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This study aims to assess the impact of determinants on the effectiveness of internal audit (IA) within the banking industry of Bangladesh.

The data was obtained through 152 survey questionnaires from a total of 43 privately owned and six state-owned commercial banks in Bangladesh. The analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.

The findings demonstrate that the independence of internal auditors and the quality of IA substantially impact enhancing the efficiency of IA. On the other hand, the competence of internal auditors and management support in IA functions do not significantly impact the effectiveness of IA.

The study’s findings may have significant policy implications for the government, regulators, internal auditors, management committees and other stakeholders in establishing programmes to enhance the efficacy of IA as a component of banking audit management reforms.

This study makes three distinct contributions to the existing literature. Firstly, previous literature focused on the determinants affecting the external audit efficiency of the public companies and banking sectors in Bangladesh (Hasan, 2018; M. M. U. Reza, 2021). In this study, the author enhances the research by presenting empirical findings on the IA effectiveness of banks. Secondly, the author expands the research by incorporating both private and state-owned commercial banks as samples. Thirdly, the study is unique given that it investigates the effectiveness of IA in response to the recent financial scandals in the banking industry of Bangladesh (The Daily Star, 2023).

This study aims to analyse the influence of digitalisation on the management control function of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it aims to illuminate how digitalisation influences management control elements, organisation and roles/competencies and to identify obstacles to digitalisation of management control in SMEs and measures taken to overcome them.

The study is based on guideline-supported expert interviews conducted with 14 financial managers from SMEs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

This study reveals the influence of digitalisation on management control elements, organisation, and roles/competencies. The automation and standardisation of management control processes result in new elements for management control, such as strategic support for management. In addition, the increased availability and transparency of data enable the use of instruments within a company that allow for quick analyses of the company's development. Digitalisation leads to the integration of management control into the corporate network and, thus, a change in the organisation of management control. It also triggers the expansion of management control competencies, especially IT competencies. A shortage of internal digitalisation resources, unclear corporate roadmaps, and a lack of managerial experience loom as central challenges for digitalising the management control function. Measures derived from the interviews can help SMEs overcome the obstacles to the digitalisation of management control.

This research is the first interview-based study of the impact of digitalisation on management control in SMEs, potential obstacles to that digitalisation, and measures to overcome those obstacles. Thus, it contributes to the emerging debate on factors that may explain why SMEs lag in terms of the digitalisation of their internal processes.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Ottoman Empire’s net interest payments and foreign debt were sustainable or not in terms of their burden on budget revenues, using the method of historical econometric analysis.

In this study, the period between 1847 and 1882 of the Ottoman Empire is analyzed for sustainability analysis. Within the framework of the study, unit root tests and econometric analysis methods frequently used in the literature were used to analyze the sustainability of public debt. In the econometric analysis, in addition to various unit root tests, current econometric analysis methods, in particular Fourier expansion, were also used.

The results of econometric analyses showed that the burden of interest payments and foreign debt on the budget of the Ottoman state was unsustainable. This situation clearly shows the reason for the official bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire, which was declared in 1875.

Although this study reveals the bankruptcy process of an important structure such as the Ottoman Empire in the historical process through econometric analyses, it also gives a very important message to today’s states. Accordingly, today’s state policies and decision-making mechanisms should take these results into account and strive to make the burden of public interest payments sustainable. It is believed that the study will shed light on the public finance policies of today’s states by drawing lessons from the collapse process of the Ottoman state.

Unlike the historical assessments in the literature on the decline of the Ottoman Empire, this study presents a cliometric approach by applying current econometric analysis techniques to past historical data. The study explains the unsustainability of the Ottoman Empire’s interest payments and external debt burden in the period under consideration in a way that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not been done before.

This paper investigates the constraints an organisation faces when using recruitment agencies and having to trade-off between the speed of hiring a candidate, the cost of a candidate and the match of the candidate against the job requirements across different job seniorities. We analyse how technology can shift the cost and hiring speed in spite of these constraints.

The research design is exploratory, quantitative and cross-sectional. The study employed a two-factor, unbalanced class Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) including interaction effects to test the difference between the means of the class of interest and a control class.

Our empirical findings confirm that (1) the technological innovation of a recruitment agency marketplace can liberate organisations from their time, cost and quality hiring constraints, accelerating the time to hire by four times and reducing costs by over 12%, and (2) these results hold across varying role seniority levels.

