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.

Aktiebolagslagen anger att aktiebolag i Sverige ska ha en eller flera revisorer. Revisorernas ansvar är att undersöka och rapportera om bolagets räkenskaper och förvaltningen av bolaget. Med tiden har reglerna ökat och till följd av detta har revisorerna fått allt mer ansvar. Detta har i sin tur lett till att klienternas förväntningar har ökat och skilda meningar om vad revisorns ansvar är har uppstått. Som ett resultat av dessa meningsskiljaktigheter uppstår ett förväntningsgap mellan revisor och klient. / The Swedish Companies Act states that companies in Sweden should have one or more auditors. Auditor's responsability is to investigate and report on the company's financial statements and the management of the company. Increased regulations have led to higher responsibility of auditor's. This in turn has led to increased expectations from the client's and disagreements about the responsibilities of auditor's. Because of these disagreements, an expectation gap arises between auditor and client.

Radiation therapy is an important method to treat cancer with the aim to deliver as high doses as reasonably achievable to the tumor while protecting the surrounding healthy tissue and organs at risk, OARs. Therefore, it is essential to have high accuracy in the dose delivered clinically and quality assurances are required. In the meantime, radiation therapy techniques are becoming more advanced and complex, introducing a significant risk of random and systematic errors that needs to be investigated. Hence, the need of independent dose verifications has increased. The purpose of the present work is to design and create a mailed audit system for external evaluation of the dose to water in relevant points in a phantom, including influences from the whole treatment chain, from computed tomography, CT, scanning, to contouring of structures, treatment planning and treatment delivery. The measurements were performed using an anthropomorphic Polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA, phantom designed to be relevant for the head-and-neck region containing inserts corresponding to tumour, salivary glands and medulla made of PMMA and that are easily distinguishable from the surroundings for contouring. Inhomogeneities of both Teflon, corresponding to the spinal cord, and air were also included. Pellet shaped electron paramagnetic resonance, EPR, dosimeters made of lithium formate with a diameter of 4.5 mm and height of 5 mm were made for the measurements. The dosimeters can be placed in various positions in the different structures of the phantom using PMMA tubes and can be analyzed using a spectrometer. In order to test the precision and accuracy of the EPR dosimetry method, measurements with three blind tests were performed simultaneously with an ionization chamber for comparison of absorbed doses. For the audit measurement, the audit phantom was CT scanned twice both with a Siemens CT scan and GE (General Electric)) CT scan for comparison of Hounsfield Units, HU, and dose distributions. The target and the OARs were contoured in the treatment planning system, TPS, (Varian, Eclipse) and a dynamic Intensity modulated radiation therapy, IMRT, treatment plan was created. The treatment plan consisted of seven coplanar 6 MV fields giving the target a dose of 5 Gy delivered with a Varian, Clinac iX accelerator. The absorbed doses to water were determined in seven locations: three points in the target, one in each parotis, one in the medulla and one in the air cavity. The absorbed doses were determined using the signal from the EPR dosimeters and were compared to the planned doses. Also, the measured and reconstructed volumes of the structures were compared. The blind tests doses obtained from the EPR dosimeters agreed with the results obtained from the ionization chamber within 1% and are well below the calculated uncertainties (1 SD) in the EPR measurements. The absorbed doses and the dose distributions were not affected by any spread in HU and the absorbed doses had an agreement within 0.5% in comparison between the Siemens and GE CT studies. The determined doses agreed with planned doses within 4% for all the structures except the air cavity. This deviation is not covered by the calculated standard uncertainty. However, the deviation does fall within two standard deviations, corresponding to a confidence interval of 95%. Also the measured and planned volumes had an agreement within 2.5% for smaller structures and within 5% for larger structures. Repeating the whole measurement chain with other dosimeter batches is required using two or three dosimeters in each measurement point for higher precision. A conclusion can be made that this work showed promising initial results for an audit system for evaluation of the dose to water in relevant points in a phantom, including influences from the whole treatment chain.

