Voluntary Demand for Internal and External Auditing by Family Businesses

This study investigates voluntary demand for auditing by family businesses, a significant but relatively unexplored segment of the economy. The paper considers demand for both internal and external auditing by using survey data to investigate the impact of firm characteristics linked to the cost vs. benefit of engaging an auditor. Variables examined are firm size, debt, and two agency proxies that measure separation of ownership and control, namely, the proportion of nonfamily management in the firm, and the proportion of nonfamily representation on the board of directors. The paper also considers the association between internal and external auditing. Descriptive results on voluntary demand for auditing by 186 family businesses revealed that internal audit was more prevalent than external audit, and outsourcing was a common method for providing internal audit. Results from logistic regression analyses provide support for the hypothesized impact of the two agency proxies and firm debt on demand for external audit, but do not explain the demand for internal audit. For firms that voluntarily engaged an auditor (internal and/or external audit), the negative and significant correlation between internal and external audit suggest that in the family business environment they are more commonly viewed as substitute rather than complementary responses.

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The Construction of Engineering Projects Environmental Performance Auditing

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.834-836.2045 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 834-836 ◽

pp. 2045-2048

Author(s):

Xiao Ning Qu

Keyword(s):

Environmental Performance ◽

Internal Audit ◽

Engineering Project ◽

Whole Process ◽

Social Audit ◽

Multi Level ◽

Performance Auditing ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Engineering Projects

The Environmental performance auditing is one professional audit that auditing the environmental performance of engineering project. We construct a multi-level auditing network in the whole process of project. That network can be divided into government audit, social audit and internal audit. And with which we predict, evaluate and control the impact on environmental effectively.

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Strong governance: a result of evolutionary and revolutionary processes

Journal of Family Business Management ◽

10.1108/jfbm-08-2014-0020 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 99-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lorna Collins ◽

Ken McCracken ◽

Barbara Murray ◽

Martin Stepek

Keyword(s):

Family Business ◽

Best Practice ◽

Family Dynamics ◽

Family Businesses ◽

Formal Structure ◽

Governance Mechanisms ◽

Content Type ◽

The Family ◽

The Uk ◽

The Impact

Purpose – This paper is the first in a regular series of articles in JFBM that will share “a conversation with” thought leaders who are active in the family business space. The world of family business is, like many other arenas, constantly evolving and as the authors learn more about how and why families “do business” the approaches and tools for working with them also evolve. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate further new research in areas that practically affect family businesses and to “open the door” to practical insights that will excite researchers and provide impetus for new and exciting study. The specific purpose of this paper is to explore “what is strong governance.” There has been much interest in governance lately yet there is a tendency to treat governance in a formulaic way such that, at the moment, the notion that every family business must have a family council or a formal structure in order to be considered “effective” and “successful” predominates. The authors’ panel challenges and discusses this notion drawing on the experience and knowledge as family business advisors, consultants and owners. Design/methodology/approach – The impetus for this particular conversation is a result of a brainstorming conversation that Lorna Collins and Barbara Murray held in February 2014 where they focussed on “how JFBM can encourage and stimulate researchers to engage in aspects of research that makes a difference to the family business in a practical way.” This paper reports a conversation between Barbara Murray (Barbara), Ken McCracken (Ken) and Martin Stepek (Martin), three leading lights in the UK family business advising space, all of whom have been involved in running or advising family businesses for more than three decades, held in August 2015. The conversation was held via telephone and lasted just over 60 minutes. Lorna Collins acted as moderator. Findings – Strong governance is not just about instituting a “family council” or embedding formal governance mechanisms in a family business. Evolutionary adaption by family members usually prevails such that any mechanism is changed and adapted over time to suit and fit the needs of the family business. Many successful family businesses do not have recognized “formal” governance mechanisms but, it is contended, they are still highly successful and effective. Future areas of research in governance are also suggested. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the family business discourse because the debate it reports challenges the basic assumptions upon which much consulting and advisory practice is conducted. It also challenges the notion of “best practice” and what is “new best practice” and how is it that any “best practice” is determined to be “best.” Furthermore, the panel provides insights in to the “impact of family dynamics on governance” and “the impact of family dynamics on advisors.” The paper content is original in that it provides an authentic and timely narrative between active family business practitioners who are also scholars and owners.

