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The unit trust industry is one of the fastest growing areas in the financial sector. This dramatic growth has raised concern about the level of investors’ knowledge, or lack thereof, relating to the factors associated with investment decisions. This study investigates the factors and dynamics behind cash flows into and from General Equity unit trusts from September 1996 to September 2001, and the extent to which market factors and unit trust characteristics explain the variation in cash flows. The analysis shows a significant positive relationship between cash flows and contemporaneous returns of the General Equity unit trusts and the equity market, while being negatively related to one‐month lagged returns and cash flows. Several of the determinants, including interest rates, fee structures, risk and fund size, are found to be insignificant at a 5% level. The results indicate that investors exhibit an element of profit maximisation, driven by performances and irrationality, in that they give less consideration to fee structures, risk and fund size.

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the International Federation of Accountants require Information Technology (IT) to be integrated with the professional subjects, including Auditing, qualified chartered accountants need. Internationally, people want changes to Auditing teaching. The Accounting Department of Stellenbosch University developed an audit simulation of the whole audit process from client acceptance to completion. Students must prepare working papers, using substantive procedures focusing on stock and a database large enough for students to use IT. The simulation’s learning objectives are integrating auditing with IT, and exposing students to as authentic an audit as possible. A questionnaire tested students’ perceptions on the simulation. Responses were favourable. Respondents felt that the simulation helped them to understand auditing and showed them the practical application of IT functionalities. However, respondents complained that the simulation took too long. The principles and findings apply to simulations and the use of case studies in any environment.

The Public Sector is usually assumed to have a risk avoidance culture, with a reactive rather than proactive approach towards the management. However, an improved holistic approach seems to be required, especially when considering the complexity and size of the Public Sector, and the challenges it faces to connect the services, clients and the different levels of governance.

Within this chapter, the authors lay out a maturity level evaluation of Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) within the Maltese Public Sector. Through documentation analysis of the available literature on the subject, the authors determine the principal themes required to develop an effective GRC practice across the Public Sector. The authors then design statements based on the identified GRC themes and administer it using an online survey tool to Public employees across different Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Entities, in order to obtain their perception. This is in order to determine gaps, weaknesses or limiting factors towards the implementation of an effective GRC.

The results show that, although, there is a substantial percentage of scepticism and few disagreements towards some of the statements, especially those which related to Risk Management (RM) and Internal Auditing (IA), the majority of Public Sector bodies do in fact show high standards of GRC practices integrated and present in their day-to-day operations and internal environment, showing that there is a well-developed Governance, Compliance and Control structure and Internal Audit function across the Sector.

However, the perception of participants is that the RM function is the least developed area. IA needs some improvement especially where trust on advice is involved.

The aim of this paper is to report on the development and implementation of two student-centred teaching approaches, not usually thought to be appropriate for large group situations. These projects involved adapting teaching methods to facilitate a move away from the conventional lecturer-centred approach (the “chalk-and-talk” of earlier generations) and to respond to an environment challenged by the perpetually changing requirements of professional bodies, increasingly large classes and high student-staff ratios.

Two student-centred projects were implemented at a South African residential university in the discipline of auditing, and the topic of general controls in the information technology (IT) environment was addressed. This study reports on two cycles of the development and implementation of the projects following an action research methodology.

It was found that “non-standard” teaching practices can be implemented successfully and that active student involvement, even in a large class environment, is achievable and is therefore recommended, not least because this could positively impact on students’ overall skills development. The action research methodology was successfully used to incorporate changes, enforced by the challenges accounting academics are faced with.

Limitations associated with this study are that it was conducted at only one South African university, and that it was in a specific and technical topic within the single field of auditing. The study also did not measure whether deep or surface learning had taken place. As various factors contribute to learning, it was also not possible to report on whether positive changes to students’ normal learning processes have been achieved as a result of the initiatives.

The contribution this study makes is twofold. First, it adds to the field of accounting education research by indicating that student-centred projects can successfully address the abovementioned challenges faced by accounting academics. Second, it demonstrates that action research, as a methodology for examining and developing accounting education, can be used effectively by academics to improve their teaching practices.

