmas / Many are the shapes and the theoretical concepts concerning the audit. In the public sector it becomes more important because it is the analysis of acts and events that involve the management of funds from the taxpayer's pocket. With the introduction of s / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-14T18:06:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2019-02-13T19:05:50Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000009a3.pdf: 1569230 bytes, checksum: 75acc7fd374cce2f0e91dc33c4edbae7 (MD5)

This thesis studies the way the profession, key actors and other users perceive the use of IFRSs in Greece. The focus is mainly on providing evidence of perceptions towards the transition and implementation process, the way financial statements are used, what challenges are encountered and the recognised benefits after the adoption of IFRSs. The thesis explores the views of actual users about the usefulness of financial reports relating to the impact of IFRSs in an economy with different institutional infrastructures and accounting tradition from the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ model. It provides a critical perspective on the understanding of actors’ experience and interpretation of accounting change and challenges unquestioned beliefs and taken-for-granted assumptions surrounding the adoption of IFRSs. Drawing on a historical and political economy analysis of (inter)national accounting standard-setting and practices the driving rationale behind actors’ views is investigated. Gramsci’s conceptual vocabulary is utilised in order to encourage a theoretical insight into the empirical material. Empirical evidence has been gathered through interviews with key individuals in the implementation and establishment of IFRSs and secondary data, such as public statements, policies and the IASB’s exposure drafts and comments. The impact of IFRSs is evident in areas of measurement and disclosure while the user groups that make meaningful use of IFRSs’ financial information is narrow. The identified benefits of IFRSs in terms of the usefulness of financial information feature great similarity and consensus among local key actors. However, there are still challenges in the implementation and interpretation of IFRSs hindering the accomplishment of the IASB’s pronouncements in regard to the benefits of the standards. IFRSs convergence seems to improve over time. The state exerts significant influence over accounting practices and taxation considerations are generally considered as inhibiting compliance with IFRSs. It appears that there is a shift in the perceptions and beliefs of key individuals about the role of financial reporting in line with the neo-liberal shift in the rationale of IFRSs as promoted by standard-setters and dominant capital economies. The thesis challenges the position purported by standard setters that the adoption of IFRSs is a necessity driven by the natural forces of economic globalisation and that it results in improved decision usefulness of financial statements. There is more to financial reporting quality and comparability than imposing a common set of standards. Despite the inconsistencies in the application of IFRSs and the contradictions in actors’ views about the actual benefits of IFRSs, this has not led them to challenge the basic assumptions and hegemonic structures inherent in the domain of accounting and capital markets.

During the last two decades, ISO 9000 standards have become one of the most important management approaches in the world. Currently, the standards are used by more than one million companies in more than 170 countries. ISO 9001 audits are the most widely used performance measurement (PM) method to assess ISO 9001 quality management systems (QMS). However, in recent years the effectiveness of ISO 9001 quality auditing has been questioned for: (1) only focusing on compliance; (2) failing to detect problems in products and processes; (3) failing to predict QMS failures; and (4) failing to provide added value to organisations. To overcome these problems, two main conversations have taken place in the literature. The first advocates changing the current compliance focus of auditing for a performance oriented one, to promote improvements in business processes and the QMS. The second theme seeks to develop different methods, guidelines, tools and techniques to improve auditing practice. In order to generate a change of focus from compliance towards improvement, some recent research has also advocated incorporating concepts and techniques from the PM field into the ISO 9000 world. However, there have been no substantial previous attempts to provide internal quality auditing with a performance focus, which was the aim of this research. Hence, this thesis intends to establish how ISO 9001:2008 certified organisations can better measure their QMS performance using internal audits. In order to provide answers to this question, an empirical study using mixed methods research was conducted. Firstly, the current state of the art of the ISO 9001:2008 internal auditing process was determined using a mixed methods study, including two surveys of 272 ISO 9001 experts and 25 interviews. This allowed the identification of the current problems that ISO 9001 certified organisations face when conducting audits, as well as the impacts on the performance of the QMS due to deficient internal auditing. Secondly, using the statistical technique of path analysis, a model identifying the relationships between internal audit problems and their impacts on QMS performance was developed. The model indicated that an intricate network of individual and organisational deficits link auditing and QMS performance. Finally, ‘Audit+’ a detailed and comprehensive procedure for conducting ISO 9001:2008 internal audits with a focus on the performance of the QMS was developed. The procedure was thoroughly tested and validated by a further mixed methods study, including three in-depth case studies and a survey of 174 ISO 9001 auditors. Although some minor changes were recommended, the results of the Audit+ validation were encouraging, showing that PM approaches can be successfully incorporated into the ISO 9001 world, to help organisations to better measure their QMS performance.

