M.Com. (Auditing) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Comm. (Financial Management) / The basic function of Accounting is to supply the user with useful quantitative financial information on the economic and social activities of the enterprise, as to help them achieve their goals in decision making. Employee activity is included in the above-mentioned activities. The conventional accounting approach to an asset has until now prevented accounting for the Labour Force as an asset in financial statements. This has the effect that the activity of the enterprises' most important asset is uncontrolled and unaccounted for. The purpose of this paper is to prove the importance of controlling and uniform accounting of the Labour Force, with specific reference to management controls, labour relations and productivity. Management control methods and audit procedures were investigated to grant credibility to the employee report. In chapter 2 the qualitative characteristics and requirements of information (financial statements) are investigated and in chapter 3 it is concluded that the Labour Force is indeed an asset. There is a definite need for information on the Labour Force. Regulation by means of to the manpower function is investigated and a possible audit program is proposed. In examining the current practice of disclosure it was found that no guideline exists and therefor no uniformity iri disclosure. This influences the usefulness of information as disclosed. Information is of no use if it is not comparable. To grant creditworthiness to the information an audit program and an audit report are proposed. Based on the usefulness of financial statements, a guideline on the disclosure of information on the Labour Force, should be established. No asset may remain unaccounted for and in our current political situation, education can benefit if information is disclosed regarding its employees. However the proposed guideline should concentrate on uniformity in disclosure. To enhance the credibility of such an employee report the enterprise may consider to subjecting it to auditing.

archives@tulane.edu / Psychology and neuroscience research shows that individuals with negative emotions (e.g., fear) are more sensitive to negative signals and exhibit a higher degree of risk aversion. Using local terrorist attacks as exogenous shocks that cause auditors to experience more negative emotions in the audit period, I empirically study the impact of negative emotions on audit practice. I find that accounting misstatements are less likely to occur for firms when there is a local terrorist attack in the audit period. The reduction in misstatements is stronger for auditors who are located closer to the terrorist attacks. Further evidence suggests that affected auditors are more likely to issue going concern opinions, spend more time on the audit, and charge higher audit fees. I obtain a similar set of results using airplane crashes as an alternative source of emotional shocks. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the idea that auditors with more negative emotions exert greater effort to lower misstatement risks. My findings provide large-scale archival causal evidence that emotions can affect audit outcomes. / 1 / Pengkai Lin

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