Bakgrund: Familjeföretag är en dominerande företagsform i många ekonomier. Trots detta finns förhållandevis få studier på området. Familjeföretag innehar flertalet karaktärsdrag vilka utmärker dem som företagsform. Familjeföretagets karaktärsdrag kan tänkas påverka revisorn i familjeföretaget och göra att revisorn antar roller utöver den lagstadgade, professionella granskarrollen. En tidigare studie av Berg och Karlsson (2013) identifierade att revisorn har en medlande och förmedlande roll i familjeföretag. Vi ämnar utveckla denna studie genom att utifrån familjeföretagets karaktärsdrag förklara revisorns roller. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att förklara revisorns roller i familjeföretaget utifrån familjeföretagets karaktärsdrag. Metod: Genom att integrera litteratur rörande revisorn och familjeföretagets karaktärsdrag har en hypotetisk modell utformats över revisorns roller i familjeföretaget. En kvalitativ förstudie genomfördes för att utvärdera och utveckla denna hypotetiska modell. I förstudien intervjuades tre revisorer och två familjeföretagare. Därefter genomfördes även en kvantitativ studie för att testa vår hypotetiska modell. Två webbenkäter skickades ut till två olika rapportörer, en till revisorer och en till företagare vilka resulterade i 196 svar från revisorer vilka reviderar familjeföretag till mer än 20 % av sin arbetstid och 188 familjeföretagare. Resultat: Studiens resultat påvisar att familjeföretagets karaktärsdrag delvis kan förklara revisorns roller i familjeföretaget. Dessutom visar resultaten på att revisorn kan anta ytterligare roller i familjeföretaget. Utöver de roller vilka tidigare identifierats kan revisorn anta rollen som katalysator, stöttepelare samt informationskanal. Tidigare studier har främst påvisat roller knutna till familjen i familjeföretaget, vår studie identifierar istället revisorns roller knutna till familjeföretaget. / Background: Family business is a dominant type of enterprise in many economies. Yet, there are relatively few studies in the research area. Family holds several characteristics which distinguish them as a business enterprise. The characteristics of the family business can be assumed to influence the auditor in the family business and evovle additional roles, beyond the statutory, professional audit role. A previous study by Berg and Karlsson (2013) identified a mediating and intermediating role of the auditor in family businesses. We intend to develop this study, to explain the roles of the auditor derived from the family business’ characteristics. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the roles of the auditor in the family business derived by the family business’ characteristics. Method: By integrating literature regarding the auditor and the characteristics of the family business a hypothetical model was designed showing the roles of the auditor in the family business. A qualitative pilot study was conducted to evaluate and develop the hypothetical model. In the pilot study three auditors were interviewed and two owners of family businesses. Thereafter, we carried out a quantitative study in order to test our hypothetical model. Two different online surveys were created and sent to two different reporters, either to auditors or to family business representatives. The online surveys resulted in 196 responses from auditors who spends more than 20 % of their working hours auditing family businesses and 188 responses from family businesses. Conclusions:  The result of the study indicates that the characteristics of the family business partially can explain the roles of the auditor in the family business. Furthermore, the results show that the auditor can adapt additional roles in the family business. In addition to the previously identified roles the auditor can act as a catalyst, assume a supportive role and act as a channel of information. Earlier studies have indicated roles mainly connected to the family, while our study indicates roles connected to aspects of the family firm.

This study examines the effect of in-group bias and decision aid use on auditor judgments, confidence, and decisions in an analytical procedures task. In-group bias, a product of Social Identity Theory, may impair auditor independence by influencing auditor judgments. Auditors rely on client representations to support their opinion of the financial statements; however, clients are sometimes former auditors of the external audit firm. This prior relationship could lead the auditor to exhibit unwarranted trust of client representations. In an online mixed design experiment using staff and senior auditors, I test whether auditor judgments, confidence in those judgments, and decisions to extend testing differ based on a client's prior affiliation. I find that there is insufficient evidence of in-group bias in auditor judgments, confidence, or decisions. Lack of support could be due to the small sample size. In the same experiment, I give auditors access to a decision aid. Practice and prior literature suggest using decision aids should improve audit judgment. I find that a structured decision aid improves audit judgments and decisions for all auditors, and improves confidence for auditors who initially made good judgments. Audit managers can benefit from noting the usefulness of decision aids in improving judgment.

