Diploma thesis discusses questions about internal audit. I have focused on internal audit in the bank. I analyzed four czech banks if they had established internal audit section and Audit Comitee and how many internal auditors they employ. In the second practical part I described internal audit as a process. I demonstrated it on the internal audit of mortgage credit process.

ABSTRACT In South Africa the assessment of exposure to occupational hygiene stressors or environmental factors in workplaces covered by the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Act No. 85 of 1993 must be performed or at least verified by an Approved Inspection Authority for occupational hygiene. However, no formal system is in place to effectively audit and score operational work of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. Formal auditing is a requirement of internationally accepted and implemented management systems such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 9001: 2000, Quality Management System – Requirements, the British Standards Institution - Occupational Health and Safety Series (OHSAS) 18001: 1999, as well as the International Standard - ISO 14000: 2004: Environmental Management System. To develop an audit system for Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene, a descriptive research project that gathered relevant data through electronic questionnaires was conducted with the objective of identifying audit elements and a general scoring system as well as the development of an audit tool that can be applied by regulatory authorities, professional bodies and even competent persons to audit operational work of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. 5 This study had a sample population of 40 Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene, all based in the Gauteng Province, the province which had the largest number of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. A questionnaire was compiled from local and international audit elements and emailed to the study population for electronic completion. The cover letter and study questionnaire is appended as ANNEXURE A and ANNEXURE B respectively. The Ethics Committee – Clearance Certificate is appended as ANNEXURE C. The questionnaire listed the proposed audit elements and a number of questions relating to the registration of the Approved Inspection Authority for occupational hygiene. A scoring mechanism was also suggested. Questions asked in the questionnaire applied the equivalent-form approach whereby as far as reasonably practicable each question was rephrased so that it “appeared different”, but effectively asked the same question. The study had a response rate of 65%, or a total of twenty six returned questionnaires. The respondents were in agreement that the elements; Organisation & Administration, Human Resources, Accommodation & Environment, Equipment, Measurement & Testing as well as Occupational Hygiene Services & Documentation were applicable to an audit for Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. Twenty two or 84.6% of the respondents strongly agreed that the said elements were adequate for an occupational hygiene audit. Four or 15.4% of the respondents disagreed, responding that the proposed elements were not adequate for an audit of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. 6 Four of the 26 respondents indicated that the elements; Suppliers & Accommodation should be excluded from the proposed occupational hygiene audit. Twenty two or 84.6% of the respondents strongly agreed that audits are effective in the identification of poor quality work and the subsequent need for corrective measures. Forty two percent of the respondents agreed to the use of the four point scale applied by most of the CONCAWE member companies (Brussels), which was suggested for the proposed audit of the Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. Two of the respondents preferred the use of the terms “comply” and “not comply” instead of a numerical rating or scoring mechanism. Two respondents stated that they preferred the use of a five point scale (numbers 1 – 5) as a scoring mechanism. Six of the respondents stated that they would use a different scoring mechanism but did not explain, or elaborate on their statement. Five respondents did not complete the section on the suggested scoring mechanism. On the subject of adequate scores the study found that 18 of the respondents suggested a score of not less than 80% (out of a possible 100%). The majority of respondents indicated that a score of less than 60% warranted corrective action from the Department of Labour or the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene. The majority of respondents preferred the legal appointment of the Department of Labour as the body permitted and approved to audit the operational activities of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. From the results of the study the researcher concluded that a need exists for a formal auditing and scoring system for operational work of Approved Inspection Authorities for occupational hygiene. A proposed audit tool was designed and is appended.

This study aims to contribute to an understanding of politically connected audit committees on audit fees and the audit process in an emerging market, using the case of Malaysia. Malaysia offers an interesting and important setting as Malaysian companies are highly concentrated and politically sensitive. In particular, the study seeks to: (i) examine the level of political connections represented in the audit committees associated with the level of audit fees incurred by Malaysian public listed companies; and (ii) examine whether politically connected audit committees have an impact on the audit process. Currently, there is scant evidence on the influence of politically connected audit committees on audit fees and the audit process. The study draws upon agency and resource dependence theories, which suggest that politically connected audit committees serve two important functions: monitoring on behalf of the shareholders, and providing resources to the companies. For the purpose of this study, a mixed method approach (archival data analysis and interviews) has been adopted. Four hypotheses are tested: (1) There is a positive relationship between the proportion of audit committee members who are senior government officers (SGO) and audit fees; (2) There is a positive relationship between the proportions of audit committee members who are politicians and audit fees; (3) There is a positive relationship between the percentage of government shares and audit fees; and (4) There is a positive relationship between audit committee characteristics (independence, size, meeting and financial expertise) and audit fees. In addition, the knowledge obtained from the interviews with Big 4 auditors and members of audit committees from the selected companies provide further insights on the influence of political connections on the audit process. The results of the study indicate that politically connected audit committees (identified by members who are either senior government officers or politicians) have a significant association with the incidence of higher audit fees. This suggests that politically connected audit committees are able to capitalise on their connections to influence companies and create direct demand for the auditors to increase their audit effort, as measured by audit fees. Contrary to expectations, this study did not find a significant relationship between government shares and audit fees. This result may be explained by the fact that government shares are managed by a variety of institutions on behalf of the government, and differences in the objectives and characteristics of the institutions that administer the shares can weaken the demand for higher efforts from auditors. An in-depth analysis of the interviews further reveals that political connections do affect the audit process. It appears that the existence of political connections leads to an increase in audit work such in a variety of ways, such as auditor-client negotiations, private meetings with audit committees and re-engineering the scope and planning of the actual audit work. One of the issues that emerges from these findings is that companies highly value political connections to obtain external resources given the uncertainties in the business environment. Also, the findings highlight the need for stronger corporate governance to mitigate the higher inherent audit risks in politically connected companies.

