This research is motivated by the interest in understanding the usage of the Generalised Audit Software (GAS) by external auditors within public accounting firms. GAS is a tool used by auditors to automate various audit tasks. It helps auditors to analyse accounting data electronically where it is quite impossible to do so manually. GAS is claimed to be the most influential Computer Assisted Audit Tools and Technique (CAATTs) that can facilitate the audit objective. However, research has found that there is little evidence that auditors have extensively adopted GAS. Even greater benefits have been promoted since the existence of GAS, but auditors do not really seem to be interested in this tool. Most previous studies have focused on either internal auditors, large accounting firms, other countries or merely adopters of GAS. However, there is little evidence that the study of GAS has been conducted on external auditors, especially in small and medium sized accounting firms in the United Kingdom (UK). This study helps to fill this gap by exploring the use of GAS among them, and covers both adopters and non-adopters of GAS. Through an online survey using both close and open-ended questions, this issue has been investigated among registered statutory auditors. The primary aim of this study is to explore the current usage of GAS and to understand the factors that influence the use of GAS as well as the perceptions and expectations of using GAS. The views are gathered from both auditors who are already implementing GAS and those who are not using GAS. A framework was developed to identify a range of relevant factors which are important when considering the application of GAS. Responses from 205 statutory auditors across the UK were then mapped against the framework. Of the 14 variables used to test the factors that influence the use of GAS, only six of them are found to be significant from logistic regression analysis. These are firm size, experience of auditors in computerised auditing, organisational influence, client factor, audit engagement allocation and perceived usefulness. The findings show that the utilisations of GAS is unusually low among audit firms in the UK. Almost 73% of external auditors make no use of GAS, due to the limited perceived benefit of using GAS for auditing small clients. While some respondents recognised the advantages of GAS, they were put off by what they believed to be high implementation costs; the significant learning curve and adoption process; and lack of ease of use. Some auditors expressed their awareness of GAS, but most of them showed a preference for using traditional auditing methods instead. A few problems have also been identified in causing the limitation of GAS usage. This study contributes to the literature on suggestions to improve the use of GAS that can be used by small and medium sized public accounting firm, which is lacking in existing research related to this group. In sum, this study has deepened current understanding of the GAS usage among small and medium sized audit firms in the UK, and has provided useful insights for audit professionals, software developers, vendors, standards setters, academicians and researchers. This study has also opened up the possibilities for further study on GAS or related areas either in the UK or other places in the world.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

The goal of the thesis is to explain tools and techniques used in the field of audit and compare their use in the context of internal and external audit. The theoretical part states firstly different features of both types of audit, issues of professional ethics and legal framework. Next, tools and methods of external audit are stated, as well as its goals and nature. In the subsequent chapter, the same aspects are explained for internal audit and finally, we discuss the cooperation between and comparison of the two types of audits. The practical section is focused on usage of the techniques in practice and their benefit in the form of practical experience. Real company data are used to demonstrate usage of the described techniques in practice in external and internal audit. In the final chapter, comparison of the results of both audits are stated, i.e. the auditor opinion and internal audit report which include suggestions for improvement in the audited fields.

The subject of this Master thesis is an application of fraud detection softwares. Except computer assisted audit tools and techniques and fraud management systems thesis deal with new methods like using neural network model or logistic regresion model.The thesis also contains comparison of the best softwares for fraud examinations.

Process patterns allow the modular modelling and adaptable application of software processes. Present descriptions of process patterns show defects like non-uniform and unequivocal description forms and missing relationship definitions. These defects disadvantageously affect the effective usage of process patterns. In this work we present the language PROPEL (Process Pattern Description Language), which provides concepts for the semiformal description of process patterns and relationships between process patterns. With the help of PROPEL single process patterns can be modelled and, by definition of relationships, be composed to more complex processes. With the representation of different views of a process pattern catalog the process patterns and their relationships can be shown clearly. An example illustrates how a process pattern catalog and the contained process patterns are modelled. It is shown that in applying PROPEL the complexity of a process model can be reduced, the inconsistencies of processes can be eliminated and the flexibility of processes can be improved.

