Syfte: Vårt samhälle går igenom en stor förändring genom att industrisamhället alltmer ersätts med dagens informationssamhälle. Denna förändring lämnar ingen människa oberörd utan alla berörs på något sätt, endera privat eller i arbetslivet. Syftet med denna uppsats är att jag vill skapa en uppfattning hur IT utvecklingen har förändrat företagens sätt att bedriva handel och hur det i sin tur har påverkat revisionen och revisorernas metoder och arbetssätt. Metod: Då arbetet var tänkt att undersöka om denna IT utveckling har förändrat revisionen eller revisorns arbetssätt, har jag valt att undersöka detta utifrån en kvalitativ metod i den empiriska undersökningen för att på detta sätt få så uttömmande svar som möjligt. Mitt syfte med de respondenter som jag valde, var att se om de skiljde något i deras uppfattning beträffande metoder och arbetssätt i och med IT utvecklingen. Jag valde därför respondenter med snarlika förutsättningar. De arbetade alla inom stora revisionsbyråer med liknande arbetsuppgifter och med kunder inom både små och stora företag. Eftersom målsättningen inte varit att göra en kvantitativ undersökning gjordes valet av respondenter inte slumpmässigt. Resultat & slutsats: I min undersökning har jag kommit fram till att företagens förändrade handelssätt och IT utvecklingen varit en stor bidragande orsak till revisionens och revisorns förändring av arbetssätt. Men det är inte bara IT utvecklingen som har skapat dessa förändringar. Revision och revisorer påverkas mycket av lagar och regler, så dessa förändringar har även skapats på grund av att dessa har förändrats. Den största förändringen som framkom med revisionen var att pappersdokumenten harförsvunnit alltmer och ersatts med elektroniska dokument som idag inte skrivs ut som det gjordes tidigare, utan idag sparas dokumenten på olika optiska medium. En IT revision är ingen fristående revision utan den ingår i den traditionella revisionen. Det som granskas vid en IT revision är, att företagens operativsystem, nätverk och databaserfungerar på ett tillfredsställande sätt och det som är viktigt att granska är intern kontroll och IT säkerhet. För att granska detta så använder sig revisorn allt mer av olika datoriserade revisionsverktyg och standarder. Dagens affärssystem integreras med ehandel produktionsstyrning och resultatet är att systemen blir alltmer sammansatta. Så för att granska de komplexa systemen så har efterfrågan på särskilt utbildade IT revisorer ökat i branschen. I både teori och praktik så framkom det under arbetets gång,att om IT revision utförs av revisorer med en gedigen kunskap av IT system så ansågs det att det kommer att skapa en mer trovärdig revision och att revisionen kommer att genomföras på ett säkrare och mer effektivt sätt, vilket i sin tur gynnar hela samhället. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett skäl som framkom under arbetets gång till att marknaden efterfrågar en mer gedigen IT kompetens förutom IT systemens komplexitet var den lag som infördes i USA 2002 (Sarbanes Oxley Act). Denna lag infördes efter de uppmärksammade redovisningsskandalerna i USA och innebär hårdare redovisningskrav framförallt på revisorers oberoende och högre krav på den interna kontrollen. Lagen påverkar även Svenska företag som är registrerade på den amerikanska börsen fr.o.m. den 15 Juli 2005. I både teori och praktik så framkom det att troligtvis kan denna lag innebära att de Svenska företagen som är noterade på den amerikanska börsen kan komma att lyda under två regelverk. Det skulle vara intressant att undersöka hur denna lag kommer att påverka revisorernas arbetssätt. Uppsatsens bidrag: Internet uppfanns redan på 1960-talet och mycket har hänt sedan dess. Från början så fanns det inget vinstintresse med Internet, utan det var framförallt studenter från USA och runt om i världen som använde Internet eller ARPAnet som det kallades för att maximera den lilla dataprestanda som fanns på den tiden. Men i slutet av 1990-talet så hade sättet utvecklats hur man på nätet både kunde distribuera information och betjäna människor genom att utföra beställningar, läsa eller sända information dygnet runt. Detta har gjort att Internet har utvecklats till en stor och vinstdrivande marknadsplats. Som en följd av denna samhällsutveckling och den snabba IT utveckling som har skett, blir IT teknologin en allt viktigare framgångsfaktor i dagens affärsprocesser. För att företag ska kunna vara framgångsrika och överleva på dagens globala och konkurrensutsatta marknad bör de hänga med i denna utveckling. För att klara Internet och e-handel så måste företagen investera i olika former av affärssystem.Ett affärssystem är en programvara som används för att styra olika processer t.ex. inom försäljning, e-handel eller ekonomi. Dessa system utvecklas till att blir alltmer komplexa, detta