This study contributes to the existing literature in three ways: (1) it introduces the recruitment triangle from project management into the recruitment literature; (2) it demonstrates how technological innovations such as recruitment agency marketplaces are able to provide a shift in the constraints posed by the recruitment triangle.

This study aims to investigate the adoption of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the new performance perspective in cities. It also aims to understand how accounting for SDGs begins in city administrations by following Power’s (2015) fourfold development schema composed of policy object formation, object elaboration, activity orchestration and practice stabilization.

Focusing on a network of cities coordinated by the Finnish local government association, we analyzed the six largest cities in Finland employing a holistic multiple case study strategy. Our data consisted of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), city strategies, budget plans, financial statements, as well as results of participant observations and semi-structured interviews with key individuals involved in accounting for SDGs.

We unveiled the SDG framework as an interpretive scheme through which cities glocalized sustainable development as a novel, simultaneously global and local, performance object. Integration of the new accounts in city management is necessary for these accounts to take life in steering the actions. By creating meaningful alignment and the ability to impact managerial practices, SDGs and VLRs have the potential to influence local actions. Our results indicate further institutionalization progress of sustainability as a performance object through SDG-focused work.

While prior research has focused mainly on general factors influencing the integration of the sustainability agenda, this study provides a novel perspective by capturing the process and demonstrating empirically how new accounts on SDGs are introduced and deployed in the strategic planning and management of local governments.

The construction sector is recognized for subjecting its workers to various psychological pressures and mental stressors. As a result, it is crucial to explore and discover effective strategies to support these workers in managing and enduring these demanding circumstances. Mental toughness is a concept that has been advocated to aid individuals in coping and adapting to pressures and challenges. Therefore, it is imperative to explore strategies critical to developing mental toughness among construction professionals. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify critical strategies for the development of mental toughness among construction professionals.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted using Google Scholar, Scopus, ScienceDirect and PubMed databases to identify the strategies for the development of mental toughness. These identified strategies were used to develop a structured closed-ended questionnaire to aid in data collection. Of the 317 questionnaires distributed, 207 were collected and used for data analysis. The data were analysed using mean score ranking and one sample t-test.

The study highlighted 12 critical strategies for the development of mental toughness among construction professionals. These include recognizing and rewarding achievements, taking time for self-care, organizing mental training programs, using positive self-talk, embracing a growth mindset, providing social support/developing a strong support network, creating a challenging training environment, engaging in regular physical exercise, fostering a mastery motivational climate, setting clear but challenging goals, practicing mental imagery and practicing reflection on setbacks and failures. The analysis results indicated that all of the strategies, except one (which involves practicing reflection on setbacks and failures), displayed significance. By incorporating these strategies, construction firms and the industry as a whole can empower their workforce to cope and/or overcome the various demands and stressors that work and life places on them.

The study highlights the significance of recognizing and rewarding achievements, fostering a growth mindset and implementing mental training programs to cultivate mental toughness among construction professionals. Moreover, promoting self-care practices and offering social support are essential strategies for enhancing mental resilience in the construction industry. By adopting these evidence-based approaches, construction organizations can create a mentally tough workforce capable of handling the challenges and demands of the industry effectively.

This study contributes significantly to the general body of knowledge in mental health management among employees in the construction industry. It does set the pace for the development of the general well-being of construction professionals in the achievement of mental toughness goals.

There is a limited number of research work on critical success factors (CSFs) in public construction projects in Saudi Arabia. In response to this knowledge gap, the objective of this paper is to assess the impact of CSFs on the government construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The success factors are investigated from a broader consideration of failure criteria, from consideration of most effectiveness in successful project completion and also from consideration of the impact of implementing control processes for successful project completion.

This study has analysed the impact of success factors on construction projects in Saudi Arabia using a descriptive methodology. An exhaustive literature survey is undertaken to identify the success and failure factors related to government construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The survey data are sorted out and analysed by cost, schedule, technical, context and finance dimensions of the projects based on project types, engineering complexity, size, modality, jurisdictional control and funding approach. To evaluate the influence of success factors implementation, qualitative data were collected in a survey via a web-based questionnaire that was sent to officials working and occupying a responsible position in national project guidelines organizations and in government construction organizations in Saudi Arabia. In all, 28 CSFs were identified, ranked and evaluated for their impact on project success. The four identified factors belong to process categories of construction projects, nine factors belong to management of construction projects and 15 success factors are identified for impact assessment of implementation in construction projects.

