The aim of this thesis is to provide insights into what the concept of audit quality means for a number of parties who have responsibilities for delivering, commissioning or evaluating audit quality in practice - auditors, AC members and quality inspectors concerning. It explores the influence of internal and external factors in the auditing setting on the construction of meaning of audit quality and how meaning is symbolised in practice. This research is based on an interpretive approach employing research methods of document analysis, semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire. Drawing on a symbolic interactionist framework, the research illustrates the process of giving meaning to audit quality in practice. The study identifies various constructs that give meaning to audit quality in practice - auditors' characteristics, firm's characteristics, compliance obligations, the content and control of audit procedures, financial statement quality and client service orientation. It also identifies acts such as asking challenging questions, professional appearance, the quality of interaction between auditor and AC, consultation and training, and objects such as documents and records as fundamental in symbolising audit quality in practice. The study also highlights the existence of possible conflicts between some of these constructs of audit quality and the potential for problems in audit quality in practice.The research reports that the audit practitioners predominantly framed their conceptions of the meaning of audit quality around four important constructs: client service, compliance obligations, the technical audit process or content, and individual auditors' characteristics. Client service is found to have a particular importance for the practitioners' meaning of audit quality. Their construction of the meaning for audit quality is influenced by interactions with other audit market constituents as well as by economic and societal forces in the auditing environment. Auditors perceptions of what quality means in practice are underpinned by factors such as the need to legitimise the conduct of the auditor, to restore trust and confidence in the public at large about the quality of audit services, to maintain profitability and the survival of the audit firm given the competitive and commercial pressures in the audit market, and to legitimise firm methodology and the resulting audit process to outside constituents.Amongst the AC members interviewed, the meaning of audit quality appears to be associated with the characteristics of individual auditors, in particular, auditors' interpersonal and behavioural skills, attributes of the audit firm (size and industry specialisation) and financial statement quality. The findings show that AC members perceptions of audit quality significantly depend on the 'relational' rather than the technical attributes of individual auditors. The quality of the financial statements also dominates the AC members' perceptions of audit quality rather than a technical interpretation of the quality of the content of the audit process. The AC members' conception of meaning for audit quality is influenced by interaction and communication with the external auditors. For the quality inspectors, the meaning of audit quality is mainly constructed in relation to the conduct or content of an audit. Therefore, the level of challenge to the management of the audit, and the sufficiency of evidence and documentation are important for constructing their perceptions of audit quality. They also ascribe considerable importance to the internal compliance-quality control applied within the audit firm the notion of audit quality. Overall, the study describes the multifaceted meaning of audit quality and how this is influenced and shaped by interactions - based on role expectations, self-image, economic and social factors - and illustrates the way in which various acts and objects are used to represent practical meaning for the abstract concept of audit quality in practice. These findings have relevance for auditors, other parties to audit engagements, policy makers and regulators concerned with the contribution of auditing to the financial reporting system and for academic researchers seeking to develop a deeper understanding of how that contribution is achieved in practice.

