Michael Power
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198296034
- eISBN:
- 9780191685187
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198296034.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Organization Studies
Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value ...
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Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? This book argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style, internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. The author argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization.Less
Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? This book argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style, internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. The author argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization.
Michael Power
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198296034
- eISBN:
- 9780191685187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198296034.003.0002
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Organization Studies
This chapter argues that, below the wealth of technical procedure, the epistemic foundation of financial auditing, i.e. the relation between its inputs and the production of assurance, is essentially ...
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This chapter argues that, below the wealth of technical procedure, the epistemic foundation of financial auditing, i.e. the relation between its inputs and the production of assurance, is essentially obscure. It specifically addresses the history of financial auditing. It also describes the uneasy and shifting relationship between audit practice and the programmatic goal of detecting fraud. It is noted that the history of audit practice is a history of attempts to deal with operational problems of inference subject to economic constraint. In addition, it is shown that financial auditing as a system remains strong. It also states an important lesson to carry forward from this chapter is that the audit process, for all its density of operational procedure, is interactive and judgemental.Less
This chapter argues that, below the wealth of technical procedure, the epistemic foundation of financial auditing, i.e. the relation between its inputs and the production of assurance, is essentially obscure. It specifically addresses the history of financial auditing. It also describes the uneasy and shifting relationship between audit practice and the programmatic goal of detecting fraud. It is noted that the history of audit practice is a history of attempts to deal with operational problems of inference subject to economic constraint. In addition, it is shown that financial auditing as a system remains strong. It also states an important lesson to carry forward from this chapter is that the audit process, for all its density of operational procedure, is interactive and judgemental.
George J. Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305838
- eISBN:
- 9780199783342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305833.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Investors, creditors, government officials, and others require information to evaluate companies’ economic position, performance, and prospects. This chapter examines the usefulness of financial ...
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Investors, creditors, government officials, and others require information to evaluate companies’ economic position, performance, and prospects. This chapter examines the usefulness of financial accounting statements and their limitations in providing this information, particularly measures of economic values. The essential features of the traditional market-transaction, cost-based accounting system, and the benefits and costs of fair-value accounting and of audits and attestations by independent public accountants (IPAs) are described and evaluated.Less
Investors, creditors, government officials, and others require information to evaluate companies’ economic position, performance, and prospects. This chapter examines the usefulness of financial accounting statements and their limitations in providing this information, particularly measures of economic values. The essential features of the traditional market-transaction, cost-based accounting system, and the benefits and costs of fair-value accounting and of audits and attestations by independent public accountants (IPAs) are described and evaluated.
Karin Brunsson and Katharina Rahnert
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- July 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780192898012
- eISBN:
- 9780191924460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780192898012.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Strategy
The ideas of competition and financial auditing are both socially esteemed and expected to benefit the national economy. Applying a historical perspective, the chapter clarifies how the relationship ...
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The ideas of competition and financial auditing are both socially esteemed and expected to benefit the national economy. Applying a historical perspective, the chapter clarifies how the relationship between the two ideas emerged and developed. Was it possible for financial auditors to simultaneously compete for the appreciation of two stakeholder groups with conflicting interests—client firms and the users of financial statements? It is concluded that combining the idea of competition with that of financial auditing does not elicit the expected benefits of any of the ideas. Auditors, regulators, and academics all relate the idea of competition to economic relationships with client firms, whereas relationships with other stakeholders are observed rhetorically. Yet these stakeholders constitute the very rationale for financial auditing. The compatibility of institutionalized, socially esteemed ideas is ignored even though this goes contrary to the expected benefits of these ideas.Less
The ideas of competition and financial auditing are both socially esteemed and expected to benefit the national economy. Applying a historical perspective, the chapter clarifies how the relationship between the two ideas emerged and developed. Was it possible for financial auditors to simultaneously compete for the appreciation of two stakeholder groups with conflicting interests—client firms and the users of financial statements? It is concluded that combining the idea of competition with that of financial auditing does not elicit the expected benefits of any of the ideas. Auditors, regulators, and academics all relate the idea of competition to economic relationships with client firms, whereas relationships with other stakeholders are observed rhetorically. Yet these stakeholders constitute the very rationale for financial auditing. The compatibility of institutionalized, socially esteemed ideas is ignored even though this goes contrary to the expected benefits of these ideas.
Henk Addink
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198841159
- eISBN:
- 9780191876653
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198841159.003.0011
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter explains the principle of accountability as part of the principles of good governance. The principle of accountability is already far beyond financial accounting, and it comes closer to ...
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This chapter explains the principle of accountability as part of the principles of good governance. The principle of accountability is already far beyond financial accounting, and it comes closer to the accountability of the minister in their relationship with the parliament and with the civil and criminal responsibility of persons and institutions in general.Less
This chapter explains the principle of accountability as part of the principles of good governance. The principle of accountability is already far beyond financial accounting, and it comes closer to the accountability of the minister in their relationship with the parliament and with the civil and criminal responsibility of persons and institutions in general.
Hillary Kaell
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691201467
- eISBN:
- 9780691201474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691201467.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This chapter traces how Christian sponsorship organizations adapt secular audit culture. It begins by exploring how sponsors frame aspirations for foreign children's futures. The chapter then turns ...
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This chapter traces how Christian sponsorship organizations adapt secular audit culture. It begins by exploring how sponsors frame aspirations for foreign children's futures. The chapter then turns to modes of verification. Since sponsors cannot personally verify the results of their giving, they expect detailed facsimiles in the form of audits, graphs, and Better Business Bureau or Charity Navigator reports. Yet very few sponsors actually consult these documents. Instead, they and the organizations they support cultivate multifaceted modes of trust-creation using measures of success that might at first seem divergent, such as financial audits, answered prayers, and children's smiles. Sponsors also rely on aspirational talk and on affective participatory techniques. The chapter concludes with a short section about sponsors' hopes and fears for the world as a whole. Throughout, it underlines God's bridging power: U.S. Christians view the (Holy) Spirit and (divine) Love as the forces that keep Christian organizations honest, animate sponsor–child relationships, and move human beings toward successful outcomes.Less
This chapter traces how Christian sponsorship organizations adapt secular audit culture. It begins by exploring how sponsors frame aspirations for foreign children's futures. The chapter then turns to modes of verification. Since sponsors cannot personally verify the results of their giving, they expect detailed facsimiles in the form of audits, graphs, and Better Business Bureau or Charity Navigator reports. Yet very few sponsors actually consult these documents. Instead, they and the organizations they support cultivate multifaceted modes of trust-creation using measures of success that might at first seem divergent, such as financial audits, answered prayers, and children's smiles. Sponsors also rely on aspirational talk and on affective participatory techniques. The chapter concludes with a short section about sponsors' hopes and fears for the world as a whole. Throughout, it underlines God's bridging power: U.S. Christians view the (Holy) Spirit and (divine) Love as the forces that keep Christian organizations honest, animate sponsor–child relationships, and move human beings toward successful outcomes.
