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This paper discusses the contribution and value of research into human resource management issues as they affect auditors and audit firms, and to identify areas for future research. The contribution and areas for future research are identified in terms of four areas, namely career development, staffing patterns, the multi‐disciplinery global firm, and the management structure and practice as they relate to audit firms. This is followed by a discussion about the value of this research. In the conclusion the paper argues for future research to adopt a greater sociological and organizational perspective, including studies which work shadow auditors and audit teams, and longitudinal studies.

This paper reviews prior research to consider whether there are differences in human resource management terms between auditors and other categories of professional staff within accounting and audit firms, for example those working in taxation or management consultancy. The review reveals conflicting results regarding the extent of these differences, which leaves open the question of whether research results in the human resource field can be generalized across all functions within an accounting and audit firm. We speculate that whereas in the past the similarities between functional groups may have outweighed any differences, increasingly this will no longer be the case.

The Sudan Companies Act 1925 is outdated. There is a need for substantial revision to the Act either in accordance with, for example, current UK legislation, or a framework more directly suited to the economic and legal environment of the Sudan. At a general level this should include the preparation of a profit and loss account, specific formats for the profit and loss account and balance sheet, notes to the accounts and an auditor’s report stating whether or not the accounts give a true and fair view of the state of a company’s affairs.

This paper uses questionnaires from and interviews to examine the level of co‐operation and co‐ordination between directors of internal audit departments, and partners and managers in external audit firms in Saudi Arabian companies. The results revealed that external auditors expressed concern about the independence, scope of work and small size of many internal audit departments. Internal auditors considered co‐operation between internal and external audits to be limited, although external auditors were more positive about the extent of co‐operation when the internal audit department was of high quality. The extent of reliance by the external auditor on the work of the internal auditor varied with the quality of the internal audit department. External auditors suggested that the objectivity, competence and work experience were important factors affecting the reliance decision. They felt that the internal audit function in many Saudi companies lacked professionalism and independence from management, which adversely affected its work and the potential for reliance thereon.

This paper aims to provide evidence to suggest that private social and environmental reporting (i.e. one-on-one meetings between institutional investors and investees on social and environmental issues) is beginning to merge with private financial reporting and that, as a result, integrated private reporting is emerging.

In this paper, 19 FTSE100 companies and 20 UK institutional investors were interviewed to discover trends in private integrated reporting and to gauge whether private reporting is genuinely becoming integrated. The emergence of integrated private reporting through the lens of institutional logics was interpreted. The emergence of integrated private reporting as a merging of two hitherto separate and possibly rival institutional logics was framed.

It was found that specialist socially responsible investment managers are starting to attend private financial reporting meetings, while mainstream fund managers are starting to attend private meetings on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Further, senior company directors are becoming increasingly conversant with ESG issues.

The findings were interpreted as two possible scenarios: there is a genuine hybridisation occurring in the UK institutional investment such that integrated private reporting is emerging or the financial logic is absorbing and effectively neutralising the responsible investment logic.

These findings provide evidence of emergent integrated private reporting which are useful to both the corporate and institutional investment communities as they plan their engagement meetings.

No study has hitherto examined private social and environmental reporting through interview research from the perspective of emergent integrated private reporting. This is the first paper to discuss integrated reporting in the private reporting context.

It is a long time now since the major grocery groups — with the possible exception of the Co‐ops — have thought of villages as likely locations. Equally, small shops themselves have found the going difficult for reasons which are too obvious to outline. But the decline of the village shop is not only damaging to the retail structure; it leads to serious social deprivation, particularly for the old and those without private transport, and it can also result in a lack of social focus in the community. Recently the Development Commission, together with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, held a one‐day seminar to discuss possible means of support for the village shop. This is a report of that seminar.

The purpose of this paper is to try to understand the process of community building that helped transform the City of Chattanooga to become one of the greenest cities in the country and why the sustainability program worked for Chattanooga.