The study seeks to gain a better understanding of the term "going natural" in regards to women with natural African American hair. The study also seeks to understand natural hair and reclaiming a positive perspective of acceptance and natural appearance. The study will give light to what it is to have natural hair in present day and calls upon the experience of the Black woman on her journey with her hair and her past.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_ANA PAULA PAULINO DA COSTA.pdf: 2908590 bytes, checksum: 4be67febb23dac3bdfca65e15ca840f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-04 / As pesquisas, no campo de estudos organizacionais, têm mostrado limitada capacidade para a compreensão e análise do complexo tema 'fraudes corporativas', pois negligenciam o fenômeno como um processo (sequência de atos), tratando-o como um evento (ASHFORTH et al., 2008), menosprezando que cada tipo de fraude requer um conjunto de recursos, esquemas cognitivos e contextos (BAUCUS, 1994; MACLEAN, 2008; MISANGYI; WEAVER; ELMS, 2008). Eles não permitem responder à pergunta ‘Como a fraude ocorre nas corporações?’. Para tal é necessário identificar e analisar os fatores que permitem a fraude surgir e se sustentar. O presente trabalho, com intuito de identificar os elementos característicos do fenômeno da fraude e como se criou um contexto favorável para ela, estudou dois casos emblemáticos ocorridos no Brasil (Boi Gordo e Banco Santos). A análise, feita com uma abordagem de pesquisa baseada na grounded theory, com análise de documentos e de discursos, consubstanciou-se em um arcabouço teórico substantivo para o contexto de fraudes corporativas financeiras contra terceiros. O trabalho analisou o movimento do fenômeno, suas origens, seu desenvolvimento e consolidação e sua crise, identificando as variáveis antecedentes (de predisposição e oportunidade), bem como os recursos substantivos e simbólicos usados no desenvolvimento da fraude; evidenciando a forma como os recursos se relacionaram para criar a lógica institucional fraudulenta e; integrando os fatores antecedentes à operacionalização da fraude, de forma apreender os elementos constitutivos do processo. O esforço teórico e empírico aqui desenvolvido, resultou numa proposta inicial de modelo interpretativo, com a identificação de novos elementos teóricos. Evidenciou 'o negócio baseado na confiança' como categoria central e mostrou de que modo esse elemento interage com outras categorias e propriedades. Entre os novos elementos estão os aspectos da vítima, a dialética centralização do comando e descentralização do negócio em várias empresas (com uso de 'laranjas') e o uso de aspectos culturais como oportunidade para a fraude. Evidenciou ainda de que maneira os recursos substantivos usados por empresas idôneas ganharam novos significados, por meio de esquemas cognitivos e, permitiu a identificação de três momentos no processo: 'origem', 'pseudo sintonia' e 'espiral'. A dimensão multifacetada da fraude corporativa foi evidenciada, inclusive fazendo a ligação com a dimensão social (DEBORD, 1997; BOORSTIN, 1992; GOFFMAN, 1959; BAUDRILLARD, 1991; BOURDIEU, 2007). A tese constitui uma contribuição para a compreensão ampliada do fenômeno, numa perspectiva integrativa, interacionista e processual, que pode ser replicada em futuras pesquisas para construir um arcabouço robusto e generalizável em outros contextos substantivos ou ainda para a teoria formal de fraudes corporativas. / Current management literature about corporate fraud usually is too fragmented considering the phenomena as an event. This fragmentation on organization study field has been cited as a limitation for comprehension and analysis of the complex theme (ASHFORTH et al., 2008), as neglecting that each type of fraud requires different set of resources, cognitive frames and contexts (BAUCUS, 1994; MACLEAN, 2008; MISANGYI; WEAVER; ELMS, 2008). This study aims to contribute to literature considering corporate fraud as a process, in an integrative (among levels of analysis) and interacionism (substantive and symbolic aspects) model. Adopting a research approach based on grounded theory, this study analyzed two emblematic cases of financial corporate fraud in Brazil in different segment: Boi Gordo (agrobusiness) and Banco Santos (banking). This resulted on a substantive knowledge on intentional financial corporate fraud context. Through document and discourses analysis this work studied the movement of the phenomenon, its origin, development, consolidation and crisis, what allowed identifying the characteristics (antecedents, substantive and symbolic aspects) of this type of fraud; how these elements are integrated (including the link between antecedents and modus operandi) and how the context was prepared for it (how resources gained new meanings). These procedures allowed apprehending the constitutive elements of this fraud process. These elements were also linked to social dimension aspects (DEBORD, 1997; BOORSTIN, 1992; GOFFMAN, 1959; BAUDRILLARD, 1991; BOURDIEU, 2007). It resulted on new theoretical elements applied to substantive context of intentional financial corporate fraud as the central one: ‘trust-based business’. This category integrates other aspects as the use of culture social values to access target public. It was also possible to identify how behavior changes along the process of fraud, identifying three moments: ‘origin’, ‘pseudo-coherence’, when business growth; and ‘spiral’, when business advance to bankruptcy. These results can be applied in future researches on other substantive contexts of fraud to construct more general theory and even to reformulate formal fraud corporate current theories.