Improving the 21st century audit. Financial reports are a key part of an efficient capital market and a central role of auditing is to add creditability to the financial reports. The corporate failures in the recent years have shaken investor confidence. The regulators and the auditing profession have an important role to play in bringing back that trust. The auditing profession needs to continue to evolve to deliver at the high standards expected of them especially in regard to auditors' abilit ....Improving the 21st century audit. Financial reports are a key part of an efficient capital market and a central role of auditing is to add creditability to the financial reports. The corporate failures in the recent years have shaken investor confidence. The regulators and the auditing profession have an important role to play in bringing back that trust. The auditing profession needs to continue to evolve to deliver at the high standards expected of them especially in regard to auditors' ability to uncover material fraud at a reasonable cost. This research will study techniques that will help auditors in meeting the challenges faced by them in detecting fraudulent financial statements and thus improve the audit quality.Read moreRead less
Improving Auditor Negotiations. Given the uncertainty in many accounting judgments it is widely recognised that auditor/client negotiations are pervasive in the auditing environment. This project empirically tests two interventions aimed at improving the outcomes of the negotiation process. The aim is to develop an understanding of when these interventions are effective and what causes the improvements. Given the increased globalisation of business, the study further examines how cultural factor ....Improving Auditor Negotiations. Given the uncertainty in many accounting judgments it is widely recognised that auditor/client negotiations are pervasive in the auditing environment. This project empirically tests two interventions aimed at improving the outcomes of the negotiation process. The aim is to develop an understanding of when these interventions are effective and what causes the improvements. Given the increased globalisation of business, the study further examines how cultural factors impact negotiation outcomes and processes in both intercultural negotiations and intracultural negotiations.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
Consistency of going concern audit report modifications over time, audit firms and countries. This research has both national and international benefits. Evidence of the consistency of the going concern audit reporting decision over time and by audit firms in Australia is important to financial report users. Further, an examination of audit reporting behaviour across countries contributes to international convergence. Without consistent application, the benefits of convergence decrease and trans ....Consistency of going concern audit report modifications over time, audit firms and countries. This research has both national and international benefits. Evidence of the consistency of the going concern audit reporting decision over time and by audit firms in Australia is important to financial report users. Further, an examination of audit reporting behaviour across countries contributes to international convergence. Without consistent application, the benefits of convergence decrease and transactions costs and information risk increase. Australia has a policy of international convergence and it is important that Australian representatives have input into the standard-setting process and policy and research supporting these standards both nationally and internationally. The research team can have this input.Read moreRead less
Do Converged International Auditing Standards Result in Converged International Auditor Behaviour? This research has both national and international benefits. International convergence of standards is beneficial as it reduces costs incurred in understanding and evaluating variations in national auditing standards. However, if auditor behaviour does not converge under converged standards, such benefits are reduced, and costs and information risk are increased. Australia has a policy of internatio ....Do Converged International Auditing Standards Result in Converged International Auditor Behaviour? This research has both national and international benefits. International convergence of standards is beneficial as it reduces costs incurred in understanding and evaluating variations in national auditing standards. However, if auditor behaviour does not converge under converged standards, such benefits are reduced, and costs and information risk are increased. Australia has a policy of international convergence by 2005, and it is important that Australian representatives have input into the standard-setting process, and policy and research supporting these standards. Simnett, being the academic on the international standard-setting body, is in a unique position to directly provide this input, and improve the quality of these standards. Read moreRead less