leder i sin tur till att det ställs allt högre krav på kompetensen både inom företaget samt på revisorerna som ska granska dessa IT system. / Aim: Our community is going through a huge change because nowadays information community is replacing the industrial community. This change leaves no human untouched, every one is affected somehow either private or in operational life.The aim with this study has been to create an understanding for my self and the reader how IT development has change the audit and auditors methods and their way of work. Method: Since the aim with this study was to investigate and to get such a full picture of the subject as possible if the IT development has change the audit and the auditors methods and way of work have I chosen to investigate this subject based on quality method in the practical search. My arrangement with the respondents that I choused was to see if there opinion differs from each other if IT development has change there methods and way of work. I choose auditor in similar situations. They all worked in big accounting firms with similar tasks and their customers were both from small and big firms. The plan with this study wasn’t to make a quantity investigation, therefore the respondents wasn’t chosen by random. Result & Conclusions: In this study I have skilled that the IT development has strongly contributed to change the working situation for the audits and the way they work. But it’s not only the IT development that has contributed to these changes. Laws and rules have also have a large affect on the audit and Auditors. The biggest change I discovered in the auditors way of work was that documentation on paper is less common nowadays. Today documentation is done on optical media and it’s not printed out like it used to do. An IT audit is not an isolated audit; it is a part of the traditional audit. The things that are highlighted in an IT audit are that the operating systems, networks and databases all work in a god manner. Another things that are important to look into will be matter such as internal control and security regarding IT. To review these areas use the auditors more often nowadays-special data auditor tools. In today’s business systems ecommerce is integrated with processing controls, which results in more complex systems. To audit this complex systems the market demands for specially educated IT auditors have increased. In both theory and practice it came to light during the work process, that if the IT audit is preformed by auditors with a genuine knowledge of the systems that they are auditing it will accomplish an audit with high credibility. And the audit will be preformed safer and more efficient, which is a benefit for all of society. Suggestions for future research: One of the reasons that emerge during the research to why the market demands a genuine IT knowledge, other than the complexity of the systems, is the law how become active in USA 2002, the Sarbanes Oxley Act. This law was activated after the audit scandals in USA and involve higher demands when it comes to the auditor’s independence and internal control. This law also affects Swedish company’s who is registered on the US stock exchange from 15 July 2005, witch means that they have to take consideration to two different laws. It would be interesting to study how this law will affect the auditors work procedures. Contributions of the thesis: Internet was invented in the sixties and much has happened since then. In the beginning profit was not the motivation with Internet, the users was students in the U.S. and around the world, and their target was to maximize the little computer recourses that was available in those days. At the end of the ninetieth methods has been developed how to use the Internet for distributing information and offer customer services such as ordering, reading and send information around the clock. This has created Internet to expand into a big and profitable marketplace. As a direct consequence of the fast IT growth and the development in the society, the IT technologies are playing a bigger part as a way to success in today’s business processes. If a company wants to survive and make progress in today’s global and highly competitive state of affairs they must keep up with this development. To be able to work with Internet and e-business, must the companies invest in different kinds of information-systems. An information-system is software that is used to control different types of processes for example selling, e-business or finance. These systems are constantly under development and getting more and more complex, for this reason demands on competence of the people who handle these systems are constantly getting higher, both inside the company and on the auditor who will verify these IT systems.