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The Family Company in Spain

Maintaining Sustainable Accounting Systems in Small Business - Advances in Finance, Accounting, and Economics ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5267-3.ch012 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 237-257

Author(s):

Ma Asunción López-Arranz

Keyword(s):

Business Environment ◽

Family Values ◽

Family Businesses ◽

Business Activity ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Quality Requirements ◽

Business Innovation ◽

Technological Advances ◽

The Family

The objective and justification of the chapter focuses on the importance that family businesses in Spain have in the current business environment, which is characterized by great instability. Also in the center of focus is how these family businesses integrate family values with a sustainable business. Innovation, technological advances, market internationalization, quality requirements, and the differentiation of products and/or services, among others, have led to important reflections on how to organize companies, especially family businesses. Nowadays and as a result of the economic crisis, it has been possible to observe a growing creation of family businesses in Spain, which reflects a driving role of business activity in its capacity to undertake and contribute to innovation. Thus, the figures provided by the Institute of Family Business in 2016 show that 90% of Spanish companies are family businesses and contribute about 60% of Spanish GDP and represent 70% of jobs in the private sector as a whole.

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Understanding the internal audit function in a digitalised business environment

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change ◽

10.1108/jaoc-11-2019-0114 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Nathanaël Betti ◽

Gerrit Sarens

Keyword(s):

Data Analytics ◽

New Technologies ◽

Internal Audit ◽

Business Environment ◽

Future Research ◽

The European Union ◽

Content Type ◽

Internal Auditors ◽

Internal Audit Function ◽

The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to gain an in-depth understanding of how the internal audit function evolves in an increasingly digitalised business environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on 29 semi-structured interviews with members of management committees and internal auditors based in Belgium. Findings The analysis reveals that a digitalised business environment affects the internal audit function in three respects. First, it impacts its scope. The agility of the internal audit planning and the required digital knowledge are expected to increase and information technology (IT) risks gain importance, especially cybersecurity threats. Second, the demand for consulting activities performed by internal auditors is higher and third, digitalisation modifies the working practices of internal auditors in their day-to-day tasks. New technologies such as data analytics tools are being implemented progressively in internal audit departments and digital skills are considered a critical asset. Research limitations/implications This research was conducted in the European Union and gathers opinions of members of management committees and internal auditors. Future research could focus on other internal auditing stakeholders in other legal contexts. Practical implications The internal audit function needs to integrate IT and data analytics skills. In addition, the internal audit function should develop consulting activities to help organisations deal with the digitalisation of the business environment. Originality/value The impact of digitalisation on the internal audit function and its effect on internal audit practices is an underexplored area.

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E-business internal audit: the elephant is still in the room!

Journal of Applied Accounting Research ◽

10.1108/jaar-10-2012-0072 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 43-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amr Kotb ◽

Alan Sangster ◽

David Henderson

Keyword(s):

