This work deals with audit activities and assurance engagements. So it deals with similar issues from Czech and international perspective. It describes the types of audit activities and assurance engagements. It also describes related legislation, standards and regulatory authorities. The work contains information about persons, who perform audit activities and assurance engagements. This thesis compares audit activities and assurance engagements. The comparison shows a great similarity. This work deals with practical use of audit activities. It is solved from audit firm's and client's perspective. The result is, that the statutory audit is most widely used in practice.

This dissertation develops variants of the well-known Hotelling’s location model to examine the nature of competition in the audit market where audit firms make strategic specialization and pricing decisions. In a multi-period spatial oligopoly model of auditing competition, audit firms obtain market power through their service specialization with respect to client characteristics relevant to audit production. This market power allows audit firms to price discriminate among clients. Competition among audit firms is localized: an audit firm optimally charges a client, to whom it has the lowest auditing cost to serve, the marginal auditing cost of the second lowest-cost audit firm. These equilibrium audit firms’ pricing strategies result in an allocation of clients’ surplus and audit firms’ profits that lies in the core of the economy. The existence of a specialization-pricing equilibrium is also established. In equilibrium, given its rivals’ specializations, each audit firm’s profit is maximized by choosing a specialization that maximizes the social welfare (the sum of clients’ surplus and audit firms’ profits). Moreover, audit firms never choose the same specialization in equilibrium. Instead, in order to earn rents as ‘local monopolists’, audit firms differentiate themselves from each other. This result is consistent with a widely held notion that audit firms search for ‘niche’ markets, such as industry specialization, to increase their profits. The dissertation then focuses on a two-period spatial duopoly model in which the market power created by audit firm specialization is now further fortified by the presence of auditors’ learning and clients’ switching costs. In this case, audit firms optimally price discriminate among clients by offering them ‘specialization-and-relationship-specific’ audit fee schedules. The practice of ‘low-balling’ is found to be a natural consequence of the competition among audit firms. However, low-balling occurs only in a certain market segment where audit firms compete quite fiercely. The analysis also demonstrates how equilibrium audit fee schedules, audit firms’ specializations and profits, clients’ surplus, and social welfare depend on the auditing costs, the learning rate, and the switching costs. Some interesting policy implications are illustrated. Finally, the model is used to analyze the impact of banning audit firms from the practice of low-balling. It is demonstrated that even though a policy of banning low-balling always reduces competition, it improves social efficiency in some cases. / Business, Sauder School of / Accounting, Division of / Graduate

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I study the role of auditing in mitigating agency concerns in family firms. Family firms face less severe agency problems due to the separation of ownership and control (Type 1) but more severe agency problems between controlling and noncontrolling shareholders (Type 2). As family firms make up a large part of most free enterprise economies it is important to examine these two agency problems with respect to auditor choice and audit effort. I find that family firms are more likely to choose a specialist auditor than nonfamily firms, consistent with the argument that family firms need to signal their non-expropriating behaviors by choosing specialist auditors. I further find that audit fees are lower in family firms compared to nonfamily firms, consistent with the hypothesis that the Type 1 agency conflict dominates the Type 2 agency conflict in the determination of audit effort and pricing. Moreover, consistent with prior literature that states that effective internal governance demands a quality auditor and more audit effort irrespective of ownership structure, I find that the positive association between family ownership and specialist auditor choice is stronger when internal governance is strong and the negative relation between audit fees and family ownership is weaker when the internal governance is strong. I find that these results on audit fees are robust to the use of alternative measures of concentrated influence such as CEO ownership, inside director ownership, and the presence of one or more founder directors. I also find that the effect of internal governance on audit fees is not limited to one or a few components of internal governance.

A research study is undertaken to determine if economic incentives exist for noncompliance with regulatory standards, and if accounting related disclosure of regulatory enforcement actions is a determinant of environmental performance.

