Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study provides both survey and experimental evidence to consider how social interactions between staff-level auditors and client management may affect staff auditors' perceptions and influence their decisions regarding the collection of audit evidence. During fieldwork, staff-level auditors have extensive interaction with client management. Survey evidence suggests that these staff-level auditors are often \"mismatched\" with client management, in terms of their experience, age, and accounting knowledge. Experimental results indicate that staff-level auditors may reduce the extent to which they collect evidence to avoid these interactions. Finally, the use of email communication with client management helped to mitigate the reduction in evidence collected caused by avoiding in-person interactions. Interestingly, when not collecting all the evidence, approximately half of the participants documented their findings in a vague or inappropriate manner, which would likely reduce the likelihood that reviewing auditors would identify a problem. Given the extent of audit evidence collected by young staff auditors, these findings have direct implications for workpaper and audit quality.

At the level of a regulated capital market, reporting a complete set of financial statements that includes quality financial information is the main user`s intention for strategic or operational decision making. Their decisions are influenced, among other things, by the independent and objective opinions of the audit profession, which ensures the fair representation, under the most significant aspects, of the financial position and performance. The major financial scandals have brought into question the role of the audit profession, as well as the adoption of new audit standards or methodologies that contribute to increasing the quality of audit missions and, implicitly, audit reports. Reporting in audit has seen many changes over time, the most recent being those relating to the inclusion of Key Audit Matters (KAM) as separate section in the auditor’s report. The purpose of this requirement is to increase the communicative value of the audit report by ensuring greater transparency to support stakeholders. In this context, it is of interest to what extent the audit reports of the entities listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange issued after the application of the new reporting requirements in audit ensure a higher communicative value and, implicitly, a higher quality of the financial audit missions. This study is based on the analysis of the mandatory audit reports related to the financial years that ended at the end of the years: 2016, 2017 and 2018 of the companies listed on the BSE on the main market, in order to highlight the quality of the financial audit missions as a result of the obligation that the auditors have to include in the published reports Key Audit Matters (KAM) in a separate section.

PurposeThe study examines the psychometric properties of internal communication satisfaction questionnaire (ICSQ), an instrument originally developed in Croatian. A need for a contemporary instrument validated among a non-English-speaking population of employees who use English as their second language motivated the authors to translate the scale.Design/methodology/approachICSQ was validated on a sample of 507 employees of a large Croatian subsidiary of a multinational bank, where English is the official corporate language.FindingsICSQ displayed satisfactory levels of psychometric properties, retaining the psychometric properties of the original version of the instrument. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed the acceptable model–data fit of the eight-factor model. Additionally, findings supported the reliability and construct validity of the English version of the instrument. Good internal consistencies of all eight internal communication satisfaction (ICS) dimensions and the total ICSQ and an adequate level of scale homogeneity according to the inter-item and inter-total correlations were found.Research limitations/implicationsIn order to generalize the study’s results to other business areas and industries, the study should be replicated in other contexts. Additionally, construct validity was tested by applying cross-sectional design, and therefore, no conclusion can be drawn on the causal direction of the relationship. Finally, the discriminant validity of ICSQ was not tested and should be examined in future studies.Practical implicationsThe resulting 32-item instrument, in English, can be used for empirical and practical purposes in improving internal communication.Originality/valueThe study confirms that internal communication is a multidimensional construct and should be measured as such.

Prior research regarding communication audits within organizations depicts a general understanding of various aspects of the communication process that augment productivity. The present study aimed at validating a newly developed scale that measures internal communication maturity within organizations through an employee-centric approach rather than a management-centric one. The present study employs a cross-sectional survey research design. A total of 2071 employees (94.4% male; 5.6% female) from the logistic industry across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were approached through convenience sampling. Based on the literature review and results derived from interviews, 16 items were generated with a 5-point Likert response format. Results indicated the measure is reliable and valid. Reliability analysis showed good alpha reliability coefficients (>0.75) between total internal communication satisfaction and its subscales (awareness, appreciation, relationship, engagement and maturity). The correlation matrix from EFA revealed the presence of coefficients of 0.3 and above, indicating the data is fit for factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable model-data fit of the five-factor model. Data were collected only from the logistics industry; however, data can be gathered from other industries as well. Furthermore, cross-sectional data are used in the current study; therefore, they cannot be used to infer a causal relationship. The present study will be broadly helpful in diagnosing specific communication areas and formulating recommendations for improvement. The instrument will be worthwhile in communication audits of organizations.