The objective of the master’s study is to analyse the process of audit, its components and to provide practical its application on the example of certain enterprise. In the present study, there are analysed and systematized theoretical and practical methods of audit its stage performance and risk assessment proposed by different Lithuanian and foreign authors. On the grounds of theoretical material, there was performed financial audit of UAB “Baldų alėja”, there were provided coherently all the stages of the process of audit and the works, performed in these stages. In the study, there are provided models of calculation and evaluation of risk of audit and its significance. As separate example of audit sphere there is analysed an audit of long-termed assets, there is performed analysis of the enterprise’s activities and financial analysis, evaluated the opportunities of succession of the company’s activities, as well as there is provided the conclusion of audit and the report. The results of the present study will be useful to the shareholders of the company and its managers evaluating and understanding the conclusions and the reports of the audit.

Manuell säkerhetsgranskning av Linuxsystems konfigurationer är en tidskrävandeoch mödosam uppgift. Det existerar flera automatiserade verktyg som säger sigkunna underlätta arbetet, upptäcka uppenbara säkerhetsrisker och genereraunderlag för manuella granskningar. I detta arbetet ställer vi oss frågorna; “Hur väl klarar befintliga verktyg, på ettautomatiserat vis, att identifiera kritiska konfigurationsbrister i ett linuxsystem?”och “Går det att ta fram metoder som bättre identifierar dessa brister?”. Arbetetundersöker detta genom att samla verktyg för automatisk auditing och testar dessa iavsiktligt sårbart konfigurerade testmiljöer baserade på vedertagna riktlinjer försystemhärdning. Parallellt med detta tog vi också ta fram förbättradeidentifieringsmetoder genom att utveckla ett eget verktyg som inkluderas iundersökningen.

The intent of this research is to inform companies that the internal audit function has greater utility than just corporate governance. The internal audit function represents a resource to the business that can be used in a number of ways to help it survive, compete and establish new growth opportunities in the marketplace for the firm. The proposed project will demonstrate through an interpretive process study using case study research how the internal audit function can be a strategic business partner by highlighting its contribution ability in a dynamic, ever-changing, regulatory laden environment. This paper uses Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to explain the organizational transformation of the internal audit function from a professional bureaucracy to an adhocracy as an unintended consequence of corporate governance legislation over time. The study contributes to the literature by explaining the evolutionary change in the internal audit function from scorekeeper-and-watchdog to business-partner-and-change agent. This study analyzes how senior management benefits from utilizing the internal auditors’ experience as an organizational tool to address threats and opportunities.

No description available.

Nowadays, energy is becoming more and more important. With the development of society, the demand of energy is also increasing correspondingly. There is 22% of the total energy which is used in building part. A more effective and sustainable energy system becomes necessary due to increasing energy prices and demand. The aim of this thesis is to make an energy survey of this building, evaluating different sources of energy supply and losses in this building. By evaluating, a better thermal comfort is expectedly achieved when having examinations, and a possible saving method is also expected in order to reduce the cost of this system.  In this project, the building is located in University of Gävle which is surveyed. It has 2 floors. The first floor is underground as a basement. An examination room is included in the second floor. There are a space heating system and heating recovery system ventilation in this examination building. At first step of analysis, the data of construction, ventilation, district heating and hot tap water were arranged by Mr. Magnus. Secondly, an energy balance had been done, and it helped to make energy input and output more clearly. In energy supply part, the solar radiation is 22.4MWh, the internal heat from people is 1.95MWh, the internal heat from equipment is 5.63MWh and district heating is 184MWh. In energy losses part, the transmission loss is 165MWh, the mechanical ventilation loss is 38.3MWh, the infiltration loss is 8.38MWh and the hot tap water is 2.09MWh. Thirdly, results of calculations were analyzed. At last, the optimization methods were given to save energy. The optimization methods were changing type of windows and improving indoor temperature which influenced the transmission loss part. Another method was reducing operating time of the ventilation system. Through these optimizing methods, the total energy use is reduced from 214MWh to 179MWh, and district heating is reduced from 184MWh to 149MWh. District heating of this building is supplied by Gävle Energi company, which is able to save 20% cost by these optimizing methods. According to the investment analysis, 19thousand SEK energy is saved per annum.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuota valstybinio finansinio audito esmė ir įgyvendinimo metodai, ištirtos valstybinio finansinio audito ataskaitos ir pateikti siūlymai kaip pagerinti finansinio audito efektyvumą. Pirmoje darbo dalyje teoriniu aspektu nagrinėjama valstybinio finansinio audito samprata, tikslai, uždaviniai, teisinis reglamentavimas, atskleidžiama audito reikšmė ir būtinumas, jo įtaka viešųjų finansų valdymui. Antroje dalyje nagrinėjami valstybinio finansinio audito įgyvendinimo metodai, audito subjektai, aiškinamasi audito ataskaitų reikšmė. Trečioje darbo dalyje pateikta atlikto tyrimo metodika, nagrinėjamos valstybinio finansinio audito ataskaitos ir daromos išvados. / Master‘s thesis analyses the essence of state financial audit and implementation methods, explore the state financial audit reports and provides suggestions how to improve the efficienty of the financial audit. The first part of the thesis analyses the theoretical aspects of public financial audit concept, objectives, targets and legal regulation. The audit disclose the significance and necessity of its impact on public finance management. The second part explains the state financial audit methods of explementation, audit entities, value of audit reports. The third part describes the methodology of the research, analyses the state financial audit reports and conclusions are drawn.