The audit firms play an important role in the capital markets by verifying that auditors provide reliable information to the decision makers. However, trust in auditing firms has been questioned following Enron‘s failure and accounting scandals at WorldCom and other companies. As a result, Arthur Anderson failed and the number of big audit firms fell to four firms and no one knows who might be next. Defond and Francis (2005) believe that a critical trigger occurred when Deloitte & Touch issued a “clean” peer review report on Arthur Andersen in December 2001, just a few weeks before Andersen publicly announced that it had shredded documents related to Enron audit. The credibility and integrity of the profession‘s self-regulation program was immediately in doubt. To protect public interests and to restore confidence in the capital markets, the USA government issued the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002. Similarly, the Financial Reporting Council in the UK provided the Professional Oversight Board with similar mission. This thesis aims to explore the role of independent audit regulators in promoting confidence in the audit profession, and analyse the big four firms’ strategies that react toward these regulatory changes in the audit markets. The lack of studies in this area supports the use of grounded theory as a research methodology. 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the top management level of the audit regulators and big four firms’ partners. This study contributes to the literature as it provides a better understanding of the satisfaction of the big four audit firms toward the new independent regulators, and how these firms react toward the additional requirements of the independent inspectors.

M.Tech. Internal Auditing / Mining can have a positive impact on Namibia by contributing towards economic growth and infrastructure development, by creating jobs, and by increasing foreign currency earnings; but on the other hand, the exploration of natural resources often runs in parallel with corruption, exploitation, environmental devastation, and population displacement through migrant labour. It is therefore imperative for mines to be sustainable in their operations: in other words, mines must protect and enhance the economic, social and environmental milieus of Namibia. The main objective of a mining company is profit maximisation through exploitation of natural resources, and the company can therefore be defensive, even antagonistic, towards sustainable operations and sustainability reporting. The pressure from mining companies' stakeholders for them to be transparent in their operations, and to report on all sustainability-related issues is increasing, and research has indicated that mining companies are, in the majority, supportive of the initiative, and realise the advantages of pursuing sustainable operations. Research results from the study indicated that between the different types of companies, and between countries, there is a significant variation in the sustainability reporting performance, both delivered and required. Improvement opportunities were identified in a number of areas with regards to the quality, consistency and extent of sustainability reporting. The rationale and the motivation for this study was therefore to determine the standard of integrated sustainability reporting being achieved by mining companies in Namibia, in order to determine the needs and shortcomings in the sustainability reporting arena. The final deliverable of this study was to develop a reporting framework which could enable enhanced integrated sustainability reporting by providing the mining industry in Namibia with a structured framework that conforms to world class standards.

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School. / Despite the growing concern of environmental issues including climate change and green house gas emissions as demonstrated in a number of global conventions such as the recently concluded climate change conference in Copenhagen Denmark in December 2009, little attention has been paid to how the service sector impacts the environment and how related environmental costs are accounted for. Conversely, there is a general lack of consideration given to environmental impacts, environmental responsibility, accountability, environmental costs and potential cost savings within university settings. The overall objective of the study is to assess the application of environmental management accounting (EMA) at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). This was achieved by investigating the environmental impacts associated with the operations of TUT as a service organization and examine how the institution manages, account and report environmental cost. The study employed a case study and data was collected by means of exploratory and explanatory research techniques using two data sets; documentary and in-depth individual face-to-face interviews employing a semi-structured questionnaire with closed and open ended questions to collect primary data. Fourteen interviews were conducted with personnel of two main divisions involved with EMA related information Building and Estate and Finance. Documentary and interview data was transcribed and reduced through descriptive statistics and a process of selection, focusing, simplification, abstraction and transformation of the data enabling categories, themes and patterns to be identified. vi The results indicate that; the implementation of EMA and general governance for environmental responsibility and accountability is extremely weak. The potential use of EMA is neglected and, as such, EMA implementation is not considered a priority. Three barriers to the adoption of EMA within TUT were identified as: institutional pressures, a low profile of accounting for the environment, and management’s attitudes. There is a need to improve the quality of information by restructuring the classification in the income and expenditure report and introducing further classifications. Such classifications should relate to responsibility centres. There is further need to create incentives geared to promote environmental awareness and behavior change and to monitor non-financial information on resources used especially electricity, water, fuel and paper to facilitate the implementation of EMA at TUT. A general ledger model and action plan for the implementation of EMA at TUT utilizing the use of activity based costing has been suggested.

