...LES 1. Praktijkopdracht 2. Corporate governance & internal auditing Corporate Governance wordt uitvoerig besproken in het jaarverslag van 2012 van Inditex. ZARA is onderdeel van deze organisatie. Zo kent de Inditex Groep een ‘duurzaamheidsstrategie’. ZARA streeft naar het bevorderen van duurzame ontwikkeling in de samenleving en omgeving en heeft deze aspecten dan ook in haar bedrijfsmodel geïntegreerd. Interne auditafdeling Audit & Control Committee In onderstaand figuur is de plaats van de interne audit te zien in de organisatie van Inditex, waar ZARA onderdeel van uitmaakt. ZARA kent een Audit and Control Committee die de auditafdeling aanstuurt. Deze committee bestaat uit een voorzitter, secretaris en 5 bestuursleden. De hoofdactiviteiten van de audit & control committee zijn als volgt weergeven: * Periodieke financiële informatie, jaarrekening en accountantsverklaring De audit & control committee herziet de financiele en economische informatie, voorafgaande aan de goedkeuring door het Raad van Bestuur. Hiermee overlegt zij met het managementteam en de externe accountant. * Efficiëntie en onafhankelijkheid van de accountants * Interne & externe audit De directeur van de interne (en externe) auditafdeling zijn aanwezig bij de vergaderingen die de Audit & Control Committee houdt. In deze vergaderingen dient het committee naar behoren geinformeerd te worden door de interne auditafdeling. De audit en control committee overziet...
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...the role of the ethics in the auditing profession which basically is integrity and objectivity for the auditors. This essay addresses dimension of the ethics in the profession of auditing main demands for them in the profession is to assess the integrity and the ethical value of their customers or clients. This is indeed very difficult task for the auditors in practice and demands a deep and robust understanding the value of ethics, ethical infrastructure with their products. According to roger D, martin auditors face ethics issues from two perspectives among which one is well known and other being known and appreciated by the people who are familiar with auditors knowing their work and responsibility. The prospective of this is to deal among the ethical foundation of the auditing profession and to show the integrity and get appreciated with the job they do. This indicates ethics prospective as seeking within their profession on how to manage and achieve their targets with no difficulty. The other prospective, which the auditors face, is to understand and get the solution for the current and new clients. This is generally referred as an assessment, which demands a complete attention and understanding of ethics, ethical infrastructure and the solution of that infrastructure. This essay will give a complete picture on why ethics is important to the auditors and how significant is the contribution of auditors is to the effective corporate governance of large Uk companies. According...
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...Academic Year: 2014/15 Module code: P13505, Level 3 Autumn Semester Module Outline: Auditing, Governance and Scandals (AGS) |Module Convenor |Dr. Kevin Dow, AB474 | |Lectures |Dr. Kevin Dow | | |TH 4:00-5:30, TB 329 | |Additional Staff |Cass Lai, AB247 | |E-mail addresses |kevin.dow@nottingham.edu.cn | | |cass.lai@nottingham.edu.cn | |Office Hours |Dr. Kevin Dow: Th, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, every Thursday until Exams (except December 11 and 25) | | |Cass Lai: Th, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm | KEY POINTS • This is a Level 3, 10 credit module; • Assessment basis: a one and a half hour Examination (100%); • Keywords: Audit; Governance; Corporate Scandals; Audit Theory and Practice; Accountability; • Pre-requisite module: P12307 Financial Reporting. MODULE AIMS To use a mix of textual and...
