Evaluating innovative assurance practices for sustainability reporting. While entities are today accountable for and report on a broader range of social and environmental issues, such enhanced reporting must be credible to be relied upon. Evaluating settings where innovative credibility-enhancing mechanisms are proposed or disclosed, this project aims to explore the efficacy of these evolving mechanisms and their impact on information quality and users. This project is expected to make significa ....Evaluating innovative assurance practices for sustainability reporting. While entities are today accountable for and report on a broader range of social and environmental issues, such enhanced reporting must be credible to be relied upon. Evaluating settings where innovative credibility-enhancing mechanisms are proposed or disclosed, this project aims to explore the efficacy of these evolving mechanisms and their impact on information quality and users. This project is expected to make significant contributions in identifying and evaluating best practice credibility-enhancing techniques and informing policy and standard-setting options in Australia and overseas. The benefits include higher quality and more reliable disclosures resulting in better resource allocation decisions and informed policy determinations.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101159
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$434,287.00
Summary
Climate Change: The Role of Reporting, Auditing and Executive Remuneration . This project addresses the need for corporate disclosures on climate-related risks. It aims to generate new knowledge about reporting and auditing of climate-related information and how these metrics are incorporated into executives’ remuneration. Utilizing the latest global developments, the project will highlight best practices under both voluntary and mandatory reporting regimes and provide cross-jurisdictional evide ....Climate Change: The Role of Reporting, Auditing and Executive Remuneration . This project addresses the need for corporate disclosures on climate-related risks. It aims to generate new knowledge about reporting and auditing of climate-related information and how these metrics are incorporated into executives’ remuneration. Utilizing the latest global developments, the project will highlight best practices under both voluntary and mandatory reporting regimes and provide cross-jurisdictional evidence on the impact of mandatory reporting schemes. It will also test the effectiveness of reporting, auditing and remuneration in achieving carbon emissions reductions and meeting capital market demands. The project will lead to improved capital market efficiency and informed policy making in Australia and internationally. Read moreRead less
Elevating auditor professional scepticism by way of improved regulation. This project aims to examine and test alternate regulatory approaches that address ongoing and long standing concerns of audit firm quality inspectors that auditors are not exercising a sufficiently high level of professional scepticism. The project expects to provide strong, empirically-based knowledge on the most effective means of discharging regulatory responsibilities over the audit profession. Expected outcomes of th ....Elevating auditor professional scepticism by way of improved regulation. This project aims to examine and test alternate regulatory approaches that address ongoing and long standing concerns of audit firm quality inspectors that auditors are not exercising a sufficiently high level of professional scepticism. The project expects to provide strong, empirically-based knowledge on the most effective means of discharging regulatory responsibilities over the audit profession. Expected outcomes of this project include improvements in regulatory practice and an enhanced capacity for Australia's interests to be represented in the development of international auditing standards and regulations.Read moreRead less
Judgment and decision making using ESG performance information. Organisations face increasing pressure to deliver value aligned with both financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Yet we know very little about the way in which managers within these organisations use financial and nonfinancial ESG performance information to make decisions that support their ESG goals. This project aims to examine how managers use ESG performance information to make internal business decision ....Judgment and decision making using ESG performance information. Organisations face increasing pressure to deliver value aligned with both financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Yet we know very little about the way in which managers within these organisations use financial and nonfinancial ESG performance information to make decisions that support their ESG goals. This project aims to examine how managers use ESG performance information to make internal business decisions, and create new knowledge on how an organisation’s performance measurement system influences their decision making processes. Our project outcomes will benefit preparers and users of ESG information within organisations, who by making better ESG-related decisions can create long-term value for all stakeholders.Read moreRead less
Climate Risk Disclosure: Developing Measures for Best Practice . This project aims to investigate how firms should disclose the impact of climate-related risk on financial statements, the contribution of their own activities to climate risk and a best practice set of quantifiable metrics that can be assured by auditors. The aims will be achieved through surveys of chief financial officers and auditors and generation of input-output models at the firm level. The outcomes will benefit accountants ....Climate Risk Disclosure: Developing Measures for Best Practice . This project aims to investigate how firms should disclose the impact of climate-related risk on financial statements, the contribution of their own activities to climate risk and a best practice set of quantifiable metrics that can be assured by auditors. The aims will be achieved through surveys of chief financial officers and auditors and generation of input-output models at the firm level. The outcomes will benefit accountants and auditors who calibrate these impacts, and regulators such as the Australian Accounting Standards Board and Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, in developing accounting disclosure and auditing standards. It is vital to investors, insurers and governments for efficient resource allocation and planning. Read moreRead less
