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Surveys by postal questionnaire (174 responses) the range of activities in internal auditors in health care organizations across the USA. Covers characteristics of organizations, structure of internal audit function and audit activities.

This study aims to explore ChatGPT in the context of the UK higher education (HE) and accountancy profession.

Narrative research that applies deductive thematic analysis to investigate secondary data produced by the UK HE governing bodies, the ancient UK universities, accountancy bodies and BIG4s.

Discussions held by the governing bodies of HE in the UK follow the advice found in the literature on how to acknowledge contributions from artificial intelligence. However, these discussions are informal. Universities provide guidance on the use of ChatGPT; however, these documents differ, compromising a consistent approach across institutions. Similarly, accountancy researchers lack uniform guidance. This is concerning because the data analysis indicates that ChatGPT’s limitations may have a detrimental impact on compliance with the UK Concordat to support research integrity. Moreover, accountancy bodies are predicting major changes in the accountancy profession due to automation, which will potentially change the job market and the content of qualification examinations. BIG4s have begun automating, with some negative impacts already evident. Thus, the field should be ready for future challenges.

This study explores ChatGPT in the context of the UK HE and accountancy profession. It provides a detailed analysis of the risks and opportunities associated with the use of ChatGPG, while also providing suggestions for risk mitigation to assist accountancy students, researchers and practitioners.

This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the ASB's voting activities for 45 SASs issued over a 12‐year period. The results support earlier studies by Kinney and others that members' respective firm characteristics are strongly associated with their voting behavior. However, while Kinney posited that structured firms investment in audit methodology resulted in more support for new standards due to lower opportunity costs to adopt a new SAS, this study identifies such firms' greater propensity to vote against SASs. This study supports Kinney's (1986) “political cost” hypothesis regarding ASB members' reluctancy to vote against an SAS. This study also supports the relationship between firm characteristics such as audit structure and ASB member voting patterns. Overall, the results suggest that the ASB provides a democratic forum for large and small firms to equally participate in the standard‐setting process. The diversified membership of the ASB appears to result in no systematic dominant influence, other than potentially by the chair position.

This paper presents an institutional theory framework integrating normative, regulatory and cognitive-cultural pillars (Scott, 2008) to depict an interinstitutional system within which professions operate and develop. The pillars highlight the trade-offs between institutions leading to conflicts of interest that also impact the stability of the system and the ability of the profession to self-regulate. To illustrate the framework, the paper uses selected accounting-based professions and their alignment with the institutional pillars. Drawing from examples emerging from the Enron experience, the paper delves more deeply into the regulatory profession and professionals as agents to explore implications of their role in interpreting and in some instances developing institutions. Further, the paper highlights the potential fissures that emerge in a competitive environment between the public interest and market-based cognitive-cultural pillars that tends to erode public trust and weaken the institutional system, leading to the need for increased regulation to maintain the stability of the pillars. Overall, the framework presents a unique perspective on the role of public interest as a component of the normative pillar in aligning and thereby, stabilizing the functioning of the interinstitutional system. This perspective provides a basis to contextualize and articulate a public interest perspective for the accounting profession in an interinstitutional system.

This study provides evidence that auditors analyzing board composition in terms of the percentage of internal directors should concurrently consider the presence of a nominating committee and management ownership, since the latter is a substitute for each of the other characteristics. Decision support tools should incorporate the alternative nature of these traits, as well as the positive relation of chairman/CEO duality, subsidiary CEO board membership, the proportion of other CEOs on a board, and institutional ownership to both accounting and market performance measures. A disproportionate share of the board as key executives of the auditee is associated with poorer performance. Since inherent risk of going concern relates to performance and such risk has implications for management control structure, auditors could improve risk assessments by considering the relative weights of corporate governance traits' association with performance. The linkage of these findings with prior literature, the use of checklists, and further research is discussed.