Integrated care pathways in use in Britain Medical conditions Acute myocardial infarction Chest pain Unstable angina Deep venous thrombosis Care of the elderly: acute admission Depression in the elderly Rehabilitation of multiple sclerosis (acute care) Stroke Transient ischaemic attack Asthma Inflammatory bowel disease Varicose veins Acute pneumonia Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive lung disease Surgical conditions or procedures Abdominal hysterectomy Total hip joint replacement Total knee joint replacement Management of fractured neck of femur Colectomy Prostatectomy Carotid endarterectomy Laminectomy Coronary artery bypass graft Open and laparoscopic cholecystectomy Transurethral resection of the prostate Aortic/mitral valve replacement Mastectomy Laparoscopic hernia repair The following steps are should be taken to develop integrated care pathways. [...]research that explores the effectiveness of different approaches to implementating clinical guidelines should include the assessment of integrated care pathways as one promising approach.

Purpose To examine the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life version 18 (ADDQoL-18). Methods We assessed the reliability (Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlations) and construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficients) of the instrument in a sample of 292 adults in Norway aged 42.3 (SD 14.2) years. Results Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.88) and 4-week test–retest stability (intraclass correlations = 0.87) were satisfactory. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the one-factor structure of the ADDQoL-18 fits moderately (χ2/df ratio = 3.846, comparative fit index = 0.792, root mean square error of approximation = 0.099). Standardized coefficients showed that all domains loaded >0.4, except for one item. We found a satisfactory correlation between the ADDQoL-18 and the SF-36 Health Survey summary scales (physical health and mental health summary scales) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The total score was negatively associated with HbA1c (r = −0.18; P < 0.002), indicating that lower scores on the ADDQoL-18 were related to poorer glycemic control. Analysis regarding discriminant validity showed that the average weighted impact scores were mostly reduced among those reporting neuropathy and foot problems. Conclusions The Norwegian version of the ADDQoL-18 showed high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and similar construct validity as the original instrument. Overall, the results supported the ADDQoL-18 being feasible for use in Norway.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop the measures required to assess organizational communication for Japanese organizations, specifically focusing on Japanese care facilities. Design/methodology/approach The data collected from the two-wave panel research, using the question items generated from a literature survey and several interview and focus group interview research were statistically analyzed. For the first wave of the research, questionnaires were distributed to 850 workers in June 2014. In all, 356 completed questionnaires were returned directly to the researcher, a response rate of 41.9 percent. For the second wave of the research, the questionnaires were distributed to 719 workers in February 2015, and 386 completed questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 53.69 percent. Findings Some items were excluded as a result of the exploratory factor analysis using the first-wave data and the constructs of the questions of each dimension of communication were confirmed as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis using the second-wave data. Originality/value While significant research into communication audits has been conducted across a wide variety of organizations in the USA and Europe, very few studies have focused on the development of an appropriate communication audit instrument for Japan. The development of a Japanese communication audit questionnaire is critical. In addition, instruments specific to industries are also required. This is the first study that focused on developing a Japanese organizational communication audit.

This paper reports two experiments in which Big 5 audit managers estimate reported (audited) earnings conditional on analysts' consensus forecast, auditing standards, and auditor discovery of a quantitatively immaterial earnings overstatement. We find that auditors judge overstatement correction less likely if it would cause a missed forecast, even for objectively measured misstatements. This behavior is consistent with SEC Chairman Levitt's concerns about opportunistic corrections to manage earnings to forecasts. Also, SAS No. 89's mandated representations and communications do not increase corrections that would cause a missed forecast, indicating that the Auditing Standards Board has limited ability to reduce opportunistic corrections through such regulations.

We study a principal's choice to centralize or delegate decisions to an agent when delegation can be used to encourage the agent to communicate potential problems. We find that the principal may choose centralization either to exercise better control over the agent's actions or to provide stronger incentives. Delegation emerges in equilibrium only if the costs of effort to acquire information for both the principal and the agent are sufficiently high. We find that increases in the principal's penalties for an incorrect decision may increase the principal's expected payoff, owing to optimal organizational responses. In addition, catastrophic risk, the risk of incorrectly accepting a defective audit (or product), may be greater under centralization than under delegation. Furthermore, catastrophic risk can be increased by well-intentioned legislative efforts to decrease such risk by, for example, increasing the agent's penalties for failing to take a corrective action, because the organizational structure may change.

The US Government has been and, for the foreseeable future, will continue to be the largest purchaser of construction services in the world. Competition for government construction contracts is fierce, in part due to the continuing slump in the construction industry. Construction rarely proceeds exactly as planned. When things do not go as planned, claims arise. The US Government takes contractor claims seriously. To help ensure that the government does not overpay, contractor requests for equitable adjustment and claims, where significant, are audited by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). Because many construction contractors and their attorneys (and even some government attorneys) are unfamiliar with DCAA, this article will present basic information about the agency and the audit process. DCAA performs all contract auditing for Department of Defense contracts and subcontracts, including all audits of construction claims. DCAA plays a critical role in dispute resolution. The audit provides transparency for the government in an area of the contractor's claim where the government typically has the least insight.