The covid-19 pandemic broke out in Sweden in March 2020 and what followed were economic uncertainty, restrictions and social distancing. This study is inspired by two publications regarding the subject of auditing during the covid-19 pandemic. The first one is a report published by the Financial Reporting Council (2020) and the other is a scientific publication by Albitar et al. (2021). Using these publications, seven areas have in this study been created. These are, evaluation of risk, materiality, going concern, auditing evidence, the work process, human capital and, audit fees and working hours. The purpose of the study is to use the different areas as benchmarks to examine how the covid-19 pandemic has affected the auditors, whether they’ve had to change part of their work and whether these changes could mean any implications for the future of auditing. The study is qualitative and interviews with ten auditors from different big-four companies have been conducted. The study shows that the digitization process that had started a few years prior was helpful for the auditors. Especially with regards to collection of audit evidence. The auditors were prepared whilst not knowing what to be prepared for. However, the study also shows that creating team spirit, building client and colleague relationships and training of new employees have been more difficult during the pandemic. From the study we project that the digitalization and working-from-home approach will have a sustained impact on the future of the profession. Time efficient digital meetings will be implemented to a higher degree and the flexibility of from where employees can work will increase. / Covid-19 pandemin bröt ut ordentligt i Sverige under mars 2020 och med detta följde bland annat restriktioner, social distansering och ekonomisk osäkerhet. Denna studie utgår från en rapport av Financial Reporting Council som publicerades i mars 2020 och en vetenskaplig artikel av Albitar et al. (2021). Med utgångspunkt i dessa två publikationer har sju områden skapats.  Dessa är riskbedömning, väsentlighet, fortsatt drift, revisionsbevis, arbetsprocessen, det mänskliga kapitalet samt arvoden och arbetstimmar. Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån dessa sju områden undersöka hur covid-19 pandemin har påverkat revisorerna, om deras arbetssätt har behövt förändras och vilka implikationer dessa förändringar kan ha för framtiden.  Studien är av kvalitativt slag där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med tio olika svenska revisorer från big four bolag. Utifrån studiens resultat kan det konstateras att den digitaliseringsprocess som inletts under tidigare år, speciellt med hänsyn till insamling av revisionsbevis var till stor hjälp. Revisorerna var förberedda utan att veta vad som skulle förberedas och utifrån förutsättningarna har revisionskvaliteten till stor grad kunnat bibehållits. Studien visar dock på att lagsammanhållning och byggandet av kundrelationer har varit svårt att bevara när allt skett på distans och utbildning av nyanställda har varit tuffare. Utifrån studien tros digitaliseringen och distansarbetet som covid-19 pandemin medfört ha en inverkan på yrket i framtiden. Mer tidseffektiva digitala möten kommer implementeras och flexibiliteten i var arbetet kan utföras kommer öka.

Examines the perceived occupational image of auditing among US college students and uncovers students’ attitudes towards auditing as a field of study and career. In addition, investigates background correlates of such images and attitudes. Discusses the implications of the findings for academics and practitioners.

In September 2001, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Education Committee issued Exposure Draft IEG-1, which states, "Information technology is pervasive in the world of business. Competence with this technology is an imperative for the professional accountant." This view was seconded by a leading visionary in the assurance profession, who recently stated that "every aspect of the accounting profession is being pervasively affected by advances in information technology" [Audit. J. Pract. Theory 21 (1) 2002]. Clearly, accounting/auditing education needs to incorporate these technology changes to stay relevant. Despite the apparent need for change, leading academicians have recently talked about the possible demise of accounting/auditing education due to a failure keep up with changes in the business world. Accounting/auditing education has been described as outdated, broken, and in need of significant modification (Albrecht WS, Sack RJ. Accounting education: charting the course through a perilous future. Accounting education series. Sarasota, FL: American Accounting Association, vol. 16, 2000). This study focuses on identifying appropriate information technologies (ITs) for auditing professors and audit practitioners and measuring their self-perceptions of knowledge about these technologies. We conducted a literature search that resulted in the identification of 36 critical information technologies. We then surveyed 1000 accounting information systems (AIS) and auditing professors and 1000 audit practitioners to determine their self-reported IT knowledge levels and perceptions about the best places to learn IT skills. The survey also solicited their views about the best place in the educational process for initially learning these technologies, as well as views about educational methodology. Response rates of 31.2% for professors and 24.7% for practitioners were obtained for the survey. After conducting factor analysis, we found a relatively low level of knowledge for e-commerce and advanced technologies and audit automation constructs by both educators and practitioners, but we found a relatively high level of knowledge for office automation and accounting firm office automation constructs. Results also indicate that the educators with more teaching experience, but lower reported IT knowledge levels, tend to teach auditing. Furthermore, we found a potential "learning gap" between educators and practitioners that may occur for 5 of the 36 technologies examined. The results of this research are important for auditing and AIS education because they strongly suggest that more attention needs to be paid to issues such as assigning courses based on knowledge level rather than seniority, technology training and awareness programs for educators and practitioners, and coverage of IT in the university curriculum.