Resistance To Change ◽

Internal Audit ◽

Business Environment ◽

Content Type ◽

Internal Auditors ◽

Internal Audit Function ◽

The Usa ◽

The Uk ◽

It Audit ◽

The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of technological change on the internal audit practices and skills requirements for internal auditors in an e-business environment. Design/methodology/approach – Generalist internal auditors and specialist information technology (IT) internal auditors were surveyed online in ten countries, including the USA and the UK which, together, provided the majority of responses. Findings – The results suggest a need for advanced IT-audit techniques in conducting the internal audit function, thereby increasing IT audit skill demands on generalist internal auditors. However, the results show a low confidence among internal auditors about their IT training and a continuing reliance upon IT audit specialists, rather than their own training/retraining. Research limitations/implications – The responses obtained in this study provide insight into both the status quo of the internal audit function, and to the changes that are needed to prepare generalist internal auditors for work in an e-business environment and, while the scale of the study limits the extent to which the findings may be generalized, they are consistent with the literature concerning the changing business environment and with the literature on resistance to change, suggesting that the issues revealed should be of concern. Practical implications – The results reported in this paper are useful to internal auditing educators and regulators in their consideration of the skills needed by generalist internal auditors in e-business environment. Originality/value – This study sheds light on a significantly growing area which remains relatively unexplored in the auditing-related literature, e-business audit. The study provides empirical evidence on challenges facing internal auditors in an e-business environment, thereby serving as a wake-up call, to both internal auditors and the professional bodies representing them, to defend their jurisdictional space against rival professional groups.

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A Mathematical Overview of the Monogamous Marriage in a Multiregion Framework: Modelling and Control

Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society ◽

10.1155/2020/9385261 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Mustapha Lhous ◽

Omar Zakary ◽

Mostafa Rachik

Keyword(s):

Public Awareness ◽

Control Process ◽

Optimal Strategies ◽

Social Consequences ◽

Family Status ◽

Time Model ◽

Awareness Campaigns ◽

The Family ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact

The main objective of this paper is to develop a new mathematical model to study, analyze, and control the family status in several regions and to discuss the impact of the connectivity of regions and the mobility of residents on the marital status of the family, by adopting a multiregion discrete-time model. The modelling and the control process of the system that describes the case of monogamous marriages in a multiregion framework are considered. Two combined control strategies are proposed, which allow reducing the virgin and divorced individuals and increasing the number of married individuals in a specific region. The first control is considered as the impact of public awareness campaigns to educate virgin men and women about the benefits of marriage for the individual and the society; the second control characterizes the legal procedures, administrative complications, and the heavy financial and social consequences of divorces. The optimal control theory is applied to characterize such optimal strategies and determined numerically using a progressive-regressive discrete scheme to discuss the obtained results.

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Guidance For The Audit Committee: Acquiring Professional Services

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR) ◽

10.19030/jabr.v20i3.2216 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Janet L. Colbert

Keyword(s):

Audit Committee ◽

Service Providers ◽

Internal Audit ◽

Professional Services ◽

Audit Committees ◽

Professional Service ◽

Font Size ◽

External Audit ◽

Sarbanes Oxley ◽

The Board Of Directors

Outside firms are often called upon to provide an entity with professional services.  Such services might include external audit, systems, accounting, appraisal and valuation, actuarial, consulting, tax, or agreed-upon procedures work.  The audit committee of the Board of Directors is typically the party within the entity responsible for hiring and overseeing these outside professional service providers.   The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 mandates that certain professional services, which may have previously been performed by the firm engaged to do the external audit, cannot be performed by that public accounting firm.  Thus, audit committees may be forced to contract with other professionals for services previously provided by the external auditors.  The task of locating, contracting with, and overseeing the work of qualified firms for these professional services may seem daunting to the audit committee.   This article presents steps the audit committee should take in selecting a professional service provider and overseeing that firm’s work.  Also given are ways in which the entity’s internal audit activity can provide significant assistance to the audit committee undertaking its tasks.

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Significance of Family Representation among Family Businesses in the Czech Republic

Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business & Economics ◽

10.5171/2020.639568 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Vojtěch MEIER

Keyword(s):

Czech Republic ◽

Correlation Analysis ◽

Board Of Directors ◽

Family Business ◽

Family Members ◽

Family Businesses ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Level Of Involvement ◽

The Family ◽

The Board Of Directors

Family businesses are the foundation of any economy. They have been heavily influencing our society for many centuries. The level of involvement among family members is vital to flourish a family business. Therefore, research is conducted to assess the dependencies of six aspects of the selected family businesses in the Czech Republic. Several findings from the family survey are found in the correlation analysis: there is the highest indirect dependence between the number of directors and the number of family members actively involved in a family business, and some factors do not show dependence. This is evidenced by the relationships between the number of members of the board of directors or managing directors and the number of family members who are not interested in family business. Correlation analysis methods are used on top of the methods of analysis, synthesis and comparison.