Describes recent attempts to help auditors fight financial crime in the USA, focusing on the new Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS). Indicates however auditors may lack sufficient training to recognise or understand fraud, and that accounting students at universities should have anti‐fraud education. Outlines the provision of the new SAS 99, which requires the audit team to brainstorm in order to detect misstatements in client accounts and maintain professional scepticism; auditors also have to question more directly in their investigations of fraud risk, and the SAS introduces the “fraud triangle” and guidelines to help assess risk factors; finally, auditors must respond to the assessments. Reports two recent fraud surveys: the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) found 663 fraud cases for 2002, most of them involving asset misappropriation, and the Pricewaterhouse‐Coopers 2003 survey found similarly. Concludes with a look at ACFE’s higher education programme for fraud, and that of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; the trend in the USA is to provide specific courses on fraud.

An operational audit (or value‐for‐money audit) is an organized search for ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness. Although internal auditors have traditionally performed most operational audits, such audits are also conducted by external auditors and by company managers who wish to make self‐audits. Whoever performs an operational audit, the objective is to assist managers in performing their daily functions more effectively and economically. In effect, an operational audit is an early warning system for the detection of potentially destructive problems. Traditionally, operational audits have been conducted by means of a questionnaire interview of departmental employees. Virtually all large companies conduct operational audits in their major production and service departments. However, working capital management has often been ignored in these audits. Perhaps this oversight is caused by the view that the controllership and treasury functions are high level departments that are not susceptible to scrutiny by internal auditors. Alternatively, the oversight may be attributable to the feeling that there is little standardization of duties among controllers and treasurers in the management of working capital. Whatever the reason, this article is intended to end the oversight. An operational audit can lead to better management of working capital in the same way that it can lead to better management of a production area. The questionnaire in Exhibit 1 can be used by internal auditors, or by a treasurer who merely wants to perform a self‐audit of his or her own department's efficiency and effectiveness.

Most small businesses today could probably benefit from a management audit of the firm's long‐term financial affairs. In large corporations, internal auditors generally have free rein to audit all operations—including the activities of the corporate treasurer and the controller's department. Such audits involve not only the financial aspects of operations, but the day‐to‐day operating aspects as well. Internal audits of operations are typically called operational audits in the United States and value‐for‐money audits in the countries of the British empire. “Value‐for‐money audits” is probably the best name because the objective of the auditors is to point out ways that a department can save money or enhance revenues. Now it would be nice if small businesses had internal auditors to conduct value‐for‐money audits, but such is not the case. Most small companies do not have internal auditors. However, there is another alternative. The owner or manager of a small business can conduct the audit on sort of a do‐it‐yourself basis. Although every department could possibly benefit from such an audit, it is the long‐term financial management of the organization that might profit the most from a value‐for‐money audit.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics and qualifications of audit committee financial experts. Specifically, the paper examines if the majority of the financial experts possess accounting or general management experience.

The authors collected the data through survey and use cross tabulation (univariate) and logistic regression to analyze the data.

The results show that accounting certification and audit committee experience are valued positively by the Board of Directors when designating an audit committee member as a financial expert. Prior experience as a CEO results in a lower probability of being designated as a financial expert.

Non‐response bias may be a factor which should be considered. There are other factors such as stock exchange affiliation of the company that have not been included due to the anonymous nature of the survey.

It provides useful information and benchmark to the Board of Directors with respect to the characteristics of designated audit committee financial experts.

This is the first paper to examine the characteristics of audit committee financial experts through survey. The paper presents a richer array of factors compared to what is available in proxy statements. Audit committees, financial statement users, policy makers, and researchers will find the results interesting and useful.

This paper aims to examine how introducing irrelevant information into a risk decision scenario leads to less skeptical internal auditor assessments.

This paper conducted an internet-based experiment with 157 internal auditors manipulating information relevance. The experiment controlled for individual differences in trait skepticism, perceived information relevance and Chief Information Officer (CIO) warmth.

Internal auditors exhibit decreased skepticism when irrelevant information contradicts preconceived stereotypes of management, consistent with the dilution effect. When the CIO is described as gregarious, counter to common stereotypes, internal auditors assess risk as less severe compared to when the CIO is described as introverted or when no personality information is provided.

This paper provides insight as to when internal auditor judgment may be compromised.