During the last three decades, financial reporting, performance measurement and accountability for the use of resources by the public sector have received a great deal of attention in numerous countries, especially in the developed world. This study is concerned with exploring these issues in the public sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and, specifically, its central government. Following an initial introductory chapter a detailed analysis of the literature relating to financial reporting and performance measurement in the public sector is undertaken. This is then developed through a detailed study of the financial reporting and auditing requirements specified under UAE law. This analysis reveals a number of weaknesses in the system of governmental reporting adopted in the UAE. As a result of the literature survey and the findings relating to the system of financial reporting by central government practiced in the UAE two key areas are then developed through the research methodology outlined in the text. Firstly, issues relating to government financial reports are examined. These include the: importance of financial reports, frequency and purposes of using financial reports, quality of financial reports, potential ways of improving financial reports, external potential users of financial reports and, finally in this section, reasons that prevent the users from reading or using governmental financial reports in the UAE. Secondly, various issues relating to performance measurement in the public sector are also discussed. These concern: the importance of non-financial information, methods of comparison, reasons for conducting performance measurement, users of performance measurement reports, reasons that prevent government units from carrying out performance measurement, procedures undertaken by the external audit for measuring performance, the quality of audit reports, ways of improving audit reports, the external potential users of government audit reports, and the reasons that prevent the external auditor carrying out performance auditing in governmental units in the UAE. Finally appropriate conclusion on the basis of the analysis is presented.

Research to date has focused on explaining disclosure and accountability practices mainly in liberal market economies. Accountability and disclosure studies have been embedded in Western/Euro-centric economic and social theories. Although there have been a growing number of theoretical accountability studies, few empirical studies have been conducted to explore the nature of accountability in the public sector and the private sector. Disclosure and accountability practices in non-competitive markets have been given little attention in the literature. The focus of this thesis is to understand information disclosure practices and accountability construction processes in the predominant socialist and Arabic context of Libya. This study contributes to knowledge by explaining how the practices of disclosure and accountability in such context occur. Explaining disclosure and accountability practices in relation to the state and the public contributes to the current debate around these practices. This study reported on data collected from two case studies conducted in Libya: the Secretary of Industry (SI) and the National Trailers Company (NTC). The Secretary of Industry's responsibilities included supervising thirty-one companies including the National Trailers Company. The National Trailers Company was a joint venture company where the State, represented by the Secretary of Industry, owned 75 per cent of the capital and an Italian company, Calabrese, owned 25 per cent of the capital. The aim of the study was to understand how information was disclosed and accountability was constructed and to explain the relationships between disclosure and accountability in the SI-NTC context. The study used Sinclair's (1995) forms of accountability as a point of reference to explore whether these forms were identified and understood similarly in the Libyan context. The study's observations showed that disclosure and accountability practices within the SI-NTC context were different from those identified in the literature. Information was disclosed upon request and followed mainly accountability routes. The role of managerial and financial accountability in this process was emphasised. The study proposed an explanation for the SI-NTC disclosure and accountability practices that took into consideration the role of not only economic, but also social and cultural aspects in these practices. This explanation encompassed values and beliefs that were related not only to secular, but also to sacred activities. The observations showed that Islamic construction of identity and accountability of a person (all persons) to Allah was embedded in the accountability process. The study's contribution was two-fold. The first was related to the process and the practice of disseminating the company's information - information enclosure - and the second was related to the accountability construction process - accountability webs. Information enclosure theory was proposed to explain the company's disclosure (enclosure) practices. The proposed theory was different from the conventional disclosure theories in that it reflected the role of not only economic but also social relationships in the information provided. Information was provided to those who constituted "the organisational web" of accountability where the influence of social relationships and personal connections - "the social web" - was present.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la communication financière des PME cotées et se compose de trois chapitres distincts. L’objectif de chacun de ces chapitres vise à analyser les déterminants et les conséquences de l’asymétrie informationnelle dans un environnement incertain et complexe. Cette étude, composée d'une introduction générale et de trois chapitres, analyse sous différents angles la question centrale de l'asymétrie informationnelle et des coûts d'agence dans les PME cotées. Les trois chapitres visent à répondre aux questions de recherche suivantes: Première question de recherche: Quel type d'information financière concernant les PME est pertinent pour les investisseurs? Deuxième question de recherche: Est-ce que les attentes externes concernant la divulgation d’informations par les PME influencent (a) les décisions d'investissement des dirigeants et (b) la stratégie de communication des PME? Troisième question de recherche: Comment les nouvelles formes de communication, par exemple les médias sociaux, influencent l'environnement informationnel des PME cotées? Les résultats de cette thèse peuvent être intéressants pour les régulateurs. Ils illustrent les mécanismes que les entreprises suivent dans des contextes de complexité et d'incertitude. À la suite de ces résultats, les régulateurs pourraient envisager de promouvoir des politiques qui facilitent une divulgation plus flexible pour les PME cotées en termes de canaux de communication et de contenu de l’information. / This Ph.D. thesis studies the determinants and consequences of information asymmetry between investors and financers on the one hand, and managers on the other, in an uncertain and complex environment. I focus on Small and Medium Entities (SMEs) where the links between the two and the associated agency costs are particularly significant. SMEs are concerned by a whole host of contractual issues. The uncertainties surrounding SMEs’ activities also affect investor valuations due to the risk of adverse selection. SMEs’ disclosure may play an important part in reducing for market participants the uncertainty surrounding SMEs’ activities. My Ph.D. thesis, consisting of a general introduction and three chapters representing three self-contained essays, explores (1) the type of financial information relevant to SMEs’ investors and financers; (2) managerial decisions following market expectations about SMEs’ disclosure; and (3) the impact of social media on SMEs’ disclosure.

