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Auditors of quality assurance systems contribute to technological excellence in many important ways. They gain much insight into modern technology through their various audits and induce managers to make valuable improvements that raise quality and productivity. More specifically, computer‐based technology is transferred and disseminated through auditors. The interrelationship between the computer and quality auditing is analysed. Innovative and integrative auditing of quality assurance systems is shown to be instrumental in attaining technological improvements. The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) Guideline for Quality System Auditing also has an important role to play in this respect.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the maintenance of the process‐based quality assurance system in a higher education institution.

The paper introduces the process management as the essential element of quality assurance in higher education and discusses the external quality audit of the quality assurance agency, extends the study to the quality management between the external audits and presents the procedure of internal quality audits. Finally, the results of the study are discussed and summarised. Action research methodology was adopted in this study. The paper shows that the process‐based quality assurance system makes the organisation responsive, agile and enables the achievement of strategic objectives.

The audit group must first evaluate the necessary improvements in the process. If no improvements are found, the quality deviations must be reported. The audit helps the institution take corrective actions to amend the process descriptions or maintain the processes.

The paper shows that the necessary processes of a higher education institution can be systematically described and audited.

Internal auditing assumes an increased responsibility for the evaluation of entity operations as a service to management and the board of directors. Quality assurance review is the process through which assurance is obtained that the internal auditing department’s work is done in accordance with the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. This study examines the current practices of quality assurance review in South Africa. Although not all organisations surveyed do perform internal auditing quality assurance reviews, the organisations that do, benefit from them. Various methods are used in practice to perform internal and external quality assurance reviews. This study provides information on the processes and procedures used in quality assurance review programmes.

Suggests that the expansion of academic quality audit methodologies within higher education institutions is a significant development in UK quality assurance. It reflects increasing demands for accountability and also a desire for more dynamic and efficient methods for review and evaluation. The adoption of common regulatory frameworks and centrally defined procedures and protocols; the more explicit specification of intentions and expectations; and the increased use of self‐assessment in quality review processes, have all assisted in creating an environment in which audit methodologies are more acceptable, appropriate and useful. Argues that the development of an audit capacity is essential to the notion of institutional self‐regulation. Such a capacity could form the basis for a type of national quality assurance framework different from that currently operated or proposed, in which there is a much closer articulation of internal and external audit processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of audit quality, measured by financial statements audited by the big four accounting firms, on the investors' ability to predict future earnings for profitable and unprofitable firms.

The paper uses the returns‐earnings regression model and interacts all independent variables in this model with a dummy variable, AUDIT, which is set to equal one if financial statements audited by the big four accounting firms, zero otherwise. Future earnings response coefficient is the measure of earnings predictability.

The paper finds that investors are able to better anticipate future earnings when financial statements are audited by the big four accounting firms. However, the findings are not applicable for unprofitable firms.

The findings of the paper have implications for auditing related academic research and the users of financial statements. In particular, the study shows that the big four accounting firms have not lost their audit quality advantage and that financial statements audited by the big four accounting firms are arguably of higher quality than those audited by non‐big four accounting firms.

It is believed that there is no UK study to date examining the association of the quality of financial statements audited by the big four accounting firms and the returns‐earnings association. Consequently, this paper significantly contributes to the limited literature on the perceived value relevance of audit quality.

In today’s fast‐paced and ever‐changing audit environment, an improved quality of the internal audit function is essential to the success of internal auditors. Suggests total quality management (TQM) as a means of achieving continuous quality improvements in internal audit functions. Proposes primarily to: examine TQM principles and their relevance for internal audit functions; and discuss the benefits of proper implementation of TQM techniques and tools for internal auditing departments, internal auditors, and their organization. The TQM principles discussed should be useful for internal audit departments striving for continuous improvement of the quality of their services.

Firm-specific factors such as size, profitability, growth, risk and complexity, in addition to agency-related issues determine both auditor selection and firm life-cycle stage. This paper aims to examine whether and how the effect of Big-4 auditors (B4As) on client firms’ audit quality varies across firms’ life-cycle stages.

The sample comprises 1,813 firm-year observations in India’s emerging economy from 2011 to 2020. The Modified Jones model and Jones (signed, unsigned) model are used to compute discretionary accruals/audit quality. The authors use Koh et al.’s (2015) methodology to determine the firm life cycle.

The authors’ key findings show that the client firms employing B4As have superior audit quality than those employing non-Big-4 auditors (NB4As). The authors also show that the life-cycle stage significantly impacts the relationship between B4As and a firm’s audit quality. Furthermore, B4A client firms report superior audit quality vis-à-vis NB4A firms only in the birth- and decline-stages. The audit quality of growth- and mature-stage B4A and NB4A client firms is not significantly different.

Implications for managers include the decision to hire B4As. Given that B4As earn a significant fee premium, managers leading birth- and decline-stage firms should hire B4As, while managers of growth- and mature-stage firms should not.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the moderating effect of the firm life-cycle stage on the selection of B4As and their impact on audit quality.

The concept and method of dynamic auditing are discussed ‐ how they can support and guide auditors in their extended audit tasks. Differentiating between more conventional static auditing and modern dynamic auditing, without judging one superior over the other, will be helpful to auditors and auditees. Each basic type of auditing has its merits and applications. Dynamic auditing complements existing audit practices and renders auditing itself more effective.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of academic education of auditors on the satisfaction of employees and the quality of audit reports.

In order to collecting data a questionnaire designed and developed among the auditors, managers, and professors in Iran during November 20, 2014.

The results of the study reveal that the inability to fully understand the audit report is one of the major problems of customers. For the audit firm, issues such as observation of accounting standards in financial statements, preparation of sufficient documents for the auditor, strong internal control, and understanding the limitations and problems of auditors were considered important.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge the current paper is the first study which deals with the topic of the study in developing countries, especially Iran.