1,721,064 research outputs found
The Forensic Accounting Development:Dealing With Fraud Prevention And Detection Complexity
No full textThis paper focuses on forensic accountants and on the extent to which they are capable of preventing and detecting more complex frauds with the skills, abilities and knowledge that they possess as professionals in current times. The research is exploratory, because the field focusing on forensic accounting skills and ability is still in its primary stage. The reasons why this research focuses on this is because previous literature ignored the process of being a competent forensic accountant and only looked at the outcomes that can be achieved when forensic accountants are hired, and also because of current developments which might have an effect on fraud investigations. The paper opted to do interviews with forensic accountants because it believes that through the method of semi-structured interviews it is able to get an
insight to what extent the forensic accountants are able to adapt with time, so as to keep being effective and useful when it comes to fraud prevention and detection. The results show that overall, the participants agreed that technology played a big role with regards to making fraud investigation and detection more effective. With regards to the education of forensic accountants, or capabilities development, the interviews brought to light that there are limited opportunities for forensic accountants to develop their skills
Technology in the Accounting Profession: Perceptions about automation of accounting tasks and implications for responsibilities.
No full textCurrent academic literature does not provide a uniform answer on what the impact of automation is for the accounting profession. Two contradicting streams of research could be distinguished with competing views on the automation of accounting/auditing tasks and its implications for the responsibility of the accountant. Therefore, this study focusses on the perceptions of accountants towards both aspects. The perceptions of accountants are studied using an online survey. The results show that, based on the levels of automation, accountants perceive that the accounting/auditing tasks could currently be automated to the low and intermediate degree of automation. The demographic characteristics of accountants does not play a role in there, even though this was expected by academic literature. When comparing the perceptions with the future, the accountants assume that all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automated to a higher degree within 10 years. Regarding the responsibility of the accountant, the degree of automation does not have an influence on it. The responsibility of the accountant does not depend on the degree of automation. Overall, the results support the second stream of research, indicating that not all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automatable, which does not make the ‘human’ as accountant redundant
The unique and complex context of audit teams: The effect of leadership styles on audit team performance and the mediating role of knowledge sharing
No full textThis study investigates the effect of leadership styles on audit team performance with a
mediating role of knowledge sharing. Results of previous general research about the effects of leadership styles on team performance are varying, and this might be explained by the context that teams operate in. This study therefore examines the unique and complex context of audit teams and the effect of leadership and knowledge sharing within these teams. Especially a hierarchical structure, and the related importance of knowledge sharing is what makes audit teams unique and complex, and
therefore an interesting research topic. Data for this study is gathered by the use of questionnaires, distributed among individuals within one Big Four accounting company in the Netherlands. The results show that knowledge sharing does not have a mediating role on the relation between leadership style and audit team performance. However, a task-oriented and relations-oriented leadership style do have positive direct effects on the quality of the audit. Furthermore, relations-oriented leadership does
have a positive direct effect on audit timeliness as well. This study contributes to the literature by gaining a deeper understanding of the effect of leadership styles in a particular context, a context of audit teams
Gender promotion gaps within the public accounting profession: A qualitative study, which discusses the role of career aspirations in explaining gender promotion gaps.
No full textThe pressure on today’s public organizations to respond to gender promotion gaps has been growing over the past years. In which the emphasis is often on firm policies and the barriers and difficulties women encounter during their career advancement. By considering the career aspirations of accounting professionals, focusing on the ‘active’ and ‘influential’ characteristics of aspirations, this research contributes to the underexposed 'demand side' of the issue of gender promotion gaps. By means of eight in-depth interviews, with both male and female accounting professionals, this study examined how the career aspirations differ and whether these these gender differences may contribute to the explanation of gender promotion gaps. As a result, this research has made contributions in the following ways: (1) adding empirical data to the theoretical framework of (Azmat et al., 2020). (2) Showing new insights and indicators relevant to the concept of Aspirations, (3) ultimately, adding a ‘different’ perspective to the issue of gender promotion gaps, by focusing on career aspirations
Relation between earnings management and economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from around the world
No full textConcerns about economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and earnings management have
intensified after the global financial crisis of 2008 and various accounting scandals, such as
Enron and WireCard. The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between earnings
management and EPU. This study distinguishes between two forms of earnings
management: accrual-based and real. The sample consists of 101,436 firm-year
observations spread across 34,508 different firms in 20 countries over the period 2008-2020.