This study investigates whether disclosures of material weaknesses in a firm’s internal control over financial reporting are associated with lower investor perceived earnings quality. I measure investor perceived earnings quality by a market returns based representation of earnings quality called e-loading developed by Ecker et al. (2006). My empirical tests use sample firms that disclosed at least one material weakness from August 2002 to October 2005. The cross-sectional univariate analysis shows that firms disclosing internal control material weaknesses have lower investor perceived earnings quality than matched firms that disclose no internal control problems. However, further cross-sectional multivariate regression analysis reveals that after controlling for firm characteristics, only disclosures of company-level material weaknesses have an incremental impact on investor perceived earnings quality, while disclosures of the less pervasive account-specific material weaknesses do not have a measurable effect on perceived earnings quality. From intertemporal within-firm analysis, I find no evidence that firms experienced a change in their perceived earnings quality after their first disclosure of internal control material weaknesses as per SOX 302 or 404. In contrast, I find that firms experienced an increase in perceived earnings quality after they received their first unqualified SOX 404 audit report indicating remediation of previously disclosed material weaknesses. This suggests that, although investors did not find the initial SOX disclosures of internal control weaknesses to be incrementally informative, the legislation motivated firms to remediate weak controls; moreover, the SOX-induced improvement in weak internal controls enhanced investors’ perception of the offending firms’ financial reporting quality. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2009-12-17 11:41:11.323

Group B Sox genes play a critical developmental role in both vertebrates and insects. Within the model species Drosophila melanogaster, two SoxB genes, Dichaete and SoxNeuro, have been shown to act as ‘master regulators’ in the early development of the central nervous system. SoxB genes have only been characterised in a handful of arthropod species thus far, with most work to date focusing on drosophilids. The purpose of this investigation was twofold. First, I set out to resolve the phylogenetic origins of arthropod SoxB genes, as mutually exclusive models explaining their emergence are still contested. I have identified and annotated the SoxB of several invertebrate taxa. In total, my investigation includes 24 different metazoan taxa, and represents the largest investigation of arthropod SoxB phylogeny to date. In light of this research, I have proposed a new model of SoxB evolution which resolves the conflicting elements of the two primary competing models. Second, to study the evolution of SoxB in terms of functional conservation/divergence, I selected the emerging model organism Tribolium castaneum to draw a comparative analysis with Drosophila melanogaster. I first began by characterising the spatiotemporal expression patterns of SoxNeuro mRNA in early Tribolium embryos using whole mount in situ hybridisation, and examined published Dichaete expression patterns in the context of central nervous system development in T. castaneum. Using these data, I draw a comparison to the expression profiles of Dichaete and SoxNeuro orthologues in Drosophila melanogaster and other species. I have found that both Dichaete and SoxNeuro expression patterns in the developing central nervous system are remarkably well-conserved across species. I also attempted to characterise genome-wide binding for both Dichaete and SoxNeuro proteins in Tribolium in what would have represented the first genomic investigation of its kind in this emerging species. Using a tethered DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam) enzyme for both SoxNeuro and Dichaete, I hoped to characterise the genomic loci with which each protein interacts within the beetle genome (a technique known as DamID). Unfortunately, these last set of experiments have proved unsuccessful, despite several attempts which have made use of different promoters, different DNA enrichment methodologies, and tackling unforeseen DNA contamination issues. Nevertheless, the troubleshooting experiments that I have carried out will pave the way for further genomic experiments in Tribolium, easing the establishment of genomic research in this emerging organism.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Herold.pdf: 812968 bytes, checksum: 0752767c7ec3a71a980b4bb6a7463ca0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-06 / Banco Itaú S.A. / The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the contribution of compliance of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) as innovation in financial institutions, and also identify the main factors that affect the innovation (SOX) adoption process. There is a vast study on efficiency, Information Technology (IT) and also about innovation, however, all works on these themes aimed at exploring them as possible source of competitive advantage. It is noteworthy that before anything could be done, one should ensure the appropriate use of innovation, be it IT or other area, that will bring improvements to users and to the organization at large. In this study we decided for the financial sector as it is one of the sectors most audited and controlled, at the same time one of the most innovative sectors that constantly offer new type of services and facilities to its customers. For the development of the research we employed qualitative and quantitative nature techniques. Qualitative analysis was performed through the content analysis in order to identify how the adoption of an innovation affected the performance of the organization. In the quantitative aspect, it is characterized as descriptive, where questionnaires were responded