At a time when unacceptable risk taking is rightly condemned, how can organizations still benefit from the upside of risk? Can risk still be good? Written by an author who has managed risk, teaches about risk, but most importantly of all has researched the theory of risk, this book will help senior executives dial up the right level of risk within their organizations in order to enhance performance. There are many risk management techniques that are known to work and risk management has logged many successes, but that doesn't mean managers understand why they work, how and why risks arise, and how organizations can be shaped strategically to optimize the benefits of well-judged business risks. Dr Les Coleman argues that finance and management risk has been a theory-free zone, similar to medicine in the Middle Ages, when physicians were aware of surgical techniques and medicines that worked, but did not know why and were impotent in the face of systemic illness. Today risk managers face much the same situation: They know of techniques that work such as audits, controls and procedure guides. Nevertheless, they rarely anticipate, much less prevent, serious failures. They have no comprehensive knowledge framework for targeting optimum risk levels. This timely book fills some of that gap with an outline of the nature and sources of risk in firms. It sets out a body of risk knowledge to support its management, particularly at the corporate level, in much the same way that our understanding of human physiology and the physical sciences support modern medical and engineering techniques. The reader will learn, for example, how risk attitudes and outcomes flow through an organization and about creative techniques such as asset-liability management. In this area of corporate finance so critical for executives and directors, Risk Strategies will help responsible CFOs and other senior managers, together with teachers and students of management, extend their knowledge and risk management skills.

Organizations consider trust as a pillar for successful operations in an increasingly global competitive environment. Some professionals go further and argue that inan economy trust is more important than natural resources. This book deals with ways to measure trust and its impact on organizational performance, as well as to understand the role of Management Accounting in creating trust. The author demonstrates that trust drives organizational performance, and reveals the key role of management accountants in facilitating the flow of trust between CEOs and line managers."

Recent technological and environmental changes have shifted the operations of management control systems from meeting separate, individually based budgetary goals to management control techniques that emphasize group and team control structures. Accordingly, team-based management controls that incorporate normative, instrumental, and coercive controls are being used in complex organizations to monitor production quality and cost control, manage incentive systems, and design and implement management accounting systems. This book provides the first attempt to bring the theory of organizational ecology to the forefront in behavioral accounting research. The adaptation framework has been utilized to incorporate environmental and technological issues as well as organizational structural and contextual factors to examine recent developments in management control systems, particularly the use of accounting systems in managing the performance of teams. Researchers and teachers in graduate programs, managers in business, and service organizations who use work groups to manage their organization activities should find this work an immense addition to their collections.

Information technology auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance have several overlapping characteristics. They both require ethical accounting practices, focused auditing activities, a functioning system of internal control, and a close watch by the board s audit committee and CEO. Written as a contribution to the accounting and auditing professions as well as to IT practitioners, IT Auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: Key Strategies for Business Improvement links these two key business strategies and explains how to perform IT auditing in a comprehensive and strategic manner.

Based on 46 years of experience as a consultant to the boards of major corporations in manufacturing and banking, the author addresses objectives, practices, and business opportunities expected from auditing information systems. Topics discussed include the concept of internal control, auditing functions, internal and external auditors, and the responsibilities of the board of directors.

The book uses several case studies to illustrate and clarify the material. Its chapters analyze the underlying reasons for failures in IT projects and how they can be avoided, examine critical technical questions concerning information technology, discuss problems related to system reliability and response time, and explore issues of compliance.

The book concludes by presenting readers with a "what if" scenario. If Sarbannes-Oxley legislation had passed the U.S. Congress in the late 1990s or even 2000, how might this have influenced the financial statements of Enron and Worldcom? We can never truly know the answer, but if companies make use of the procedures in this book, debacles such as these and those which led to the 2007-2008 credit and banking crisis will remain a distant memory.

