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
Improving fraud detection, financial reporting quality, investor confidence and market returns by using specialist auditors. As investors, managers and auditors grapple with the global financial crisis effects, this project's findings will help them by showing how and when auditor specialisation contributes to greater financial statement quality and returns. Investors will benefit from lower audit costs, increased audit quality and more credible financial statements.
A Longitudinal Study of Recurrent Audit Failure in Australian Corporate Collapses from 1885 to the Present. As starkly illustrated with Enron in the US and with HIH in Australia, corporate collapse and audit failure may be interrelated. In response to repeated instances of audit failure, legislative and other reforms are typically adopted in order to ensure that auditor indiscretions are curtailed. Unfortunately, audit failure persists. This longitudinal Australian study of audit failure in the ....A Longitudinal Study of Recurrent Audit Failure in Australian Corporate Collapses from 1885 to the Present. As starkly illustrated with Enron in the US and with HIH in Australia, corporate collapse and audit failure may be interrelated. In response to repeated instances of audit failure, legislative and other reforms are typically adopted in order to ensure that auditor indiscretions are curtailed. Unfortunately, audit failure persists. This longitudinal Australian study of audit failure in the context of corporate collapse from the mid 1880s aims to enhance an understanding of audit failure and why it recurs. The study's findings are expected to inform future enquires and court cases and assist in developing public policy and future legislative reforms.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
Modeling the relations between the incidence of within-firm corporate fraud and the quality of corporate governance structures. Organisations operating in market economies have agency problems because the managers of the firm are rarely the owners. One costly outcome is the incidence of fraud within organisations. In recent times organisations have developed and refined corporate governance structures. To date there has been little analysis of the effect that corporate governance has on the inci ....Modeling the relations between the incidence of within-firm corporate fraud and the quality of corporate governance structures. Organisations operating in market economies have agency problems because the managers of the firm are rarely the owners. One costly outcome is the incidence of fraud within organisations. In recent times organisations have developed and refined corporate governance structures. To date there has been little analysis of the effect that corporate governance has on the incidence of with-in firm fraud. The aim of this research is to build and test a model of the relations between within-firm fraud and corporate governance systems that can be used as a diagnostic tool by industry to monitor and manage risk.Read moreRead less
Performance Management using Balanced Scorecards to Improve the Performance of Australian Manufacturing Organizations. The balanced scorecard is a performance management technique that has been promoted to assist managers of Australian manufacturing companies improve the performance of their organizations. However, there is little empirical evidence to support an association between scorecards and enhanced performance and there is much to be discovered about how they promote effective outcomes. ....Performance Management using Balanced Scorecards to Improve the Performance of Australian Manufacturing Organizations. The balanced scorecard is a performance management technique that has been promoted to assist managers of Australian manufacturing companies improve the performance of their organizations. However, there is little empirical evidence to support an association between scorecards and enhanced performance and there is much to be discovered about how they promote effective outcomes. This study provides a significant conceptual advance by proposing that scorecards will enhance performance when they are 'comprehensive' in design. This enhancement in performance occurs as comprehensiveness assists product innovation and aligns manufacturing with strategy. The theoretical and empirical outcomes of the research are significant as the appropriate application of balanced scorecards can assist Australian firms compete effectively in global markets.Read moreRead less
The role of Activity-based costing within the Defence Forces. The aim of the research project is to enhance understanding of the implementation processes involved in the effective application of Activity-based Cost Management (ABCM) within Defence Organizations. A framework is developed that draws on organizational theories as they relate to behavioral implementation factors and change management. The research proposes that the beneficial effects of ABCM require attention to behavioral and org ....The role of Activity-based costing within the Defence Forces. The aim of the research project is to enhance understanding of the implementation processes involved in the effective application of Activity-based Cost Management (ABCM) within Defence Organizations. A framework is developed that draws on organizational theories as they relate to behavioral implementation factors and change management. The research proposes that the beneficial effects of ABCM require attention to behavioral and organizational factors during the early stages of implementation. Attention to several of these factors provides the basis to overcome resistance to change in early implementation, while attention to others ensures sustained development and acceptance of ABCM.Read moreRead less
Ensuring audit quality through regulation: modelling how regulation can change audit partner behaviour. This project will develop a model of how characteristics of regulation can change audit partner behaviour. Guidelines to incorporate the model into regulators’ decision-making will be developed. These guidelines will provide regulators with a unique tool to ensure Australian audit regulation achieves its intended aim of improving audit quality.
Developing a Resource Allocation Framework to support more effective police investigations of major crime. The project addresses National Research Priority 4: Safeguarding Australia. This priority has a goal to protect Australia from terrorism and crime. Improving resource allocation decisions will enable police resources to be more effective in detecting and preventing crime. The project addresses the goal of all police agencies to reduce crime by enhancing the capability to manage resources mo ....Developing a Resource Allocation Framework to support more effective police investigations of major crime. The project addresses National Research Priority 4: Safeguarding Australia. This priority has a goal to protect Australia from terrorism and crime. Improving resource allocation decisions will enable police resources to be more effective in detecting and preventing crime. The project addresses the goal of all police agencies to reduce crime by enhancing the capability to manage resources more efficiently and effectively. This requires a more innovative culture that uses the available management information intelligently to make better (in terms of outcomes) resource allocation decisions. Read moreRead less
Impact of Intelligent Decision Aids on Human Knowledge Acquisition. Our aim is to identify new factors that enhance learning and knowledge acquisition from an intelligent decision aid. The research will assess the ability of alternative designs of an intelligent decision aid's advanced explanation and learning facilities to affect the transfer of complex knowledge structures to novice insolvency practitioners. The result of the study is critical to understanding the factors necessary for succes ....Impact of Intelligent Decision Aids on Human Knowledge Acquisition. Our aim is to identify new factors that enhance learning and knowledge acquisition from an intelligent decision aid. The research will assess the ability of alternative designs of an intelligent decision aid's advanced explanation and learning facilities to affect the transfer of complex knowledge structures to novice insolvency practitioners. The result of the study is critical to understanding the factors necessary for successfully deploying and leveraging intelligent decision aids in practice.Read moreRead less