A thesis submitted to the Department of Information Studies for the award of a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Studies, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / Knowledge management (KM) is increasingly popularized in various societies, organizations and governments because of its confirmed importance in fostering knowledge creation, codification and transfer, and development of knowledge capital capability. Indigenous knowledge (IK), which forms part of KM, is also generally thought to have crucial functions and importance in the knowledge management process (creation or production, storage, processing or codification, transfer and utilization) and should therefore receive significant attention. The aim and objectives of the study was to map and audit the current IK environment and practices in Kenya and South Africa with specific attention to identifying the IK policies and legislation in place, exploring and analyzing the IK governance structures, examining the IK centres and systems in terms of their roles, identifying what IK programmes and activities are in existence and when are they held, determining the status, trends and types of IK research. The study used the survey method. The study was conducted in two countries, i.e. Kenya and South Africa, but was not defined geographically. It was restricted to the capital cities of Nairobi in Kenya and Pretoria in South Africa, which house the administrative governments of the two countries. Since the population of this study consisted of organizations, institutions, databases and activities, and because it was impractical to collect data from them all, the population was narrowed down to a representation or sample of the population. Non-probability sampling techniques were used to create a sampling frame through cluster and multi-stage sampling. Purposive sampling technique was applied to select centres and activities from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Gender in Kenya and South Africa that deal with IK. Both snowball sampling and purposive sampling were applied to select the key informants who headed the various IK Departments of Science and Technology in South Africa and the Department of Culture in Kenya. This resulted in a fair representation of the cultural diversity of the two countries and the various levels of knowledge, management and development of the personnel. A sample size of twenty organizations, 13 from Kenya and 7 from South Africa, was selected for this study. The sample size was different for the two countries because of the different management systems and the use of the snowball sampling technique to select xiv informants. The key informants (senior management positions within organizations) in many cases consisted of more than one person per organization. Research instruments consisted of field visits, interview guides, observation, and a document review/ critical literature review. The study used detailed interview guides with both structured and unstructured questions as the main research instrument. This was used to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data. A pilot study was carried out to test and verify the research instruments. This was done through the Department of Culture in Kenya. The study found that both Kenya and South Africa have active IK policies and management in place to ensure its sustainability. A defined institutional framework is vital for the effective management of IK. A case in point is the existence of the South African National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Office (NIKSO) under the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The functions and rationale for NIKSO are stipulated in South Africa‘s IK Policy. However, such a mechanism does not seem to exist in Kenya, especially because of the nomadic nature of the Department of Culture. Ministries that housed the department include the Ministries of Culture and Social Services, Women and Youth, Home Affairs, and National Heritage, among others. The presence of the various IK-related policy initiatives by different institutions within the same government points to lack of coordination, especially in Kenya. Examples of such duplicated initiatives include the National Policy on Culture of the Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services, and the development of laws for the protection of traditional knowledge, genetic resources and folklore by the Office of the Attorney General. The importance of IK cannot be stressed enough. According to WHO, countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional medicine to help meet some of their primary healthcare needs. In Africa, up to 80 % of the population uses traditional medicine for primary healthcare. This clearly indicates that unless measures for the protection of IK are beefed up, then the Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) of indigenous knowledge may never be realized. Based on the study‘s findings, this study recommends an IK awareness program or campaign that targets those charged with the management of IK as well as the citizenry of the two countries. There should be heightened efforts to create an independent department in a vibrant ministry that deals with IK to ensure that indigenous knowledge is put to the best possible use. Further research should be done in order to find ways in which indigenous knowledge can blend with modern technology to solve current problems. Academic institutions need to play a more proactive role in promoting IK in Kenya. IK programmes and activities should also focus on all features and aspects of IK rather than capitalize on culture only. / University of Nairobi

Audit committee members play a pivotal role in the audit process, specifically, when negotiating disputes between management and the external auditor concerning audit adjustments. According to Auditing Standard 16 (formerly AU Section 380.34-.44), the external auditors are required to discuss, with the audit committee, all significant findings resulting from the completion of the audit including: (i) qualitative aspects of estimates; (ii) uncorrected misstatements; and (iii) disagreements with management (PCAOB 2015). Prior literature suggests an audit committee’s propensity to support the external auditor when dealing with the issues described above (Knapp 1987; DeZoort and Salterio 2001; DeZoort et al. 2003b; DeZoort et al. 2003a). However, these studies do not address how behavioral factors such as a relationship between the external auditors and audit committee members can affect a member’s stance on a proposed audit adjustment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect that the relationship between audit committee members and external auditors has on a member’s recommendation for proposed audit adjustments during a management dispute with the external auditor (i.e., whether they side with the external auditors or management). Specifically, this experiment examines the effects of relationships and the mediating effect of external auditor tenure on an audit committee member's judgments through the application of several social cognitive theories: (i) attachment theory; (ii) social judgment theory; (iii) and internal working models. Results indicate that external auditor/audit committee member relationships and auditor tenure significantly influence an audit committee member’s decision making when faced with an auditor/management dispute. Also, auditor tenure (long) does not negatively affect audit quality.