Purpose: The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explain how advancement factors affect men and woman to advance in their careers in the accounting profession.                                  Methodology: A positivist approaches and a deductive approach, with a quantitative method was used to obtain the results of the analysis.   Theoretical perspective: The theory describes the career stages, audit assistant, approved auditor, registered auditor, manager and partner. Their responsibilities and what it takes to get there is explained. Theory section also describes the different advancement factors from a gender perspective.   Empirical: The empirical material is based on a survey conducted in respondents who represent the five career stages. The collected data is then analyzed using statistical tests.   Conclusion: The analysis shows that the identified career advancement factors that limit and stimulates the male and female auditors’ career ladder. Some advancement factors limited female auditors’ career ladder more than a generation. / Syfte: Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att förklara hur avancemangsfaktorerna påverkar män och kvinnor att avancera på karriärstegen inom revisionsbranschen. Metod: Ett positivistiskt angreppsätt och en deduktiv ansats, med en kvantitativ metod har använts för att få fram resultatet till analysen. Teori: Teorin beskriver de olika karriärstegen, revisorsassistent, godkänd revisor, auktoriserad revisor, chef och partner. Deras arbetsuppgifter samt vad som krävs för att ta sig dit förklaras. Teoridelen beskriver också de olika avancemangsfaktorerna utifrån ett könsperspektiv. Empiri: Det empiriska materialet är baserat på en enkätundersökning utförd på respondenter som representerar de fem karriärstegen. Datainsamlingen har sedan analyserats med hjälp av statistiska tester. Resultat: Analysen visar att de identifierade avancemangsfaktorerna både begränsar och stimulerar manliga och kvinnliga revisors karriärstege. Somliga avancemangsfaktorer begränsade en kvinnlig revisors karriärstege mer än en mans.

The challenges in human resource allocation drive the present project. Conducted at an office of the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia (the WCB), the project aims at developing a simulation model of claim management operations to facilitate decision-making in resource allocation. In this context, resource allocation refers to the alignment of staff to claims. The components of the problem include the number of staff required and the types of staff required, given targeted system performance. The volume of claims, the profile of claims, the Workers Compensation Act, the board's business guidelines and the board's operational targets all influence staffing requirement. It is far from straightforward to answer the following questions: what is the optimal level of staffing? What is the right mix of skills? And what is the proper alignment of staff with claims? How will the system perform given a certain staffing level? How will change in the profile of incoming claims influence staffing requirement? A discrete-event simulation model was developed as a decision support tool in this project. The model was used to evaluate several resource allocation scenarios. Simulation showed that timeliness measures such as time to decision and time to closure would improve with additional resources, but the improvement was not drastic. At the staffing level of 14, compared to the current level of 12, time to decision for unadjudicated claims would reduce by 6%. Simulation further showed that specialization of staff by claim type might have a negative impact on system performance measures, because economics of scale were compromised. Finally, simulation showed that if Site Visits, a required procedure for adjudicating claims related to Activity-Related Soft Tissue Diseases, could be conducted by dedicated personnel, time to decision for these claims might reduce by as high as 60%.