The study's findings have identified and ranked the top five CSFs that significantly influence project outcomes, including meeting time targets, adhering to financial budgets, delivering desired outcomes for all stakeholders, effectively managing risks and assembling the appropriate team while optimizing resource allocation. Additionally, the research indicates that hindrances to projects primarily stem from execution, economic, human and political factors. The study advocates for strict controls over incomplete engineering designs and advises against contractors independently handling design work to ensure project success. Additionally, addressing contractors' qualifications and financial matters is crucial for project success. By highlighting these CSFs and challenges, the research provides actionable insights to enhance project management practices in the construction industry.

This study is limited to the infrastructure projects constructed by governmental bodies with the participation of officials from government organizations. Further study, including private projects and officials working on private projects, may be needed to generalized the research outcome.

Numerous studies have investigated CSFs in construction projects, but few have examined their relevance to Saudi Arabian government projects. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying key CSFs specific to Saudi Arabian public sector construction projects and assessing their impact on project success. It advocates for stringent controls in the Saudi Arabian construction sector, emphasizing the importance of preventing incomplete or altered engineering designs by contractors to increase the success rate of public sector projects. This research offers practical insights to stakeholders, advancing project management practices in Saudi Arabia's construction sector for improved outcomes and resource utilization.

Designing and developing responsible business practices can create various tensions for service organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between customer engagement (CE) and responsible business practices (e.g. environmental, social and/or governance [ESG], corporate social responsibility [CSR] and diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI]) and explore customer engagement tensions that service organizations may face.

This research develops a list of CE-related responsible business practice tensions and empirically explores their relevance through in-depth interviews with nine ESG professionals.

This paper makes three important contributions. First, we find support for nine distinct but related tensions with implications for CE that organizations must navigate when pursuing responsible business practices. Second, interview participants provide some suggestions for tackling these tensions, which we support with relevant theories. Finally, we develop a conceptual framework that may stimulate future service research and inform the implementation of ESG strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to conceptualize and empirically explore the tensions that emerge between responsible business practices and CE. The authors develop a novel analysis of the CE-related tensions that emerge when pursuing an ESG strategy.

The findings are based on a small sample of ESG professionals. Future research may take a quantitative approach to further evaluate the role that these tensions play in engaging customers.

This research provides a conceptual framework that may guide ESG professionals in understanding, framing and navigating CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

A social benefit may be found when service organizations are better able to successfully navigate CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

This study asks whether external auditors enable the transfer of policies to the United Nations organizations that they audit and, if so, what types of policies are transferred.

The empirical research is based on a content analysis of 512 external auditor recommendations from 28 pre- and post-accrual reports of 14 UN bodies.

We find that external auditors do enable policy transfer and that such involvements may, at times, veer into non-neutral policy spaces.

We did not analyze all UN organizations with accruals-based accounting. We also did not engage in a longer longitudinal study.

Our findings raise new questions about international organization accountability, the technocratic and policy-specific influences of external auditors, and open a debate about whether attempted policy transfers can be neutral.

The world’s largest group of international organizations is affiliated with the UN. External auditors help ensure that member-state monies are appropriately utilized. Our study is the first to compare pre- and post-accrual external auditor recommendations for 14 UN bodies. It is also the first to notate and study the attempted policy transfers from external auditors to the audited UN bodies.

While extant research does mention performance management systems as antecedent to a management accountant’s role, and that there is tension between both, there is little detailed research. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which a performance management system interacts with the role of a management accountant.

The study is a cross-sectional field study, using interviews with paired management accountants and operative managers in 16 multinational organisations in Germany. The perspectives of both management accountants and operative managers are analysed separately. The role episode model theoretically informs the study.

The findings reveal management accountants distinguish between three roles of scorekeeping, controlling and business support, similar to prior literature. By contrast, operating managers are concerned with the value-adding and non-value-adding character of activities and thus support a dichotomy of management accountants’ roles. Drawing upon the role episode model, this study elucidates the interplay between performance management systems and the roles of management accountants, which encompass both role-taking and role-making dynamics. Additionally, this study contributes to management control literature by operationalising the components of a performance management system framework and linking them to the role of management accountants, as proposed by role antecedents in previous literature. The study also uncovers factors influencing role-taking and role-making, alongside examining the repercussions of role consensus or conflict based on the interaction with the operating manager.

This paper is subject to the normal limitations of case study research and generalisation. The findings may also be influenced by the cultural context of the study.

An updated role episode model is presented, highlighting further performance management systems’ components. The study also reveals factors enabling and/or inhibiting the management accountants’ business support role and the impact of role consensus/conflict.