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The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of emerging technology (technology adoption, perceived benefits, technological challenges and ease of use) and the auditing practice of accounting professionals.

The primary method of data collection was a questionnaire directed to newly practicing chartered accountants who are partners of sole proprietorship or partnership firms in India. The data were analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between characteristics of emerging technology (technology adoption, technological challenges and ease of use) and auditing practice, while factors of the perceived benefits had a negative relationship with auditing practice.

The study model would aid technology enabled audit research by giving a platform for a new study to investigate further detailed solutions to emerging information technology determinants.

This study illustrates how tools technique perceived benefit motivates sole proprietorship practicing auditors to adopt emerging technology- enabled auditing software for auditing client's financial statements. Further, this study has added to the information technology auditing literature and might add benefits to the numerous other audit firms to adopt in emerging technology tools their audit firm.

Audit firms, generally sole proprietorship and partnership firms, should be given enough awareness about the latest audit software tools to carry out their audit tasks efficiently.

The study findings highlight benefits of emerging technology-enabled auditing practice among owners/partners of the sole proprietorship or partnership firms, which is not extensively discussed in the prior studies. Furthermore, it broadens knowledge of perceived benefit, technological challenges and ease of use in technology-enabled audit software in the auditing and accounting literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) amongst young people in the criminal justice system (CJS) in the North East of England and to compare the ability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to the Youth Justice Board ASSET tool in identifying alcohol-related need in Youth Offending Team (YOT) clients.

A validated screening tool (AUDIT) was used to identify alcohol-related health risk or harm. Findings from AUDIT were compared with those of the standard criminogenic risk screening tool used in CJS (ASSET). An anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire was administered during a one-month period in 2008. The questionnaires were completed by 11-17-year-old offenders who were in contact with three YOTs, one Youth Offending Institution and one Secure Training Estate.

In total, 429 questionnaires were completed out of a possible 639 (67 per cent). The majority (81 per cent) of the young offenders were identified as experiencing alcohol-related health risk or harm and 77 per cent scored within a possibly alcohol-dependent range. In total, 77 (30 per cent) of young people completing both assessments were identified as having an AUD by AUDIT but not identified as needing alcohol-related treatment using ASSET.

This research was confined to one geographical area of England, however, the results show that even in this area of high drinking by young people the levels of AUDs amongst young people in the CJS are very high.

There are major social implications to this research. It is imperative for changes to be made to the care pathways in place in the UK for young people coming through the CJS with alcohol-related issues.

This paper adds to the evidence base by using well-validated tools to measure alcohol use amongst young people in the CJS in the UK.

This study aims to investigate why and how shared service centres (SSCs) are implemented as well as how they affect audit firm practice and audit quality.

In this qualitative study guided by the theoretical framework of institutional theory, the authors conducted 25 semi-structured interviews in seven European countries, including 16 interviews with audit partners from Big 4 firms, 6 with audit team members, 2 with interviewees from second-tier audit firms and 1 with a member of an oversight body.

The authors show that the central rationale for audit firms to implement SSCs is economic rather than external legitimacy. The authors find that SSC implementation has substantial effects on audit practices, particularly those related to standardisation, coordination and monitoring activities. The authors also highlight the potential impacts on audit quality.

By exploring the motivation for and effects of SSC implementation amongst audit firms, the authors offer insights into the best practices related to subsequent change processes and audit quality.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the potential for implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the civil engineering bachelor degree in the School of Civil Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain).

All the 2019/2020 course syllabi were analyzed to diagnose at which extent each subject within the program curriculum contributes to achieving the different SDGs.

The results show a promising starting point as 75% of the courses address or have potential to address targets covering the 2030 Agenda. This paper also presents actions launched by the School of Civil Engineering to boost the SDGs into the civil engineering curriculum.

This paper presents a rigorous and systematic method that can be carried out in different bachelor degrees to find the subjects that have the potential to incorporate the SDGs into their program. This paper also presents actions launched by the Civil Engineering School to boost the SDGs into the civil engineering curriculum.

The technical feasibility of using Benford's law to assist internal auditors in reviewing the integrity of high-volume data sets is analysed. This study explores whether Benford's distribution applies to the set of numbers represented by the quantity of records (size) that comprise the different tables that make up a state-owned enterprise's (SOE) enterprise resource planning (ERP) relational database. The use of Benford's law streamlines the search for possible abnormalities within the ERP system's data set, increasing the ability of the internal audit functions (IAFs) to detect anomalies within the database. In the SOEs of emerging economies, where groups compete for power and resources, internal auditors are better off employing analytical tests to discharge their duties without getting involved in power struggles.

Records of eight databases of an SOE in Argentina are used to analyse the number of records of each table in periods of three to 12 years. The case develops step-by-step Benford's law application to test each ERP module records using Chi-squared (χ²) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) goodness-of-fit tests.

Benford's law is an adequate tool for performing integrity tests of high-volume databases. A minimum of 350 tables within each database are required for the MAD test to be effective; this threshold is higher than the 67 reported by earlier researches. Robust results are obtained for the complete ERP system and for large modules; modules with less than 350 tables show low conformity with Benford's law.