Traditionally, control in organizations is concerned with top-down approaches, where executives attempt to direct their employees' attention, behaviors, and performance to align with the organization's goals and objectives. This book takes a new approach by turning the problem of control upside down as it focuses on control of executives who find white-collar crime convenient. The bottom-up approach to executive compliance focuses on organizational measures to make white-collar crime less convenient for potential offenders. Rather than focusing on the regulatory formalities and staged procedures of compliance and audits, the book emphasizes the organizational challenges involved in compliance work when trusted corporate officials exhibit deviant behavior, refining, and advancing knowledge in this field by reference to contemporary international case studies and associated original evaluative research. The themes and cases covered are carefully selected to provide the reader with an insight into professional conduct and procedural practice - the organization of corporate compliance success, failure, and corruption - with the theory of convenience placed at the fore. It is the bottom-up approach by application of convenience theory that makes the proposed book unique compared to other books on corporate compliance. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and upper-level students researching and studying in the areas of business administration, organizational behavior, corporate and white-collar crime, as well as business ethics and auditing.

Many people in organizations resent internal control and risk management; these two processes representing unwelcome tasks to be completed for the benefit of auditors and regulators. Over the last few years this perception has been heightened by the disastrous implementation of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which is generally regarded as having been too expensive for the benefits it has brought. This important book offers a way of improving this prevailing perception and increasing the value of control and risk management by bringing creativity and design skills to the fore. The value of risk and control activities is often limited by the value of the control ideas available and so Matthew Leitch provides an arsenal of 60 high performance control mechanisms. These include several alternative ways to design controls and control systems, as well as providing controls for monitoring and audit, controls for accelerated learning, and techniques for finding and recovering cash. This design material is combined with insights into the psychology of risk control, strategies for encouraging helpful behaviour and enabling change, and a surprisingly simple integration of internal control with risk management. The book is realistic, practical, original, and easier reading than most in the field. The material is not specific to any one country and has international appeal for internal auditors and all those concerned with risk management, corporate governance and security.

This study investigated the following aspects of the 100 most entrepreneurial firms more widely known as the fastest growing firms in Australia. Firstly, the study analysed the association between intellectual capital disclosure types (narrative, visual, and numerical) on company-sponsored websites, using content analysis, and the corporate growth aspect of reputation of these firms over a three-year period from 2005 to 2007. Secondly, the study investigated the perceptions of directors about the value relevance of intellectual capital resource items in enhancing corporate reputation. Thirdly, the study identified motivations behind the extent of intellectual capital resource items disclosure on company-sponsored websites when the director perception survey was inconsistent with such disclosures.

In the recent decade, governments worldwide are increasingly focusing on being community-centric and outcomes-based. Consequently, they are starting to move towards outcomes-based approaches to public financial management systems. An outcomes-based approach allows government service agencies and specific program areas to organize and communicate priorities to achieve what matters and makes a difference rather than just going through the motions. Empirical evidence on how government agencies in emerging economies go about this contemporary approach and issues affecting these practices is limited. This edited collection of chapters is aimed at covering public sector reform and performance management in emerging economies with special reference to outcomes-based approaches in practice in government services. Practices from developed economies contained in the first book on the topic have been published by Routledge in February 2021. The insights offered on the topic are written by renowned scholars who have identified important issues pertinent to those interested in public sector governance, accounting, accountability, and performance management effectiveness in emerging economies. The book will be highly accessible to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of accounting, public administration, development studies, and other non-accounting audiences alike.

The role of internal audit is changing. The Sarbanes Oxley legislation in the US and the Combined Code for Corporate Governance in the UK focused on the need to demonstrate the active management of risks and report on this subject to shareholders. Boards of Directors are therefore increasingly requiring their internal audit functions to provide a much higher level of assurance in this regard. Phil Griffiths' Risk-Based Auditing explains the concepts and practice behind a risk-based approach to auditing. He explores the changing environment in both the private and public sectors and the associated legislation and guidance. The book then provides a blueprint for refocusing the internal audit role to embrace risk and to help plan, market, undertake and report a risk-based audit. The text includes a detailed risk-based audit toolkit with 15 sections of tools, techniques and information to enable a risk-based approach to be adopted. This is an essential guide for internal and external auditors seeking to manage the realities of the audit function in the turbulent and fast-changing business environment that has emerged since the end of the last century.