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The impact of the board of directors on the financial performance of Tunisian companies

Corporate Board role duties and composition ◽

10.22495/cbv8i3art1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 6-21

Author(s):

Zied Bouaziz ◽

Mohamed Wajdi Triki

Keyword(s):

Financial Performance ◽

Board Of Directors ◽

Audit Committee ◽

Stock Exchange ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

The Board Of Directors ◽

Internal Mechanism ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact

The Board of Directors plays a key role as a internal mechanism of corporate governance. Indeed, its effectiveness is dependent on the presence of several factors, the most important are related to characteristics that relate primarily to the independence of its members, board size, the cumulative functions of decision and control, the degree of independence of the audit committee and the gender diversity of the board. To test the validity of our hypothesis, which states the existence of a certain deterministic between the board’s characteristics and financial performance measured by three different ratios, namely ROA, ROE and Tobin’s Q, we have developed three linear regression models. Our empirical validation was conducted on a sample of 26 companies listed on the Tunisian stock exchange Tunis (Tunis Stock Exchange) over a period that spans four years (2007-2010). The estimated models show satisfactory results showing the importance of the impact of board characteristics on financial performance of Tunisian companies.

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ARTHROSCOPY OF THE KNEE

The Professional Medical Journal ◽

10.29309/tpmj/2016.23.12.1821 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (12) ◽

pp. 1587-1592

Author(s):

Moghees Ikram Ameen

Keyword(s):

Knee Joint ◽

Random Number Generator ◽

Postoperative Pain Management ◽

Operation Analysis ◽

Significant Efficacy ◽

Post Operation ◽

The Cost ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Generator Function

Introduction: Arthroscopy has a significant efficacy amongst patients, butis dependent on the anasthesia used. This is particularly important, as research on kneearthroscopy has established importance on anasthesia, particularly the type and number used.Study Research Objective: This study conducted over a period of 2 years, included all patientsundergoing knee arthroscopy, irrespective of age, gender and underlying conditions (whethertraumatic, degenerative, infective or inflammatory). In this study the Impact of postoperativepain management on patient recovery was evaluated. There is evidence that the knee joint hasmorphine receptors, thus nalbuphin was used. Study Design: Randomized Case Control Study.Setting: Department of KRL Hospital. Period: Jan 2014 to Dec 2015. Methodology: Randomizationwas done through the random number generator function provided by Open EPI Ver. 3.01.The random numbers generated were compared with serial numbers assigned to patientsthrough consent forms and then assigned to the three groups accordingly (Control, Lignocaine,Lignocaine + Nalbucin). Out of 117 patients 6 patients were given general anesthesia and 111were given spinal anesthesia. Arthroscopy was done under tourniquet control. To measure painthresholds, a visual analogue scale from 1 to 9 was used and then made into three groups:mild (1-3), moderate (4-6) and severe (7-9). Patient Mobilization was measured 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,14, and 16 hours post operation. Analysis was done using OpenEPI Ver. 3.01 and MicrosoftExcel 2013 separately for both Lignocaine and Lignocaine + Nalbuphin. A systematic literaturereview was done to compare the results found in this study with those found in this study. Forthis purpose, the following string was used in Google Scholar and Pubmed: “Arthroscopy”AND “TB” AND “Synovial Biopsy” and “Postoperative Pain Management” AND “Arthroscopy”AND “Knee Joint”. Results: Interventions of Lignocaine and Lignocaine + Nalbucin were moreeffective than control. Lignocaine + Nalbucin combined showed higher chances of mobilitywhen compared to Lignocaine and control. Systematic Literature Review also provided similarresults. Conclusion: If this procedure is performed with the correct expertise and the patientgiven intra articular lignocaine and Nalbuphin, the patients show early and good recovery andtherefore they can be discharged the same day thus reducing the cost on the patient as wellas the hospital.

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