The purpose of this paper was to develop a comprehensive best practices checklist that can be used by governing bodies to identify and evaluate an enterprise’s risk exposure around cognitive systems (CSs) and formulate mitigating internal controls that can address these risks.

COBIT 5 was scrutinised to identify the processes which are necessary for the effective governance of CSs. The applicable processes were used to identify significant risks relating to cognitive computing (CC), as well as to develop a best practices control checklist.

The research output developed was a best practices checklist and executive summary that would assist enterprises in evaluating their CC risk exposure and assess the adequacy of existing controls. The first checklist highlights the incremental risk exposure which needs to be addressed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the cognitive computing control structure, a best practices checklist was developed that can be used by internal auditors and risk and audit committees. An executive summary was developed to highlight the key focus areas that governing bodies need to consider.

The checklist provides a tool to assess the enterprises’ risk exposure, evaluate the existing CC control mechanisms and identify areas that require management attention.

The checklists and executive summary developed provides enterprises with a comprehensive checklist that can be used, while at the same time allowing them to discharge their responsibility in terms of King IV.

The purpose of this study is to define Web 3.0 and discuss the underlying technologies, identify new opportunities and highlight potential challenges that are associated with the evolution to Web 3.0 technologies.

A non-empirical study reviewing papers published in accredited research journals, articles and whitepapers and websites was conducted. To add scientific rigour to a literature review, a four-stage approach, as suggested by Sylvester et al. (2011), was used.

The World Wide Web (henceforth referred to as the Web) is recognised as the fastest growing publication medium of all time. To stay competitive, it is crucial to stay up to date with technological trends. The Web matures in its own unique way. From the static informative characteristics of Web 1.0, it progressed into the interactive experience Web 2.0 provides. The next phase of Web evolution, Web 3.0, is already in progress. Web 3.0 entails an integrated Web experience where the machine will be able to understand and catalogue data in a manner similar to humans. This will facilitate a world wide data warehouse where any format of data can be shared and understood by any device over any network. The evolution of the Web will bring forth new opportunities and challenges. Opportunities identified can mainly be characterised as the autonomous integration of data and services which increase the pre-existing capabilities of Web services, as well as the creation of new functionalities. The challenges mainly concern unauthorised access and manipulation of data, autonomous initiation of actions and the development of harmful scripts and languages.

The findings will assist data managers to identify future opportunities while considering negative impacts and understanding the underlying technologies associated with the structure and storage of electronic information. The research will assist anyone in the data and information management industry to identify opportunities and mitigate risk.

Many organisations were caught off guard by the evolution of the Web to Web 2.0. Organisations, and in particular anyone in the data and information management industry, need to be ready and acquire knowledge about the opportunities and challenges arising from Web 3.0 technologies.

This paper aims to explore the extent to which technology and disruption has been considered within the accounting literature, to introduce the five papers which compose this special issue and to provide an agenda for future research on technology and disruption.

To explore previous works on the disruptive potential of technology in accounting, the study compares topics in accounting research articles that contain variations of the term “disrupt” with those articles containing variations of the term “technology”. Based on the method first proposed in Marrone and Hammerle (2016), an entity linker application was used to extract key topics from the top 50 accounting journals, and these topics were then compared to determine the extent of thematic intersection.

A key finding is that accounting academic articles featuring “disruption” are rarely linked with “technology”. The concept of “disruption” has been largely synonymous with crisis, and the crises endured to date have had predominantly social or environmental causes (e.g. the GFC and natural disasters). The literature on technology has coalesced around three broad themes – creation, deployment and protection – which have not been identified as crises triggers so far. This finding underscores the importance of the papers comprising this special issue, which explore enhanced data visualisation, blockchain and social media, as well as considering how such technologies might be managed and their potential for either emancipation or enslavement.