by users of SOX in order to ascertain how they perceived the characteristics of an innovation in the use of compliance and how it impacts the performance of their services and processes. The multivariate factor analysis was employed. Overall, results of the study indicated that the process of innovation, that is SOX compliance in the financial sector depends on a number of factors among which we highlight the statement of adoption of innovation, relative advantage obtained with the adoption, the individuals and the institutional image portrayed with adoption, usability, experimentation innovation in decision making and voluntary usage in the organization. These interrelated factors could effectively contribute to innovation adoption in the financial sector and consequently trigger improvements in control processes across the organization. / A proposta desta dissertação foi estudar a contribuição de compliance da Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) como inovação em instituições financeiras, onde são identificados os principais fatores que afetam o processo de adoção da inovação (SOX). Existe um material vasto de pesquisas sobre eficiência, sobre Tecnologia da Informação (TI) e também sobre inovação. Todos os trabalhos preocupados em apresentar esses temas como possível fonte de vantagem competitiva. Antes de qualquer coisa deve-se garantir o uso adequado da inovação, seja ela de TI ou de outra área, pois assim será possível trazer melhorias aos usuários e para a organização. Neste estudo optou-se o setor financeiro, pois e um dos setores mais auditados e controlados e ao mesmo tempo um dos setores mais inovadores que constantemente disponibilizam novos tipos de serviços e facilidades aos seus clientes. Para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa empregou-se técnicas de natureza Qualitativa e Quantitativa. A análise qualitativa foi efetuada por intermédio da analise de conteúdo para poder identificar de que forma a adoção de uma inovação pode afetar o desempenho da organização. Na parte quantitativa, caracterizada como descritiva, foram aplicados questionários fechados junto a usuários da SOX, com o propósito de verificar de que maneira os usuários percebem as características de uso em uma inovação de compliance e como ela impacta na realização dos serviços e processos. Na analise quantitativa empregou-se técnicas estatísticas multivariadas como a Analise Fatorial. Os resultados do estudo indicaram que o processo de adoção de inovações de compliance no setor financeiro depende de um conjunto de fatores entre os quais se destacam a demonstração do resultado do uso da inovação, vantagem relativa que se obtém com a adoção da inovação, a imagem, a visibilidade que a inovação proporciona aos indivíduos e a instituição, a usabilidade, a experimentação da inovação no processo de decisão e o uso voluntario pelos usuários da inovação. Estes fatores interligados podem contribuir efetivamente na adoção de inovações no setor financeiro e consequentemente desencadear melhorias nos processos e controles em toda a organização.

This paper will examine the effectiveness of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) in improving ethics within the external auditing profession. The first chapter explores well-known ethical theories and professional code of conducts related to the auditing profession. The second chapter details the generally accepted auditing standards and changes that have been made throughout the years. The third chapter examines past corporate fraudulent scandals (Waste Management, Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, Enron) and studies the role of auditors in contributing to the collapse of these corporations. The forth chapter details the objective of the SOX and how it plans to protect the investing public and improve the reliability of financial information. Finally, the fifth chapter compiles various research studies that examine the effects of the SOX and its impact on audit quality. The author discovered that regulation could help enhance ethics through indirect measures that aim to improve audit qualities, and thus, promote virtue ethics within the auditing profession. Some of these measures include establishing an oversight board to strengthen regulation and enforcement (section 101), reducing the scope of non-audit services (section 201), requiring auditors to attest to a client’s internal control operating effectiveness (section 404) and promoting principles-based standards within the profession (section 108). Through these measures, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has managed to regain the public trust and improve audit quality, thereby, enhancing ethics within the auditing profession.

Thesis advisor: John Joseph Burns / In the first two decades after World War II, America confronted issues of race in a way that it had not previously done so in its history. During the time period of 1945-1969, the city of Boston and two of its professional sports franchises—namely the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics—also found that matters of race had a newfound significance. From Jackie Robinson’s token tryout with the Red Sox in 1945 to Bill Russell’s retirement from the Celtics in 1969, race and sports intersected in the city of Boston, whether the city was ready for it or not. As the Civil Rights Movement gripped the nation in the 1950s and 1960s, Boston’s own racial injustices came to light as well. With this context, the Boston Celtics provided an example as to what a racially integrated group of people could accomplish, winning eleven titles in thirteen seasons, while their counterparts, the Red Sox, often dragged their feet on realizing racial justice, with the teams of the late ‘60s as an exception. During this time period, Boston’s high-profile sports teams provided a microcosm through which to view the racial situation in Boston and the nation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: History.