This thesis analyses whether compliance behaviour in financial reporting may be influenced by differences in regulatory sources and in the design of the regulations themselves. A logistic binomial model is -used to describe the relative odds of full compliance rather than regulatory avoidance by way of partial or creative compliance. The analysis is based on the accounting policies adopted by internationally listed companies registered in Europe where, despite the harmonising impact of the European company law directives, regulatory strategies in accounting continue to be diverse.

Though at the enterprises the estimation of a financial condition is annually, it is necessary to develop, to improve constantly and to evaluate the system of the internal control, necessary to develop a technique of the reporting quality estimation of the enterprise specially for the certain enterprise in view of all features, to take advantage of statistical data and to draw corresponding conclusions, to make constant monitoring. The purpose of development of the mechanism - detection of deviations of data in the reporting from actual results of activity, definition of clauses causing distortion of a real financial condition of the enterprise, revealing of size of influence of the given distortions and qualities of the reporting as a whole on decision-making, and also revealing of the reasons causing these deviations and distortions, and development of recommendations on corresponding correction separate directions for improvement of quality of the reporting. How can high reporting quality and internal control create an advantage? In survey of institutional investors is reported that investors apply a penalty if they believe a company’s internal control to be insufficient. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they had avoided investing in companies and 48% had de-invested in companies where internal control was considered inadequate. As additional support, they study went on to report that 82% of respondents agreed that good internal control was worth a premium on share price. These institutional investors are pushing for greater transparency on risk issues and related internal control efforts. Simply put, an organization’s ability to implement and maintain a leading-class control framework can create competitive advantage in today’s market. A system of the financial reporting conducting with strong management, quality control and good legislative base is the key factor of economic development. The trust of investors in the financial and not financial information is based on strong Internal Control, high-quality standards of the financial reporting, audit and ethics, thus, standards and Internal Control play the leading part in assistance of economic growth and financial stability in the country. Nevertheless, every company meets the problems of implementation of the internal control. Among them there can be problems in labor qualification, legislation and so on. It is also necessary to examine the successful experience at the micro level.

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Reflecting on the growing interest from scholars and practitioners and their awareness of the necessity to appreciate the involvement of the client in an audit process (Canning, Malsch & O’Dwyer, 2017), the aim of this study is to explore the importance of audit client commitment to comprehensive audit preparation, to improve the quality of a UK financial statements audit. This research is based on a qualitative approach employing semi structured interviews as a research method. Accordingly, interviews were undertaken with audit engagement leaders from a range of auditing firms as well as with finance directors from a range of audited clients. The perspectives as to the levels of preparedness for the first day of the financial statements audit commencing from each participant group were examined and were shown to reveal interesting results. The study unveiled the differences between what auditors and their clients perceived to be ‘ready’ for the financial statements audit. The availability of a completed set of financial statements when the auditors commence their audit has been identified as an issue that causes a significant amount of time pressures on the auditors. Additionally, the thematic analysis of data revealed that as a result of such pressures auditors were adopting practices whereby insufficient/substandard work was completed, which could potentially not only have an adverse effect on the overall quality of the audit, but also contribute to an inappropriate audit opinion being signed. Amendments to current auditing practices and the periods between a reporting period end and the audit work commencing to enhance audit quality was found to underpin the pressures on auditors when forming a time pressured audit opinion. This study of the challenges faced by auditors to plan and complete their audit with conflicting targets and time scales as well as the pressures felt by audit clients, provides audit preparedness specific, evidence based implications on which these may be surmounted to enable a quality, fully documented audit and supported audit opinion to be completed. This study addresses the pressing need to overcome the lack of theoretical discussions on the auditees’ perspectives on auditing practices, and their views on the specific factors enhancing audit quality. Based on the existing literature to date, no study has explored the “auditee” as a research object in scholarly discussions on the quality of a UK financial statements audit. The findings of this study, along with subsequent recommendations have relevance for the key stakeholders of audit engagements and regulators concerned with the enhancement of the quality of a UK financial statements audit, and for scholars interested in broadening their understanding of the audit process as a two-sided relationship.

Zugl.: Vallendar, WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Diss., 2007.

Zugl.: Mainz, Universiẗat, Diss.

Justus-Liebig-Universiẗat Gießen, Diplomarbeit--Gießen, 2005.