Orientadora : Profª. Drª. Ilse Maria Beuren / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Contabilidade. Defesa: Curitiba, 2015 / Inclui referências / Área de concentração : Contabilidade e finanças / Resumo: A Teoria Ator-Rede sugere uma configuração dinâmica à realidade, com características heterogêneas entre os atores. Parte-se do pressuposto de que é por meio de relações híbridas que se constrói o social, e com isso, a atuação dos atores não humanos torna-se tão essencial quanto dos demais atores humanos em um determinado contexto. Desse modo, especificamente no âmbito da perícia contábil, cabe a esta vertente teórica demonstrar como a heterogeneidade e a simetria existentes nas relações geram impactos no ordenamento da realidade, visto que relações construídas de forma estável ou instável podem impactar positiva ou negativamente a realização das atividades periciais. Neste sentido, o estudo objetiva identificar a configuração das redes de atores humanos e não humanos que se formam no processo da perícia contábil judicial sob a perspectiva da Teoria Ator-Rede. Para isso, uma pesquisa de cunho descritivo, com abordagem quantitativa-qualitativa do problema, foi realizada por meio de um levantamento e de entrevistas semiestruturadas. A população inicial do estudo para a aplicação da pesquisa de levantamento compreende 593 profissionais peritos contadores das regiões Sul e Sudeste, especificamente dos estados do Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Minas Gerais, que fazem parte e que estão registrados em Associações de Peritos dos respectivos Estados. Na coleta de dados, obteve-se 102 questionários válidos para a execução dos testes estatísticos, por meio da Modelagem de Equações Estruturais. No tocante aos entrevistados, optou-se por cinco magistrados e cinco peritos contadores atuantes na cidade de Curitiba, dada a conveniência do pesquisador, a fim de complementar a análise quantitativa da pesquisa. Os relatos transcritos no trabalho foram extraídos da análise de conteúdo das entrevistas realizadas. Com a elaboração do modelo estrutural, baseado no processo de translação, verificou-se que, exceto para as relações entre os Atores Humanos Contábeis, Atores não Humanos e Problematização, todas as demais relações contidas no modelo apresentaram significância estatística. Os resultados do estudo demonstram que o perito contador, o perito assistente, o juiz (ator-focal das relações) e as varas são os principais actantes humanos das relações, dado o perfil e as características profissionais desses atores. Já os atores não humanos são representados, principalmente, pelo laudo pericial elaborado pelo perito do juiz, o parecer técnico do assistente técnico e os quesitos contidos no processo. Conclui-se que a construção das redes no campo da perícia contábil, entre os atores humanos contábeis e judiciais e não humanos, que surgem a partir da necessidade ou não de uma prova pericial, depende de inúmeras translações e interações entre os agentes envolvidos, que impactam significativamente no desempenho das atividades periciais e na estabilização das relações. Como indicadores de desempenho destacam-se a qualidade do laudo pericial e do parecer técnico e a competência técnica e teórica dos profissionais contadores. Como fatores propulsores das relações estáveis e duradouras entre os atores na perícia, verificou-se a experiência do perito e do perito assistente, assim como o tempo de atuação e de relacionamento com juízes. Palavras-chave: Teoria Ator-Rede; Perícia Contábil; Atores Humanos; Atores não Humanos; Translação. / Abstract: The Actor-Network Theory suggests a dynamic configuration to reality, with heterogeneous characteristics between the actors. It is assumed that it is through hybrid relations that the social is builded, and with that, the performance of non-human actors becomes as essential as the other human actors in a given context. Thus, specifically in the forensic accounting, it is up to this theoretical model to demonstrate how the heterogeneity and the symmetry existent in relations generate impacts on the ordering of reality, due to stable or unstable relationships can impact positively or negatively the performance of forensic activities. In this sense, the study aims to identify the configuration of networks of human and non-human actors created in the process of judicial forensic accounting from the perspective of Actor-Network Theory. For this, a descriptive research with quantitative and qualitative approach to the problem, was conducted through a survey and semi-structured interviews. The initial study population for survey research application comprises 593 professionals forensic accountants of the South and Southeast, specifically the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, which are part and are registered in Expert Associations of the respective States. In collecting data, it was obtained 102 valid questionnaires for the implementation of the statistical tests, through the Structural Equation Modeling. Related to the interviews participants, five judges and five forensic accountants that work in the city of Curitiba were chosen, due to the convenience of the researcher, to complement the quantitative analysis of research. The excerpts of interviews entered in the study were extracted from the content analysis of the interviews. With the development of the structural model, based on the translation process, it was found that, except for relations between the Accounting Human Actors, not Human Actors and Problematization, all the other relations in the model were statistically significant. The study results show that the forensic accountant, the expert assistant, the judge (actor-focal) and the local of judicial process are the main human actors in the relations, due to the profile and professional characteristics of these actors. The non-human actors are represented mainly by the expert report prepared by the forensic accountant, the technical opinion report of the technical assistant and the questions contained in the judicial process. It is concluded that the construction of networks in the field of forensic accounting, between accounting and judicial human actors and non-human actors, which arise from the need or not an expert evidence, depends on numerous translations and interactions between those involved, which significantly impact the performance of expert activities and the stabilization of relations. As performance indicators include the quality of the expert report and the technical opinion report and the technical and theoretical competence of professional accountants. As factors that contribute to stable and lasting relationships between forensic accounting actors, it was verified the professional experience, as well as the time of action and relationship with judges. Keywords: Actor-Network Theory; Forensic Accounting; Human Actors; Non Human Actors; Translation.