Inledning: Som svar på de redovisningsskandaler som förekommit desenaste åren så tillkom lagen Sarbanes Oxley Act i USA. Lagen har ävenpåverkat länder runt om i världen som är noterade på den amerikanskabörsen, därav är även ett antal svenska bolag berörda av lagen. Syftet medlagen är att återställa investerares förtroende för aktiemarknaden ochgarantera att den finansiella informationen från företagen stämmer överensmed verkligheten. För att säkerställa tillförlitligheten i de finansiellarapporterna sätts interna kontroller upp i företagen som gör det lättare attupptäcka fel och bedrägerier i god tid. Intern kontroll innebär att man följerupp styrningen av verksamhetens processer. Oegentligheter i den finansiellarapporteringen kan leda till höga straff i form av böter och fängelse vilketökar kraven på ledningen då de hålls som ytterst ansvariga för attrapporteringen är korrekt. Implementeringen av lagen är en dyr ochtidskrävande process för bolagen och kan upplevas som komplex ochbyråkratisk. Man har under senaste tiden sett en tendens till att många bolagväljer att avregistrera sig från den amerikanska börsen.Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur några få svenskaföretag ser på SOX 404, intern kontroll, samt vilka konsekvenser processenhar medfört efter införandet. Studien syftar även till att undersöka positivaoch negativa effekter som arbetet med SOX 404 har inneburit samt omoväntade synergieffekter har uppstått under arbetets gång.Metod: Undersökningen har utförts genom en kvalitativ studie, där SOXansvariga på Volvo bussar, SKF och Swedish Match har intervjuats.Resultat: De konsekvenser som har uppkommit efter införandet av SOX hossvenska bolag har varit relativt förväntade. Man har dock upptäckt en delbåde positiva och negativa synergieffekter under arbetets gång hos vissabolag. Förutom att SOX har inneburit betydligt högre kostnader än vadföretagen hade räknat med så visar undersökningen även att SOX har stärktden interna kontrollen hos företagen samt bidragit med en delkonkurrensfördelar. / Uppsatsnivå: C

Multi-scale tracer and full-chemistry simulations with the STEM atmospheric chemistry model have been used to analyze the effects of both transported and local production of pollutants on California air quality during the ARCTAS-CARB experiment conducted in June 2008. During this summer experiment, simulated and observed O3 transport patterns from the coast to inland northern California are shown to vary based on the meteorological conditions and the oceanic O3 profiles, which are strongly episodically affected by Asian inflows. During a specific period, high coastal O3 air-masses at altitudes ~2-4 km can be transported inland and can significantly influence the surface O3 20-30 hours later over northern Sacramento valley, and the southern California can be indirectly affected by in-state transport. The model performance was improved by using LBCs downscaled from RAQMS global model that assimilated satellite data, as well as the LBC based on NASA DC-8 airborne observations during the experiment. The effects of SOx in these transported Asian air-masses over California were relatively less strong than O3 and its precursors, and the local emissions acted as the major contributor to the elevated sulfur concentrations below 5 km. Several SOx emission inventories (EI) were compared and the simulated SOx were validated with various observational datasets, with special focus on three regions - South Coast, San Francisco and Central Valley. The resolutions and the spatial and/or temporal variations of SOx emissions in all EIs remain to be further improved. Both terrestrial and maritime emissions were found important to coastal SOx distributions. Their percentile contributions to the coastal SOx spatial distributions for the experiment week were estimated, and the absolute contributions during flight periods were quantified. The California-Mexico atmosphere interaction majorly occurred between two sister city pairs-the coastal city pair (San Diego-Tijuana) was heavily affected by both California and Mexico maritime emissions through both directions. The effect was extended to the inland city pair (Mexicali-Calexico) by westerly winds, where was shortly impacted by southerly winds from Mexico, and limited areas over southeast of California were also affected.

<p>Purpose; Purpose of this thesis is to review the implementation process of SOX in one company to be able to estimate which factors that are significant for individuals when it comes to accepting SOX as a tool to improving processes.</p><p>Method: Our approach in attacking the reality has been the golden middle-way, which means we have went into the reality with already constructed theories but along as the study went on we have refined theories, thus shifting between inductive and deductive approach.</p><p>Results/conclusions; Important obstacles that prevented adoption of the innovation had to do the characteristic of the innovation and the size and complexity of the organization; however we believed that the most significant blockade against change was the non-existing communication between the three different parties, namely consultants, managers and end-users.</p>

<p><p>Bolagsstyrning beskriver, hur ett bolag ska styras på bästa sätt, för att uppnå</p><p>ägarnas krav på avkastning på kapitalet som investerats genom köpta aktier.</p>Men även hur företaget agerar för att öka, kommande eller aktuella inverteras förtroende för bolaget. De bolagsskandaler som har ägt rum de senaste åren och bolagsledningarnas brisfälliga företagsstyrningar har medfört att bolagsstyrningen aktualiserats både nationellt och internationellt. Detta har aktualiserat de ramverk och regler som reglerar bolagsstyrning </p>