In relation to the review of prior literature, the primary limitation is that a quantitative approach was taken. Whilst this allows for a greater sample size and replication, a qualitative thematic review may reveal additional findings. The primary implication of this research and this special issue collectively is that there is much more to be done in exploring both the potential benefits and limitations of new technologies for accounting.

In relation to the review of prior literature, no previous studies have undertaken a quantitative analysis of the intersection of technology disruption in accounting research. In relation to this special issue, these papers collectively provide a multi-faceted view of how technology can and will transform the practice and potential of accounting in the years ahead. Finally, the provision of a thematic framework and research agenda will assist future researchers in exploring this dynamic and important field.

In a virtual interconnected digital space, the metaverse encompasses various virtual environments where people can interact, including engaging in business activities. Machine learning (ML) is a strategic technology that enables digital transformation to the metaverse, and it is becoming a more prevalent driver of business performance and reporting on performance. However, ML has limitations, and using the technology in business processes, such as accounting, poses a technology governance failure risk. To address this risk, decision makers and those tasked to govern these technologies must understand where the technology fits into the business process and consider its limitations to enable a governed transition to the metaverse. Using selected accounting processes, this study aims to describe the limitations that ML techniques pose to ensure the quality of financial information.

A grounded theory literature review method, consisting of five iterative stages, was used to identify the accounting tasks that ML could perform in the respective accounting processes, describe the ML techniques that could be applied to each accounting task and identify the limitations associated with the individual techniques.

This study finds that limitations such as data availability and training time may impact the quality of the financial information and that ML techniques and their limitations must be clearly understood when developing and implementing technology governance measures.

The study contributes to the growing literature on enterprise information and technology management and governance. In this study, the authors integrated current ML knowledge into an accounting context. As accounting is a pervasive aspect of business, the insights from this study will benefit decision makers and those tasked to govern these technologies to understand how some processes are more likely to be affected by certain limitations and how this may impact the accounting objectives. It will also benefit those users hoping to exploit the advantages of ML in their accounting processes while understanding the specific technology limitations on an accounting task level.

Despite the increased use of wearables in education, little attention has been paid to why some students are more likely to adopt smartwatches than others. The question of what impacts the adoption of smartwatches in educational activities is still neglected. In addition, the question of how security determinants can affect the adoption of smartwatches by students has not been addressed yet. Hence, this study aims to develop a theoretical model by integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM) and protection motivation theory (PMT) to study students' adoption of smartwatches for educational purposes.

Questionnaires were distributed to university students in Malaysia. A total of 679 valid responses were collected. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results of data analysis provide support for the proposed model. Furthermore, the findings indicated that perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, response efficacy, response cost, ease of use and perceived usefulness have significant effects on students' behavioral intention to use smartwatches for educational purposes. In addition, perceived ease of use of smartwatches for educational purposes helps students to realize the benefits of this technology.

This is an original study that develops a new holistic theoretical model by combining the PMT and TAM to study the effects of ease of use, usefulness and security-related factors on the adoption of smartwatches for educational purposes. The study offers practical implications for universities and higher education institutions to improve students' learning experiences to ensure their sustainability using new and innovative ways by exploiting new technologies such as smartwatches.

With the increasing use of social media in operation and supply chain management (OSCM), it is of great importance for managers to consider risks in advance and take precautions against the risks that might arise from social media usage among supply chain members. The aim of this research is to identify and evaluate the risks related to the use of social media in OSCM.

An initial research of the literature revealed that there is no detailed risk categorization in this area. Current taxonomies on the business risks of social media usage were examined and integrated with classifications identified in a Delphi study. The authors empirically demonstrate how the determined risks are prioritized and how decision-makers may decide to manage risks effectively based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method.

The findings of the research showed that reputation-associated risks such as criticism, language and loss of confidence should be prioritized over human, content and technical-associated risks.

To date, a comprehensive approach to determine risks arising from using social media in OSCM is missing. With the Delphi and AHP techniques, the authors provide a novel insight for managers to mitigate risks. The outcomes of this study may assist executives in achieving successful management of social media usage in OSCM. Besides, the proposed AHP model may provide guidelines and direction in this regard.