Cette thèse se compose de trois articles qui ensemble contribuent à améliorer la pertinence de l'audit et de la recherche en comptabilité, en s'appuyant sur le développement d'une nouvelle méthode d'expérimentation adaptée aux sciences de gestion. Dans un premier temps, elle souligne l'importance de deux questions de type "comment faire pour": "comment faire pour rendre l'utilisation du confort légitime dans l'audit des estimations?" et "comment faire pour optimiser la pertinence des résultats de la recherche comptable pour la pratique?". Puis, dans un second temps, elle développe l'expérimentation performative, une méthode qui permet aux sciences de gestion de répondre à des questions de ce type, et qu'elle applique aux deux questions précédentes. Malgré ses limites, cette recherche apporte des contributions et ouvre de nouvelles perspectives pour la pratique et la théorie dans trois champs différents. En audit, elle indique une nouvelle façon de penser l'auditabilité par-delà l'établissement d'une référence à des critères externes. Elle dote la recherche en comptabilité d'une méthode, détaillée étape par étape, qui permet de donner une validité expérimentale aux résultats théoriques. Pour la philosophie des sciences, elle offre des données nouvelles qui permettent de repenser les sciences de gestion. Enfin, il se peut que cette thèse indique un chemin praticable pour sortir de l'idée même de modernité. / This thesis is composed of three articles which together contribute to enhance the relevance of audit as well as of research in accounting, based on the development of a new method of experimentation adapted to the management sciences. First, it suggests the importance of two highly relevant "how to" questions: "how to make the use of comfort legitimate in the audit of estimates?" and "how to optimize the practical relevance of theoretically valid results in auditing research?". Then, it develops the performative experiment, a method which makes it possible for the management sciences to address "how to" questions, and applies this method to the two questions raised. In spite of limits, this research may contribute to, and open new perspectives for, practice and theory in three different fields. In audit, it indicates a new way to think of auditability, beyond reference to external benchmarks. In accounting research, it offers a step-by-step process to bestow experimental validity to theoretical results. In the science studies, it delivers fresh data and perspectives to rethink the management sciences. Eventually, this thesis might indicate a not too hurtful way out of the very idea of modernity.

The existing audit risk model does not take business risk into account. The aims of this study are, firstly, to do research on the necessity of taking business risk into account in the audit risk model, and secondly, to indicate the influence of business risk on the audit risk model and on the scope of an audit. In this study, both audit and business risks were researched and it was determined that the existing audit risk model only considers the probabilities that auditors can give incorrect opinions. This study proposes a method whereby an auditor can consider both his own business risk and that ofhis client in determining an audit risk that is acceptable to him and in determining the scope ofhis audit. In addition to the probabilities of incorrect decisions by auditors the consequences thereof are also considered, thus limiting the auditor's engagement risk. / Die huidige ouditrisikomodel neem nie besigheidrisiko in ag nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is eerstens, om die noodsaaklikheid van die inagnerning van besigheidsrisiko in die ouditrisikomodel te ondersoek en tweedens, om die invloed van besigheidsrisiko op die ouditrisikomodel en op die omvang van 'n oudit aan te dui. In hierdie studie is literatuur oor ouditrisiko en besigheidsrisiko ondersoek waaruit aan die lig kom dat die huidige ouditrisikomodel net die waarskynlikhede in ag neem dat ouditeurs foutiewe menings kan uitspreek. Gevolglik stel die studie 'n metode voor waardeur 'n ouditeur beide sy eie besigheidsrisiko asook die van sy klient in ag kan neem tydens die bepaling van 'n ouditrisiko wat vir hom aanvaarbaar is en tydens die vasstelling van die omvang van sy oudit. Daardeur word nie alleen die waarskynlikhede nie, maar ook die gevolge van foutiewe besluitnemings deur ouditeurs oorweeg en 'n ouditeur se aanstellingsrisiko sodoende beperk. / Auditing / MCom (Ouditkunde)