Diplomová práce je zaměřena na současnou problematiku auditu účetní závěrky v českém prostředí. Cílem práce je, na základě získaných poznatků o auditorských postupech a komplexním procesu auditu, identifikovat významné změny, nové postupy a požadavky při provádění auditu po přijetí Mezinárodních auditorských standardů jako základních profesních předpisů auditorské praxe v České republice. Práci tvoří tři věcně ucelené části, v první části je pojednáno o původu auditorské profese, jejím vývoji v celosvětovém aspektu a následně také v České republice, pojetí a významu auditu, profesní legislativě a organizaci a profesních předpisech. Druhá část práce se zabývá detailními postupy auditorské společnosti při provádění auditu, ve kterých jsou aplikovány požadavky Mezinárodních auditorských standardů. V závěrečné části práce jsou uvedeny identifikované významné změny v přístupu a procedurách auditorské společnosti vyplývající z aplikace uvedených standardů.

<p>The content of the audit report is often discussed. The aim of this paper is to explain the content in the audit reports and define similarities and differences among audit reports in Swedish listed companies. The analysis is based on data collected from 757 audit reports in Swedish listed companies between 2006 and 2008, it is 98.57 percent of the total population. </p><p>The study show that several reports deviate from the Swedish audit standards both in terms of form and content. Only a few reports contain extra information, not required by the Swedish Generally Accepted Audit Standards (GAAS). The audit report mainly deviate from the audit standard in terms length, audit firm used, audited company size and branch. We have found a number of variables that influence deviations from the audit standard; these are length of the report, extra information, language, presence of sub-headings, currency, audit firm, number of auditors, number of employees, net turnover, profit/loss, list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and branch of the audited company.<strong> </strong></p><p>We believe deviations due to mistakes could easily be overcome by a greater awareness from the auditors’. In order to alert auditors about problematic parts the Swedish Institute of Authorized Public Accountants (FAR) need to pay more attention to the audit reports form and content issues.</p><p><strong>Key words: </strong>Audit report,<strong> </strong>Audit standard, Content of audit report, Form of audit report, Listed companies.</p> / <p>Revisionsberättelsens innehåll är omdiskuterat. Syftet med denna uppsats är att förklara innehållet i revisionsberättelser i Svenska börsnoterade bolag samt att definiera likheter och skillnader dem emellan. Analysen består av data insamlat från 757 revisionsberättelser i svenska börsnoterade bolag mellan 2006 och 2008, vilket motsvarar 98.57 procent av den totala populationen.</p><p>Studien visar att flera revisionsberättelser avviker från den Svenska revisionsstandarden (RS) både i förhållande till formalia och innehåll. Endast ett fåtal innehöll extra information som inte är obligatoriskt i förhållande till RS. Revisionsberättelserna skiljer sig främst åt i fråga om dokumentets längd, revisionsfirma, bolagsstorlek och bransch tillhörighet.    Vi har hittat flera variabler som påverkar avvikelser från RS, dessa är längd, förekomsten av extra information, språk, förekomst av underrubriker, valuta i årsredovisningen, revisionsfirma, antal revisorer, antal anställda, omsättning, vinst/förlust, lista på Stockholms börsen och bransch tillhörighet.</p><p>Vi tror att avvikelser beroende på misstag lätt kan korrigeras genom ökad medvetenhet av revisorerna. För att uppmärksamma revisorerna på problematiska delar borde bransch organisationen för revisorer (FAR) tydligare fokusera på revisionsberättelsens formalia och innehåll.</p><p><strong>Nyckelord:</strong> Revisionsberättelse, Revisionsberättelsens innehåll, Revisionsberättelsens formalia, Börsnoterade bolag.</p> / VG