This study is not about detecting fraud; it aims to help internal auditors red flag databases that will need further attention, making the most out of available limited resources in SOEs. The contribution is a simple, cheap and useful quantitative tool that can be employed by internal auditors in emerging economies to perform the first scan of the data contained in relational databases.

This paper provides a tool to test whether large amounts of data behave as expected, and if not, they can be pinpointed for future investigation. It offers tests and explanations on the tool's application so that internal auditors of SOEs in emerging economies can use it, particularly those that face divergent expectations from antagonist powerful interest groups.

This study demonstrates that even in the context of limited information technology tools available for internal auditors, there are simple and inexpensive tests to review the integrity of high-volume databases. It also extends the literature on high-volume database integrity tests and our knowledge of the IAF in Civil law countries, particularly emerging economies in Latin America.

The purpose of this paper is to show that third-party quality audits (TPQAs) facilitate performance improvement and give confidence to organisations concerning the process quality of services and products. However, because of inconsistencies and unethical practices often observed in the industry, organisations question the significance of TPQA. A perception exists that its initial purpose as an impartial tool ensuring quality of deliverables is no longer upheld. Hence, the need to determine and explain the influence of the ISO 19011 standard interpretation on the application of the audit guidelines in performing TPQA, to promote consistency in the audit process.

The study employed document analysis of the ISO 19011 standard, followed by semi-structured interviews with certification managers (CBs) to gain insight related to their interpretation and application of the ISO 19011 guidelines.

The CBs interpret the ISO 19011 guidelines differently; hence, their application of the standard to compile their audit documents differ. Adherence to the principles of auditing particularly, integrity and independence were found as the core of the audit process while their disregard reflects failure of the real intent of auditing. The inconsistencies in the audit procedures and documents developed for auditors are ascribed to some CBs’ personal interpretations.

The study explores how the different interpretations of the ISO 19011 standard prevail and are perceived by the CBs and auditors. The findings aim to support standardisation and reduce the variations across and amongst the different CBs and auditors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the tax audit on tax productivity in Lagos state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study analyzed trends of tax audit and tax productivity, and the impact of Desk audit, Field audit and Back-duty audit on tax productivity in Lagos state.

The study made use of both primary and secondary data. Primary data used in the study were collected with the use of questionnaires administered to 350 randomly selected staffs of Lagos state Internal Revenue Services, while secondary data used in the study were sourced from Federal Inland Revenue Service and Lagos Internal Revenue Service audit division in Lagos state over the period spanning from 2000 to 2015. Data collated in the study were analyzed descriptively using inferential methods such as unit root test, and estimation techniques such as Fully Modified Least Square (FMOLS) co-integration regression and Logit regression analysis.

The study revealed that Field tax audit, desk tax audit and Back duty tax audit exert a significant positive impact on tax productivity with reported estimate of 0.530454 (p=0.0044<0.05) for FIDAUD, 0.774450 (p=0.0085< 0.05) for DEKAUD, 1.244317 (p=0.0001<0.05) for BAKAUD.

Relevant tax authority (RTA), tax auditors and FIRS staff members should have full knowledge of modern audit tools like Computer Aided Audit Tools (CAATs) to enhance performance and maximum tax revenue generation.

The study concluded that tax audit enhances the level of productivity of tax administration in Lagos state and that any form of tax audit has the tendency of influencing revenue accruing to the government from taxation positively. Hence, tax audit should be carried out on a routine basis to ensure that actual revenue collected is what the RTA remits to the government. Tax audit department should be given autonomy to carry out their responsibilities effectively.

Tax audit should be carried out on a routine basis to ensure that actual revenue collected is what the RTA remits to the government. Tax audit department should be given autonomy to carry out their responsibilities effectively.

This tax audit and tax productivity in Lagos state, Nigeria, fulfills an identified need to study how brand-supportive behavior can be enabled.

Blockchain is expected to impact reporting and auditing processes. Indeed, the increasing use of blockchain could affect the nature and extent of information available to auditors and how audits are performed. This paper aims to investigate how auditors are assessing the relevance of the current auditing standards in light of the emergent use of blockchain technology.

Based on qualitative content analysis, this paper analyzed semi-structured interviews with auditors to understand their shared perception of how the current auditing standards address blockchain’s emergence.

The findings reveal a growing demand for information technology (IT) auditing standards, as well as a mismatch in timing between the quickly changing IT environment and the regulators’ slowness in releasing new standards or updating standards.

The findings reflect the external auditors’ points of view and cannot be generalized to all countries, but future studies should address the development of specific IT-related auditing standards to better fit the fast-evolving technology environment in ways that consider the other stakeholders’ points of view, including those of the standard setters.

The results of this study show that auditors consider the current auditing standards for IT to be too vague, and they need more guidance on both auditing blockchain and using technologies as audit tools.

The original contribution of this study lies in the in-depth understanding it provides of the adequacy of the current auditing standards to audit companies using blockchain, which is an under-researched topic.