Innovation is sometimes referred to as the engine of growth, which is especially true in competitive environments. Organizations who have the capability to innovate possess a sustainable competitive advantage, which means that they have a competitive edge over their competitors. In the field of studies about innovation, “open innovation” has become a popular and important approach to stay competitive. Open innovation is both a cost and resource effective approach to innovate, as well as being helpful for solving some of the most critical challenges, as sustainability, healthcare, climate change, financial stability, etc. To fully benefit from the open innovation approach, past studies have concluded that the dynamic capabilities are of great importance. This study has focused on the dynamic capability of sensing, as all innovation projects must make use of it, regardless of the outcome. To better understand the dynamic capability of sensing, this capability could be divided into some key activities and other capabilties. Past studies have also suggested that there is a need for more research and understanding of the underlying micro-foundations of the dynamic capabilities in open innovation. Therefore, we aimed to investigate: “How are different tools and techniques used to utilize the dynamic capability of sensing and its related capabilities in open innovation?” This study was conducted through a qualitative multiple case research method. The data was collected through six semi-structured interviews with project managers and other initiators of open innovation projects. Previous studies in this field assisted us in the construction of the interview guide, which contributed with deductive elements to this predominantly inductive study. The projects included in our study either resulted or were about to result in different kinds of innovations, the organizations behind them were either in the public or the private sector, and all of them had a social or/and environmental sustainability focus. The findings of this study derived from a template analysis, which consisted of both preliminary themes, which were based on past literature, as well as some inductive and new themes, which was unique for our study. The results showed that there was a total of 60 tools and techniques (some overlapping) that were used in the six cases analyzed. Many of the identified tools and techniques could be recognized from past research in this field, but many of them were also new for this study. From these findings, we could see that these tools and techniques belonged to four different clusters, which related to the sensing capability. The four clusters (highest-level themes) were: Macro analysis, Project analysis, Realization, and Other tools and techniques. The first three clusters could be divided into different phases, based on when these activities occurred in relation to the timeline of the project. These phases contained 14 different categories of activities, which the tools and techniques were sorted into, namely: Trends, Market information, Internal needs analysis, Customers, External innovation, Opportunities, Threats, Resources and capabilities, Partners, Information sharing, Trial and error, Working practices, Filtering process, and Common industry knowledge. The common thing of all tools and techniques identified was that they were used for a similar purpose: To gather information, process information and/or plan a response.

This research explores an approach to learning types of usability concerns considered useful for the management of Web sites and to identifying usability concerns based on these learned models. By having one or more Web site managers rate a subset of pages in a site based on a number of usability criteria, the approach builds models that determine what automatically measurable characteristics are correlated to issues identified. To test this, the approach collected usability assessments from twelve students pursuing advanced degrees in the area of computer-human interaction. These students were divided into two groups and given different scenarios of use of a Web site. They assessed the usability of Web pages from the site, and their data was divided into a training set, used to find models, and a prediction set, used to evaluate the relative quality of models. Results show that the learned models predicted remaining data for one scenario in more categories of usability than did the single model found under the alternate scenario. Results also show how systems may prioritize usability problems for Web site managers by probability of occurrence under context rather than by merely listing pages that break specific rules, as provided by some current tools.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:58:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo3245_1.pdf: 1745357 bytes, checksum: 69355571b9b350b5663bdd9a8e5c0ba3 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Tribunal de Contas de Pernambuco / A pressão pela melhoria dos mecanismos de controle e de transparência vem demandando a modernização das técnicas de auditoria. Nesta busca, os recursos de Tecnologia da Informação têm se mostrado os principais aliados, utilizados cada vez em maior escala, e cada vez mais sofisticados. Neste aspecto, a utilização da chamada Auditoria Contínua (AC) é um dos principais avanços em curso na iniciativa privada. Voltada para análise de dados em formato eletrônico, a abordagem vem sendo cada vez mais adotada, impulsionada pelo crescimento das transações sem papel e por imposições legais, como o ato Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) de 2002 que procura garantir que as empresas possuam mecanismos de controles confiáveis, reforçando sua governança e transparência como meio de recuperar a credibilidade dos investidores após escândalos financeiros envolvendo grandes corporações americanas. Recentes alterações na legislação brasileira criam obrigações de transparência para o setor público que são semelhantes às criadas pelo ato SOX. A mudança determina que as informações relativas à execução orçamentária e financeira dos entes públicos sejam publicadas em tempo real. Com a mudança, surgem as condições para que os Tribunais de Contas (TCs) utilizem abordagens de AC para fiscalizar a aplicação dos recursos públicos em tempo real. Os modelos proposto para AC são voltados para o setor privado, e muitas vezes para o controle interno. O presente trabalho visa investigar um modelo de AC apropriado ao papel dos TCs no exercício do controle externo. Com esta atualização tecnológica as Cortes de Contas podem avançar muito no nível de efetividade da sua atuação, gerando melhores resultados para a sociedade e benefícios para o setor público brasileiro como um todo. Como resultado da investigação foi construído um modelo de Ambiente de AC para TCs. A proposta descreve as instituições participantes do ambiente e seus papéis; a arquitetura tecnológica que suporta o funcionamento do ambiente; e o desenho dos principais processos do ambiente. Adicionalmente, apresenta-se alguns cenários de evolução e sugestão de critérios para planejamento do ambiente, bem como os benefícios que a abordagem pode trazer