Magistro darbe yra suformuluotos Šiaulių Bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos vidaus audito taikymo problemos. Darbe atskleista Bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos vidaus audito esmė: teoriniu aspektu vidaus auditas analizuojamas kaip kokybės laidavimo sistema, pateikiama švietimo kokybės samprata ir švietimo kokybė visuotinės kokybės vadybos aspektu; bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos vidaus auditas analizuojamas vadybinių funkcijų aspektu ir kaip organizacijos veiklos strategijų ir perspektyvų numatymo priemonė. Tyrimo tikslui pasiekti naudota kompleksinė tyrimo metodika, derinant kokybinius ir kiekybinius metodus. Tyrimo dalį sudarė du etapai. Pirmajame etape, ekspertams struktūrizuoto interviu būdu, buvo išryškintos pagrindinės bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų vidaus audito metodikos taikymo problemos. Antrajame etape, šie duomenys pasirinkti vėlesnio kiekybinio tyrimo kintamaisiais – ruošiant anketą pedagogams, dalyvavusiems vykdant vidaus auditą. Tyrimo ataskaitoje patvirtinama autorių suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė, kad Šiaulių miesto mokyklos susiduria su ��vairiomis problemomis vykdant vidaus auditą visuose jo vykdymo etapuose ir kad daugiausia problemų kyla atliekant pasirinktos srities analizę bei tai, kad audito rezultatai tikslingai panaudojami prioritetų nustatymui, strateginiam veiklos planavimui. / The problems of using internal auditing methods in general education schools of Siauliai are stated in this master\s degree work. The work characterizes the purport of internal auditing methods: in theoretically dimension internal auditing is analyzed like system of collateral acceptance , the conception of education quality and education quality by aspect of general quality are given; auditing methods in general education schools analyzed by managerial aspect and like a mean to prophesy organization strategy and perspectives. To reach the aim complex methods of investigation were used, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. The research was of two stages. The first stage using structural interview of experts developed basic problems using internal auditing methods. In the second stage , the data was taken making forms for educaters who were doing internal auditing. Various authors stated hypothesis, that general education schools of Siauliai confront various problems using internal auditing in all stages is supported. Also big problem is to make analysis of chosen sphere and auditing results are not used to make priorities and strategical planning.

My thesis studies the changing competitive structure of the Canadian auditing industry during the period 1987 to 1992. Two mergers took place over this period amond four large Canadian accounting firms. I assess whether market power is likely to become a problem with already high, and possibly increasing levels of concentration in the audit industry. Using data from several sources, I examine those characteristics that affect the likelihood that high concentration facilitates market power. I then apply the official standards (Merger Guidelines) for Canadian merger analysis to data on audit services. Because the Merger Guidelines expressly do not permit the authorities to oppose a merger merely on structural grounds, I supplement my structural analysis with a review of studies which examine whether audit fees are influenced upward by high concentration. Overall, I found the industry more competitive in the post merger period. / xii, 149 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

Part A of this dissertation, represents the literature review and project outline for this study, and includes the definition of the research problem, aims, objectives and the proposed methodology. The literature review considers the emergence of environmental accounting and reporting in the context of the escalating environmental crisis. It reviews the role of accounting prior to the development of the concept of sustainable development, and subsequently focuses specifically on the rise to prominence of environmental reporting and accounting thereafter. It reviews major academic works in this field as well as major international guidelines, standards, protocols and charters on environmental reporting. In addition, the study also reviews the limitations and problems associated with traditional and environmental accounting, and environmental reporting. It proposes a framework that considers the forces influencing environmental reporting, and briefly examines the previous evidence of the contrasting attitudes and perceptions of both preparers and users of such environmental reports. Arising out of this literature review, a study was developed that would measure and compare the expectations of three key stakeholder groups with regard to environmental accounting and reporting, namely: • The companies responsible for preparation • Environmental professionals, who assist in the preparation of these reports or attest as to their validity, and • Environmental activists, pressure groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that rely on such reporting to assess the impact of a company's activities. The study would look at the perceived importance of environmental reports, the areas that are reported on, and the levels of disclosure. It would then contrast the expectations of the above three groups and compare these to the minimum reporting levels required by the only officially endorsed international reporting guideline in South Africa, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The second part of this dissertation (Part B), is presented in the form of a research paper, and is presented in the specific format required by the academic journal Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, a Wiley InterScience publication, to which it will be submitted for publication, (after final editing to reduce its overall length). This second part includes a brief review of key literature, the aims, objectives and hypothesis of the study. It then details the methodology and the findings, which are discussed in depth. These findings include significant differences that were found between the expectations of the three groups, and differences between these expectations and the reporting specifications of the GRI. The environmental activists and pressure groups were found to expect greater levels of disclosure than professional environmental consultants, who in turn expected higher levels of disclosure than companies and their representatives. There were also significant differences between the responses of the three groups with regards to the importance of specific areas of environmental disclosure. The responses were more skewed towards considering most specific areas of disclosure as very important or extremely important, by the environmental activists and pressure groups. This was more so than for the environmental professionals or company respondents who also considered most of these areas as important or very important. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.