Volume 21 features articles on: the impact of framed information and project importance on capital budgeting decisions; the measurement of participation in budgeting practice and research; the impact of adverse selection and risk propensity on managers' project evaluation decisions; relative hedonic utility and budgetary conflict resolution; management control systems, environmental uncertainty, and organizational slack; industrial relations, budgetary participation and budget use; corporate strategy, employees' attitudes towards the balanced scorecard, and corporate performance using a contingency approach; the role of cost control systems and the effects of information technology integration on manufacturing financial performance; and the characteristics of no-budget firms.

The Meaning of Company Accounts first appeared in 1971 and quickly achieved recognition among managers, financial and non-financial alike. It is now seen as the standard text in the subject. It aims to help anyone using company accounts to gain a firm grasp of what they mean and how they relate to business activities. This new eighth edition has been thoroughly updated to ensure that examples and appendix materials are relevant to the new accounting standards. The Meaning of Company Accounts first appeared in 1971 and quickly achieved recognition among managers, financial and non-financial alike. It is now seen as the standard text in the subject. It aims to help anyone using company accounts to gain a firm grasp of what they mean and how they relate to business activities. Throughout the book, ideas are developed in a logical, structured sequence, involving a high degree of reader participation, while at the same time being extremely flexible. The workbook approach, including examples to be worked through, enables readers to achieve understanding of topics they may previously have found difficult. and appendices are current. It includes up-to-date references of both international and UK accounting standards.

Volume 2 of this set contains the full text of the FDA regulations, EC and IPEC guidelines, and ISO/BSI standards referenced in the checklists furnished in Volume I. The book is presented in an convenient, easy-to-read format, organized to provide fast access to the guidelines and regulations of interest.

This book is designed to enable and encourage health professionals and family support workers to include fathers in the process of their work. It focuses on the enormous potential value of accessing men at a time they are known to be particularly receptive - before and after the birth - within the context of providing solutions in the debate about problematic aspects of masculinity and fatherhood. It looks at how important the father's role is within the family environment and how fathers should be encouraged to take part in the upbringing of their children.

The main objective of this book is to provide both academics and practitioners with a global vision of the evolution of internal auditing in a fast-changing business landscape driven by digital transformation. Digital transformation has been first associated with the emergence and the development of new technologies (artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, data analytics, predictive analytics, robotic process automation, IOT, drones etc.). Beyond the technological dimensions, this transformation has several impacts on businesses, organizations and processes and raises several questions for auditing activities. This book explores how digitalization not only has an impact on the audit environment, but also on internal audit practices and methodologies, information technology (IT)/information system (IS) audit, IT governance and risk management. The auditing profession also has to face the same challenges. Auditors should develop new skills. To continue to provide high quality service in such an environment, the methodologies, the process and the tools used for conducting an audit have progressively changed from those applied to the traditional audit. Internal audit, as a key strategic function, must evolve too. Finally, the book also investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal auditing. The author highlights the need for a new vision and renewed forecasting tools. The post-COVID-19 business and corporate world has changed. Internal audit, as a key strategic function, must evolve too.

Auditing has hit the headlines over recent years, and for all the wrong reasons, and in today's environment, the result of negligent auditing can be serious resulting in sizeable fines and even withdrawal of audit registration which can be costly in terms of fee income. Frequently Asked Questions in International Standards on Auditing presents the relevant standards in a concise and jargon-free way, enabling auditors to appreciate the reasoning behind the standards and undertake audit work effectively. This book focuses on the main areas of the auditing standards and also addresses some key areas where audit firms are failing and which have been flagged up by audit regulators. The FAQs cover the main parts of each standard, and each question will be answered in a practical context, with worked examples showing how the standards are applied in real situations.

This book provides not only practical guidance on how to manage resources but also a critical examination of the conventional techniques of financial planning and control through the introduction of new approaches. Additional chapters have been added to introduce Strategic Management Accounting, Activity Based Costing and the Balanced Scorecard, New Performance Measures, Venture Capital, Knowledge Management and Outsourcing, and Financial Considerations of eBusiness. In this third edition, the book has been revised to encourage the reader to think about and reflect upon the emergence of recent principles and practices related to financial planning and control. While it is addressed primarily to business managers with an interest in financial planning and control, the range of subjects covered and the breadth of approach adopted by many of the contributors will make the Handbook of Financial Planning and Control especially useful to those managers in non-financial functions (as well as students of management) who must reconcile theory with the everyday reality of modern business practice.