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...CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 1 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE We can attribute societies demand for improved corporate governance on the number of recent financial scandals that have occurred in both the United States and abroad in the past decade. For many organizations, the way to rebuild shareholder confidence was to implement a fundamental framework of procedures that would ensure scandals like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco would not occur in the future. It is precisely these scandals that made corporate governance the focus of organizations worldwide. Corporate governance is defined as the principles and processes that provide the strategies on how an organization directs and obtains its goals, the oversight process for implementing effective accountability from its directors and managers (Rittenberg, Johnstone, & Gramling, 2012). What are two of the principles that surround corporate governance? How do they tie into the recent legislation that was put into place to resolve ethical challenges and changes within the last decade? Two principles that surround corporate governance include “successful management and ethical corporate culture and independence and objectivity” (Creel, 2013). It is management’s responsibility to create a culture of “integrity and ethical behavior” (Rittenberg, Johnstone, & Gramling, 2012). In addition, it is imperative for board members to maintain their objectivity and their judgment must remain independent and in the best interest of its stakeholders. Corporate...
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...Accounting 1370 Accounting Ethics Session 6 Governance, Accounting, and Auditing, Post-Enron Group 1: Student Name__Seven Autrey_____________________________________ Student Name__Duc Nguyen_____________________________________ Telling the Enron Story Name five ethical problems and the existing conditions that caused the Enron fiasco. Explain each. 1. Fiduciary Failure – the board of directors failed to safeguard the companies from many inappropriate practices. 2. High Risk Accounting – Enron allowed high risk accounting in that the partnerships with Chewco and LJM1 and LJM2 did not conform with accounting rules 3. Enron had extensive undisclosed off-the-books activity. There were billions of dollars in off-the-book assets and liabilities. 4. Excessive Compensation – There was a cash drain caused by the 2000 annual bonus and performance unit plan. 5. Lack of Independence – There were financial ties between Enron and board members. Arthur Anderson provided internal auditing services as well as consulting services. Accounting 1370 Accounting Ethics Session 6 Governance, Accounting, and Auditing, Post-Enron Group 1: Student Name__Carol Cates_____________________________________ Student Name__Brenda Bohm____________________________________ Telling the Enron Story Name five ethical problems and the existing conditions that caused the Enron fiasco. Explain each. 1. At Enron, a lack of integrity was built into the foundation...
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...Corporate governance heavily refers to the whole structure of rights, processes and controls established internally and externally over the management of a business entity with the objective of protecting the interests of its stakeholders from any type of loses incurring. To begin with, firstly there are three types of auditors in the corporate governances, internal, external and government auditors. The role of the internal auditors in the corporate governance is to evaluates corporate activities, controls or procedures and ensures that they are adequate and in compliance with senior management's recommendations and human resources guidelines. An internal audit also helps a firm adhere with regulatory standards and industry practices.An internal auditor evaluates a firm's processes, "controls" and mechanisms to ensure that they are "adequate" and "functional". A control is a group of instructions that top management puts into place to avoid losses due to human error, technology breakdowns or fraud. A "functional" control provides corrections to internal problems. A control is "adequate" when it clarifies instructions for job performance and problem reporting. An auditor also ensures that a firm's activities and controls abide by government mandates or industry regulations. (Codjia, 2013) Moreover the role and responsibility of an external auditor is to provide assurance to the general public regarding the truth and fairness of the information presented in the audited reports...
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...Title CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND THE ROLE AND INTERNAL AUDIT WITHIN HIGHER EDUCATION IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) Why I am interested in this area I am working as Senior Internal Auditor in the Education Industry from last 4 years and for this reason, I consider it as a great opportunity to explore and research, that, any importance is available and provided in this aspect or not and what are the preventive and mitigating measures taken by the Institutions to overcome towards any shortfalls or problems. The term “Corporate Governance” is relatively new in this area and specially in the field of Education and it will not only be a great learning curve for me but will also help me understand the Industry practices, and for sure it will help towards my future development and getting more experience in this field. Introduction to the focus of study Similar to the counterpart of the industries, Educational institutes are facing increasing demand for accountability. Students for example requires a strong institutional commitment towards their future growth and quality teaching, agencies and donors requires assurance that institutions are contributing towards public good moreover they are also concern about the correct utilization of their funds/ donations i.e. are they being utilized according to their desires and requirements. For government and related agencies, they are concern with the implementation of regulations and other procedures. Alumni want an assurance...