Contrary to prior literature, the main results show that there is no significant effect of EPU on
accrual-based earnings management and a negative effect of EPU on real earnings
management. This study also highlights the importance of controlling for different accounting
standards when examining the effects of EPU on earnings management. Consistent with
prior studies, the results show that EPU leads to higher real earnings management for IFRS
firms, mainly through discretionary expenses, and less accrual-based earnings management
for non-IFRS firms. This highlights the importance of controlling for other institutional and
macro-economic factors in future research when examining earnings management and EPU
Readability of Corporate Social Responsibility reporting
No full textCSR reports are a powerful tool to demonstrate companies' behaviour toward social responsibility. Companies disclose CSR reports in which they inform about their economic, social and environmental impact. In the previous studies, the authors found out that the readability of CSR reports can be manipulated in order to hide poorer CSR performance. In this master thesis, this theory is studied. I examined if companies that committed ad-hoc CSR harmful activity and companies from controversial industry sectors obfuscate their performance by making CSR reports more difficult to read. Based on 847 reports, the results showed that the readability of CSR reports can be affected by the CSR harmful activity. I found that reports from three examined controversial industry sectors - cement, tobacco, mining are significantly more difficult to read than the standard CSR reports. CSR reports of companies that committed environmentally harmful and unethical activities were also found to be more difficult to read. However, readability of the CSR reports only from the period of harmful activity was not significantly different from the company's typical CSR readability levels. In contrary to expectations from theory, CSR reports from companies that committed human rights violations were found to be significantly easier to read
Technology in the Accounting Profession: Perceptions about automation of accounting tasks and implications for responsibilities.
No full textCurrent academic literature does not provide a uniform answer on what the impact of automation is for the accounting profession. Two contradicting streams of research could be distinguished with competing views on the automation of accounting/auditing tasks and its implications for the responsibility of the accountant. Therefore, this study focusses on the perceptions of accountants towards both aspects. The perceptions of accountants are studied using an online survey. The results show that, based on the levels of automation, accountants perceive that the accounting/auditing tasks could currently be automated to the low and intermediate degree of automation. The demographic characteristics of accountants does not play a role in there, even though this was expected by academic literature. When comparing the perceptions with the future, the accountants assume that all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automated to a higher degree within 10 years. Regarding the responsibility of the accountant, the degree of automation does not have an influence on it. The responsibility of the accountant does not depend on the degree of automation. Overall, the results support the second stream of research, indicating that not all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automatable, which does not make the ‘human’ as accountant redundant
Technology in the Accounting Profession: Perceptions about automation of accounting tasks and implications for responsibilities.
No full textCurrent academic literature does not provide a uniform answer on what the impact of automation is for the accounting profession. Two contradicting streams of research could be distinguished with competing views on the automation of accounting/auditing tasks and its implications for the responsibility of the accountant. Therefore, this study focusses on the perceptions of accountants towards both aspects. The perceptions of accountants are studied using an online survey. The results show that, based on the levels of automation, accountants perceive that the accounting/auditing tasks could currently be automated to the low and intermediate degree of automation. The demographic characteristics of accountants does not play a role in there, even though this was expected by academic literature. When comparing the perceptions with the future, the accountants assume that all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automated to a higher degree within 10 years. Regarding the responsibility of the accountant, the degree of automation does not have an influence on it. The responsibility of the accountant does not depend on the degree of automation. Overall, the results support the second stream of research, indicating that not all the accounting/auditing tasks could be automatable, which does not make the ‘human’ as accountant redundant.
Keywords: Automation, Levels of automation (LOA), Accounting/auditing tasks, Accountant’s responsibilitie
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