Accounting has a reputation as a technical and jargon-heavy subject, but there is no reason why those without formal training cannot master the basics of interpreting accounts and making good decisions. Accounting for Non-Accountants assumes no prior knowledge of the subject area and is designed to serve as an introductory text for managers and non-specialists who wish to gain an oversight of the accounting discipline. The book covers both financial and management accounting in sufficient detail to allow data to be interpreted but in a clear and accessible manner so the reader can quickly gain an understanding of the basic principles of the subject area. Now in its 12th edition, Accounting for Non-Accountants has been fully updated to the latest regulatory requirements including the UK GAAP framework, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The final chapter focuses on the impact of changes in the economic environment on businesses and there are introductions to areas including tax, transfer pricing and creative accounting. This practical guide includes review questions in each chapter, with answers and workings where appropriate, and is supported online by over 200 questions and a glossary to develop a firm understanding of all topics.

The factors determining the formation of accounting principles in different countries have long been studied. Cultural conditions have been identified as one of the reasons for national variations. This issue is particularly important when there is an effort to harmonise and standardise accounting principles, in order to create a uniform system, which may be adopted globally. This book explores the impact of cultural conditions on the financial reporting quality of public companies preparing financial statements according to International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It discusses the main trends in the theory of capital and earnings in the economy. The book focuses on the relationship between the cultural dimensions under analysis, such as power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/feminity, strong uncertainty/weak uncertainty, short/ long time orientation and indulgence/restraint, and the properties of the financial results; persistence, predictive value, accrual adjustments and earnings smoothing. It identifies the determinants - cultural conditions that have a statistically material impact, either positive or negative, on various attributes of the quality of the financial results of public companies. The book contains an up-to-date, in-depth description of the financial statements of public companies, across of variety of countries and sectors. The publication is addressed to researchers and students concerned with the functioning of capital markets and financial reporting quality and those who would like to expand their knowledge in the field of behavioural finance, as well as investors in capital markets.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data based applications in accounting and auditing have become pervasive in recent years. However, research on the societal implications of the widespread and partly unregulated use of AI and Big Data in several industries remains scarce despite salient and competing utopian and dystopian narratives. This book focuses on the transformation of accounting and auditing based on AI and Big Data. It not only provides a thorough and critical overview of the status-quo and the reports surrounding these technologies, but it also presents a future outlook on the ethical and normative implications concerning opportunities, risks, and limits. The book discusses topics such as future, human-machine collaboration, cybernetic approaches to decision-making, and ethical guidelines for good corporate governance of AI-based algorithms and Big Data in accounting and auditing. It clarifies the issues surrounding the digital transformation in this arena, delineates its boundaries, and highlights the essential issues and debates within and concerning this rapidly developing field. The authors develop a range of analytic approaches to the subject, both appreciative and sceptical, and synthesise new theoretical constructs that make better sense of human-machine collaborations in accounting and auditing. This book offers academics a variety of new research and theory building on digital accounting and auditing from and for accounting and auditing scholars, economists, organisations, and management academics and political and philosophical thinkers. Also, as a landmark work in a new area of current policy interest, it will engage regulators and policy makers, reflective practitioners, and media commentators through its authoritative contributions, editorial framing and discussion, and sector studies and cases.

This book examines current topics and trends in strategic auditing, accounting and finance in digital transformation both from a theoretical and practical perspective. It covers areas such as internal control, corporate governance, enterprise risk management, sustainability and competition. The contributors of this volume emphasize how strategic approaches in this area help companies in achieving targets. The contributions illustrate how by providing good governance, reliable financial reporting, and accountability, businesses can win a competitive advantage. It further discusses how new technological developments like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersystems, network technologies, financial mobility and smart applications, will shape the future of accounting and auditing for firms.