Serious workplace fraud: How it is sustained and how organisations respond. This project aims to develop knowledge on how serious workplace fraud is sustained by offenders, particularly through thinking patterns and coping mechanisms, and responded to by organisations that are dealing with offenders and modifying control system deficiencies. The project will be a qualitative study, drawing evidence from interviews, with offenders, and with victim organisation representatives, and triangulated wi ....Serious workplace fraud: How it is sustained and how organisations respond. This project aims to develop knowledge on how serious workplace fraud is sustained by offenders, particularly through thinking patterns and coping mechanisms, and responded to by organisations that are dealing with offenders and modifying control system deficiencies. The project will be a qualitative study, drawing evidence from interviews, with offenders, and with victim organisation representatives, and triangulated with available secondary materials such as court reports, media coverage, and internal memoranda and presentations. The project will add to expert knowledge in forensic accounting by developing new typologies of fraud enablers and management control responses, which aim to advance best practice in mitigating serious workplace fraud. The knowledge generated will advance anti-fraud training, forensic accounting, management control system design and standard setting.Read moreRead less
Financial performance, uncertainty and corporate investment decisions. It is well understood that the provision of financial reports to external stakeholders impacts their decision making. Yet the extent to which externally reported financial measures such as earnings can resolve uncertainty, and their influence on corporate investment decisions is largely unknown. This project identifies how disaggregation of earnings into market-, industry- and firm-specific components explains differences in ....Financial performance, uncertainty and corporate investment decisions. It is well understood that the provision of financial reports to external stakeholders impacts their decision making. Yet the extent to which externally reported financial measures such as earnings can resolve uncertainty, and their influence on corporate investment decisions is largely unknown. This project identifies how disaggregation of earnings into market-, industry- and firm-specific components explains differences in the quality of financial information, and the implication for accounting standards regulating the reporting of periodic performance. It applies the resulting insights to identify an uncertainty reduction role for financial reporting, and the way in which information contained in earnings impacts investment decisions. Read moreRead less
Data breaches: A study of organisational disclosures. This project aims to study data breach disclosure rules and practices in Australia. Organisations are under growing pressure to inform individuals, regulators and the public of data breaches and this project will explore how these responsibilities are conceptualised within organisations, and how they are discharged in practice. We expect to yield rich empirical insights into both the voluntary and mandatory reporting of data related breaches, ....Data breaches: A study of organisational disclosures. This project aims to study data breach disclosure rules and practices in Australia. Organisations are under growing pressure to inform individuals, regulators and the public of data breaches and this project will explore how these responsibilities are conceptualised within organisations, and how they are discharged in practice. We expect to yield rich empirical insights into both the voluntary and mandatory reporting of data related breaches, the scope and form of disclosures, the organisational framing of data related accountability, and we expect to provide insights into best practice. The project will lead to refereed research publications and policy relevant research reports.Read moreRead less
Interactions of Human and Machine Intelligence in Modern Economic Systems. Much of modern economic systems are driven by machine-machine and machine-human interactions that happens rapidly at large scale. But such interactions are often opaque and can have negative or catastrophic consequences, such as market plunges with no apparent economic reasons in financial trading, content recommendations that promote extremism, algorithms in gig economy leading to worker exploitation and wasted resources ....Interactions of Human and Machine Intelligence in Modern Economic Systems. Much of modern economic systems are driven by machine-machine and machine-human interactions that happens rapidly at large scale. But such interactions are often opaque and can have negative or catastrophic consequences, such as market plunges with no apparent economic reasons in financial trading, content recommendations that promote extremism, algorithms in gig economy leading to worker exploitation and wasted resources. This project aims for new theoretical results and algorithms at the intersection computational economics, game theory, and dynamical systems, that establish conditions under which the economic systems are stable, propose mechanisms that make the interactions more fair, transparent and aligned with human values.Read moreRead less
Computational Mechanisms of Online Attention Markets. The internet has operated as an major exchange of information and attention for the past few decades, yet surprisingly little is known about how individual choices and collective attention interact, let alone about how different parties can influence or control it. This project aims to uncover the mathematical underpinnings between individual actions and collective trends in online attention market, design computational methods for estimating ....Computational Mechanisms of Online Attention Markets. The internet has operated as an major exchange of information and attention for the past few decades, yet surprisingly little is known about how individual choices and collective attention interact, let alone about how different parties can influence or control it. This project aims to uncover the mathematical underpinnings between individual actions and collective trends in online attention market, design computational methods for estimating and influencing attention allocation, and enable applications where content consumers, producers, hosting platforms and regulatory bodies are each empowered with their share of influence in the attention market.Read moreRead less