In total, 30 key informants, identified through snowball sampling, were interviewed. To corroborate the interview data, numerous documents were reviewed and repeat field visits to Chattanooga and surrounding area conducted over a period of three-and-a-half years. Interview data were analyzed using MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software.

Findings show that the transformation process from “the dirtiest city in America” to “green city” was mainly a community agenda. Led by concerned private citizens and visionaries, Chattanooga went through aggressive community mobilization, citizen empowerment and participation in environmental improvement, building of social capital and economic revitalization.

Research limitations include under coverage and researcher bias.

Lessons for cities that share the same industrial history as Chattanooga.

Community-building and community participation can work in a collectivist culture.

The lead author collected the data, conducted analysis and did all the writing with mentoring from the co-authors.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of internal audit function (IAF) use on earnings quality and external audit fees using empirical data collected from the New Zealand (NZ) setting.

Applying institutional theory as the underlying framework, this study examines an IAF’s ability to demonstrate legitimacy, which will shed light to the functions long-term survival. Using a unique data set from the NZ setting, which combines information obtained from “The Institute of Internal Auditors of New Zealand” with empirical firm data collected from publicly available sources, multivariate analysis is performed to test the prediction that IAF use is associated with earnings quality, measured using discretionary accruals, and external audit fees.

There is strong positive association between IAF use and external audit fees, which supports the complementary controls view, where better internal controls increase audit fees by increasing the demand for scope of external audit work. The authors find no significant relationship between IAF use and earnings quality, which is not entirely surprising.

The aim is to empirically test the IAF value proposition and to delve deeper into the black box of IAF value drivers. Given the size of the NZ economy and limitations of data availability, total sample size used in this study is relatively modest. However, the analysis does yield significant results. Apart from academic contribution to knowledge, this study offers a profound list of practical contributions. Practitioners will be interested to learn about the IAF value proposition from an empirical viewpoint. Senior management (SM) will obtain value from the outcomes when contemplating IAF investment and sourcing decisions. Regulators will be inherently interested in whether IAFs should be mandated.

The aim is to empirically test IAF value proposition and to delve deeper into the black box of IAF value drivers. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first NZ-based academic investigation which examines the relationship between IAF use and earnings quality. Apart from academic contribution to knowledge, this study offers a profound list of practical contributions. Practitioners will be interested to learn about the IAF value proposition from an empirical viewpoint. SM will obtain value from the outcomes when contemplating IAF investment and sourcing decisions. Regulators will be inherently interested in whether IAFs should be mandated.

TOGETHER with other interested bodies, the “Arbeitseinsatzverwaltung” (Labour Utilization Administration), has (or long been devoting increasing attention to the problem of supplementary training in the metal working industries. Formerly, these measures for the schooling and training of metal‐workers had been directed principally at improving the personal standard of efficiency of the individual; recently they have assumed a wider importance on account of the shortage of labour in certain of the metal‐working trades. The Labour Exchanges have concerned themselves directly with these schemes; in past years, with financial support, in collaboration with other agencies. Between 1933 and 1938, the training schemes sponsored by the Retch Labour Administration (Reichs‐Arbeitsverwaltung), dealt with a total of some 390,000 workers.

This paper aims to examine the characteristics influencing internal Shariah audit effectiveness in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in Bahrain.

Data were collected from 76 internal Shariah auditors, 23 Shariah supervisory board and 16 audit and governance committee from 52 IFIs in Bahrain. The data were analyzed using structural equation method via SmartPLS 2.0 to examine the relationship between characteristics and effectiveness of internal Shariah audit.

It was found that competency and work performance were positively significant with internal Shariah audit effectiveness. The findings revealed that the main competency of internal Shariah audit to influence effectiveness were to have professional certification and skills, while work performance to influence effectiveness were engagement planning, performing the engagement and communicating results with management and having sufficient information to provide sound opinion formed by Shariah audit.

From the research perspective, this is the first study that examines the relationship between internal Shariah audit characteristics and its effectiveness in Bahraini IFIs.