[Abstract]:This research investigated whether the formation of audit committees and their characteristics are associated with improved financial reporting quality. Modified versions of the models developed by Jones (1991) and Dechow and Dichev (2002) provided three measures of earnings quality, which were used to proxy for financial reporting quality. The audit committee characteristics investigated were: independence, expertise, activity, size and tenure.Several contributions to knowledge are made by this research. First, this research examined the association between audit committee formation and financial reporting quality. This could not be done in many of the prior studies that used data on companies in the United States (Klein 2002a; Xie, Davidson and DaDalt 2003a; Bedard, Chtourou and Courteau 2004; Vafeas 2005; Yang and Krishnan 2005; Dhaliwal, Naiker and Navissi 2006), where audit committees have been mandatory for companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1978. A large number of public and private sector groups have recommended mandatory audit committee establishment for all Australian listed companies. However, there has been a lack of empirical support for these recommendations and this research provides evidence regarding this association.Second, audit committees are more heavily regulated in the United States than Australia. Given the relative lack of audit committee regulation for Australian companies, Australia represented a richer empirical setting for the examination of the association between audit committee characteristics and financial reporting quality. The use of Australian company data for the selected time period, avoided the confounding effect of regulation on this association.Third, this research used both a modified version of the traditional Jones (1991) discretionary accruals model and the more recently developed accrual estimation error model from Dechow and Dichev (2002) to estimate proxies for financial reporting quality. Most of the prior studies predominantly used the Jones (1991) model, which has been subject to criticism in the literature. Therefore, the use of multiple models provides more powerful tests of the association between audit committees and financial reporting quality. Finally, this research included changes tests in addition to cross-sectional tests to reduce the likelihood of problems with omitted variables.Several conclusions can be drawn from the results. First, there was some evidence that earnings quality measured using the modified Jones (1991) model significantly reduced in the year following audit committee formation, thus providing some support for the notion that the formation of audit committees improves financial reporting quality. However, a comparison of these results with those of tests using earnings quality measures based on Dechow and Dichev (2002) indicates that audit committees appear more effective at reducing opportunistic earnings management, rather than total accrual estimation errors. Second, there was little evidence of a significant association between the characteristics of audit committees and improved financial reporting quality. Consequently, it can be suggested that, once audit committees are established, variations in their characteristics do not significantly affect financial reporting quality.These conclusions provide support for the mandatory audit committee requirement under the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listing rules, which became effective from 1 January 2003. However, there are doubts over the usefulness of several aspects of the ASX Corporate Governance Council's recommendations concerning the composition and size of audit committees.