The content of the audit report is often discussed. The aim of this paper is to explain the content in the audit reports and define similarities and differences among audit reports in Swedish listed companies. The analysis is based on data collected from 757 audit reports in Swedish listed companies between 2006 and 2008, it is 98.57 percent of the total population.  The study show that several reports deviate from the Swedish audit standards both in terms of form and content. Only a few reports contain extra information, not required by the Swedish Generally Accepted Audit Standards (GAAS). The audit report mainly deviate from the audit standard in terms length, audit firm used, audited company size and branch. We have found a number of variables that influence deviations from the audit standard; these are length of the report, extra information, language, presence of sub-headings, currency, audit firm, number of auditors, number of employees, net turnover, profit/loss, list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and branch of the audited company. We believe deviations due to mistakes could easily be overcome by a greater awareness from the auditors’. In order to alert auditors about problematic parts the Swedish Institute of Authorized Public Accountants (FAR) need to pay more attention to the audit reports form and content issues. Key words: Audit report, Audit standard, Content of audit report, Form of audit report, Listed companies. / Revisionsberättelsens innehåll är omdiskuterat. Syftet med denna uppsats är att förklara innehållet i revisionsberättelser i Svenska börsnoterade bolag samt att definiera likheter och skillnader dem emellan. Analysen består av data insamlat från 757 revisionsberättelser i svenska börsnoterade bolag mellan 2006 och 2008, vilket motsvarar 98.57 procent av den totala populationen. Studien visar att flera revisionsberättelser avviker från den Svenska revisionsstandarden (RS) både i förhållande till formalia och innehåll. Endast ett fåtal innehöll extra information som inte är obligatoriskt i förhållande till RS. Revisionsberättelserna skiljer sig främst åt i fråga om dokumentets längd, revisionsfirma, bolagsstorlek och bransch tillhörighet.    Vi har hittat flera variabler som påverkar avvikelser från RS, dessa är längd, förekomsten av extra information, språk, förekomst av underrubriker, valuta i årsredovisningen, revisionsfirma, antal revisorer, antal anställda, omsättning, vinst/förlust, lista på Stockholms börsen och bransch tillhörighet. Vi tror att avvikelser beroende på misstag lätt kan korrigeras genom ökad medvetenhet av revisorerna. För att uppmärksamma revisorerna på problematiska delar borde bransch organisationen för revisorer (FAR) tydligare fokusera på revisionsberättelsens formalia och innehåll. Nyckelord: Revisionsberättelse, Revisionsberättelsens innehåll, Revisionsberättelsens formalia, Börsnoterade bolag. / VG

Background In 2006 the audit duty for SME’s was abolished in Denmark, and January 1st 2007 Finland decided to do the same. The subject is now under investigation in Sweden since the government has appointed an investigation dealing with the future of the audit duty for small companies. The report will not only investigate whether an abolishment needs to be done but also if compliments are needed in order to prevent companies from breaking the rules, intentionally or unintentionally due to lack of knowledge. Purpose To investigate how a possible abolishment of the auditing duty for small companies will affect the creditors’ ability to assess the company’s creditworthiness. Method The selected sample of this study contained interviews with five organisations that would be affected differently of an abolishment of the audit duty. The authors wanted to interview organisations with different perceptions of the audit duty although the or-ganisations have in common that they all possess knowledge which is important to the banks in the credit rating process. The sample consists of representatives from; FAR SRS, Företagarna, Handelsbanken, Nordea and Upplysningscentralen. Conclusion All the different organisations in the study showed different views in the value of having audited financial statements. FAR SRS and Företagarna were, as could be expected, most and least in favour of having audited financial statements. UC did not predict to be affected by an abolishment, but did see a value in it. Interesting conclusions could be seen between the banks. It showed that depending on the organisational structure dif-ferent value was seen in the audit duty. This addresses how important a bank’s routines are in the process of valuing a company’s creditworthiness. The study showed that an abolishment will probably turn the focus in the credit process from the information that figures generates. The information used to assess a company’s creditworthiness would to a larger extent be on analysing the business concept, the environment and the re-sources that a company posses.

In recent years, a number of laws and regulations (such as the Basel II accord or SOX) demand that organizations record certain activities or decisions to fulfill legally enforced reporting duties. Most of these regulations have a direct impact on the information systems that support an organization's business processes. Therefore, the definition of audit requirements at the modeling-level is an important prerequisite for the thorough implementation and enforcement of corresponding policies in a software system. In this paper, we present a UML extension for the specification of audit properties. The extension is generic and can be applied to a wide variety of UML elements. In a model-driven development (MDD) approach, our extension can be used to generate corresponding audit rules via model transformations. (author's abstract)

This paper compares and contrasts economic and psychological explanations for auditor bias and independence violations in accordance with the structure of the Auditing profession. The study illustrates that external auditor bias is more appropriately attributed to unintentional biases, such as the self-serving bias, rather than economic forces.

The accounting profession, particularly the public company auditing profession, has experienced a drastic transformation over the last decade. Following a series of costly accounting scandals that tarnished the profession’s credibility, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) for more rigorous regulation of public companies and public accounting firms. The new policy changed audit interactions with clients and included a mandate for the periodic rotation of audit partners on audit engagements to increase auditor independence. Currently being debated are further changes that may lead to additional restrictions and more work for auditors and their clients. This thesis explores the issue of auditor independence in the audit process and examines whether the periodic rotation of audit firms should be mandated in the U.S.