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...“Critically discussed if there are real reasons why institutional investors should be concerned about the independence and genuine effectiveness of the audit function? Search the findings of academic papers and other published sources to support your view.” Introduction An institutional investor is an organization that invests on behalf of the organization’s members. These investors are a part of corporate governance for companies and they have large amounts of money to invest. In Malaysia, there are five leading institutional investors; Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia (EPF), Pertubuhan Keselamatan Sosial (Social Security Organisation), Lembaga Tabung Haji (Pilgrimage Board), Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (National Equity Corporation) and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (Armed Forces Fund Board) have taken various measures over the years to put better governance practices in their investee companies. As they can afford to buy more shares and bonds, sometimes automatically put them as majority and proactive shareholders. They have power to influence over management decision making, conduct regular engagements with management of companies, placing new shares, demand meetings with the senior managements of companies regards to their performance, vote on key issues at general meetings and communicate on other matters affecting shareholders' interest. The institutional investor which is an external party that are independence from the management can be seen...
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...Journal of International Accounting, Auditing & Taxation 10 (2001) 139 –156 A study of the relationship between corporate governance structures and the extent of voluntary disclosure Simon S.M. Ho*, Kar Shun Wong School of Accountancy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong Abstract The primary objective of this study is to test a theoretical framework relating four major corporate governance attributes with the extent of voluntary disclosure provided by listed firms in Hong Kong. These corporate governance attributes are the proportion of independent directors to total number of directors on the board, the existence of a voluntary audit committee, the existence of dominant personalities (CEO/Chairman duality), and the percentage of family members on the board. Using a weighted relative disclosure index for measuring voluntary disclosure, the results indicate that the existence of an audit committee is significantly and positively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure, while the percentage of family members on the board is negatively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure. The study provides empirical evidence to policy makers and regulators in East Asia for implementing the two new board governance requirements on audit committee and family control. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Corporate disclosure; Corporate governance; Voluntary disclosure; Hong Kong 1. Introduction It is commonly agreed...
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...uk/BJASS.aspx Corporate Governance and Performance of Saudi Arabia Listed Companies Yahya Ali Al-Matari Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia matariyahya@yahoo.com Dr. Abdullah Kaid Al-Swidi College of Arts & Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia swidi@uum.edu.my, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Faudziah Hanim Bt Fadzil Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia fhanim@uum.edu.my Abstract: This study aims to provide a concise view of the background of Saudi Arabia‟s legal system, important regulations and monitoring policies related to the corporate governance followed by the Saudi government to enhance the attractiveness of the business environment. In so doing, this study attempted to provide an overview on corporate governance in the emerging markets and more specifically in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, this study has shed lights on the main monitoring devices which play a significant role in regulating and developing the Saudi business environment. The focus was on some corporate governance mechanisms that might affect firm performance including board composition (BODCOM), CEO duality (DUAL), board size (BSIZE), audit committee independence (ACIND), audit committee activities (ACMEET) and audit committee size (ACSIZE). Keywords: Corporate governance, firm performance, emerging countries, Saudi Arabia. 1 British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences ISSN: 2046-9578, 1. Introduction The topic of corporate governance is assuming growing...
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...Internal audit Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.[1] Internal auditing is a catalyst for improving an organization's governance, risk management and management controls by providing insight and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and business processes. With commitment to integrity and accountability, internal auditing provides value to governing bodies and senior management as an objective source of independent advice. Professionals called internal auditors are employed by organizations to perform the internal auditing activity. The scope of internal auditing within an organization is broad and may involve topics such as an organization's governance, risk management and management controls over: efficiency/effectiveness of operations (including safeguarding of assets), the reliability of financial and management reporting, and compliance with laws and regulations. Internal auditing may also involve conducting proactive fraud audits to identify potentially fraudulent acts; participating in fraud investigations under the direction of fraud investigation professionals, and conducting post investigation fraud audits to identify control breakdowns and establish...
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...accounting practices and protecting investors from corporate misconduct. SOX requires corporate executives to vouch for the accuracy of financial statements, and to institute and monitor effective internal controls over financial reporting. The cost of implementing an effective internal control structure are onerous, and SOX inflicts opportunity costs upon an enterprise as executives have become more risk adverse due to fears of incrimination. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) was created by SOX to oversee the accounting process and dictate independence requirements for auditors and auditing committees. The PCAOB proposed regulations must be approved by the SEC before they are enacted. Since the passage of SOX, the IT department has become critical in designing and implementing the internal controls in company accounting information systems. The Information Technology Governance Institute (ITGI) created a framework called Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) to provide guidance for companies to implement and monitor IT governance. Accounting Information Systems Research Paper The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 changed the landscape of corporate financial reporting and auditing. In the wake of corporate reporting scandals, Congress decided the accounting profession was unable to self-regulate, and The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law. The law addresses corporate greed and dishonesty by requiring companies to implement...
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...instability and the compromising factor of accounting profession itself. Out of the many parties in the league and the major force behind the debacle of Enron concern Andersen's, the accounting and auditing firm that once deserved name in the industry for its conscience in accounting professional services and auditing. As the case relates to, accounting audit for Enron is attended by Andersen's since long enough. However, the interesting feature is that some compromise in the profession of accounting services by Andersen's was notable, given that there are noteworthy feature of stock manipulation, especially in financial statements of Enron attended and audited by Andersen's. The statement and restatement of Enron also gives some probable indication for manipulation of accounting, where debate and counter debate in that regard from the prying eye of the media was a common feature. Thus, the involvement of Andersen's in Enron consultancy and professional auditing makes it rather more imploded for the direct involvement of Andersen's that also successively ushered the debacle and bankruptcy of Enron for the entire sheer element attached to it. Moreover, the accounting scandal involving Enron have been subject to criticism from many quarters. However, insiders who testify against the auditing firm make it the biggest party of the fall out and bankruptcy of Enron...
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...internal auditing today if we know something about the changing conditions in the past and the different needs these changes created. What is the earliest form of internal auditing and how did it come into existence? How has internal auditing responded to changing needs? As the operations of an organisation become more voluminous and complex, it is no longer practicable for the owner or top manager to have enough contact with all operations to satisfactorily review the effectiveness of performance. These responsibilities need to be delegated. The Development of the Profession of Internal Auditing Internal auditing has evolved from accounting-oriented to a management-oriented profession. At one time, internal auditing functioned as a junior to the independent accounting profession, and attesting to the accuracy of financial matters was the profession's main concern. Now internal auditing has established itself with a far broader focus. Modern internal auditing provides services that include the examination and appraisal of controls, performance, risk and governance throughout public and private entities. Financial matters represent only one aspect of the purview of internal auditing. Requirement to have Internal Audit Activity In January 2004, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved new rules proposed by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ Stock Market Inc. (NASDAQ) designed to improve their listed companies' governance standards...
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...writing this thesis would have otherwise been like swimming through mud. To my supervisor, Professor Andreas van Wyk, thank you for your leadership, patience, and academic skill in guiding me through the research process. To Adéle Mulder and Charl Marais, thank you for your continuous insight and perspectives, both academic and otherwise. And finally to Hilda and Gerrie Steyn, who have been absolutely crucial throughout all my years of study, thank you for your indispensable support, in all its forms. iv SUMMARY The worldwide increase of corporate failures on the scale of Enron and WorldCom has sparked a renewed international trend of corporate governance review. With the external company auditor blamed at least in part for many corporate failures, corporate governance reform also necessitates a review of the statutory regulation of the company auditor. In particular, the lack of auditor independence when auditing clients has been under the legislator’s spotlight. The problems associated with unregulated or poorly regulated auditors are well...
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