Audit Methodology Research Articles

Implementation of Continuous Audit on the Brazilian Navy Payroll

ABSTRACTThe present research describes the continuous audit implementation process in the Brazilian Navy (BN) payroll system, which encompasses approximately 220,000 individuals. Continuous audit proved to be an excellent methodology for internal audit, improving audit quality and timeliness. Third-party databases from other governmental organizations were used to improve the audit work. Internal auditors were able to make agreements to access other government organization databases to verify Brazilian Navy payroll information. The case provides real situations, challenges, and forward-looking perspectives on the use of continuous audit tools and methods in governmental organizations. In recent years, continuous audit enabled internal auditors to increase the scope of the audit, bringing to light multiple events that had not been revealed by traditional audit techniques.

Management of COMPlicAted intra-abdominal collectionS after colorectal Surgery (COMPASS): protocol for a multicentre, observational, prospective international study of drain placement practices in colorectal surgery.

Postoperative drains have historically been used for the prevention and early detection of intra-abdominal collections. However, current evidence suggests that prophylactic drain placement following colorectal surgery has no significant clinical benefit. This is reflected in the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) guidelines, which recommend against their routine use. The Ileus Management International study found more than one-third of participating centres across the world routinely used drains in the majority of colorectal resections. The aim of the present study is to audit international compliance with ERAS guidelines regarding the use of postoperative drains in colorectal surgery. This prospective, multicentre audit will be conducted via the student- and trainee-led EuroSurg Collaborative network across Europe, South Africa and Australasia. Data will be collected on consecutive patients undergoing elective and emergency colorectal surgery with 30-day follow-up. This will include any colorectal resection, formation of colostomy/ileostomy and reversal of stoma. The primary end-point will be adherence to ERAS guidelines for intra-abdominal drain placement. Secondary outcomes will include the following: time to diagnosis of intra-abdominal postoperative collections; output and time to removal of drains; and 30-day postoperative complications defined by the Clavien-Dindo classification. This protocol describes the methodology for the first international audit of intra-abdominal drain placement after colorectal surgery. The study will be conducted across a large collaborative network with quality assurance and data validation strategies. This will provide a clear understanding of current practice and novel evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of intra-abdominal drain placement in colorectal surgical patients.

Audit methodology. Formation and write-off of receivables and payables

Introduction. The share of receivables and payables in the structure of the balance sheet has a high percentage, which certainly affects the production process as a whole. Every receivable is someone's accounts payable and vice versa. Each company faced non-payment of debts in any direction. In this article, we will consider the control over settlements with counterparties and the procedure for writing off and forming bad receivables and payables. The purpose of the paper is to study the audit process at the enterprise in the section of receivables and payables. Identify the processes of writing off bad debts. Results. The audit of accounts payable and receivable is relevant in connection with the introduction of the International Accounting Standards in the management of the enterprise, the constant change in the legal framework of Ukraine. Settlements with debtors and creditors for goods and services have a significant impact on the functional activities of the enterprise, so when the audit firm checks all the nuances of accounting in this area, the main factor of fair conclusions is the provision of reliable information. The main source of information is financial statements, where receivables have a significant share in the assets of the balance sheet, and accounts payable in the liabilities of the balance sheet. Conclusion. Debt write-off is an important component in settlements with counterparties. More often than not, we are faced with bad debts. For the correctness of the display of information and write-off of receivables, the company creates a reserve of doubtful debts, which is reflected in account 38 "Reserve of doubtful debts". To write off accounts payable, the company must have important evidence, documents that are approved in accordance with the law.

DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERSECURITY AUDIT METHODOLOGY FOR STATE INFORMATION SYSTEMS RELATED TO SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS OF CRITICAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE OPERATING ON THE BASIS OF DATA CENTERS

The problem of developing a cybersecurity audit methodology for state information systems related to significant objects (SO) of critical information infrastructure (CII), operating on the basis of data centers is considered. In accordance with the requirements of the legislation, state control is carried out in accordance with the Order of the FSTEC of Russia dated February 11, 2013 №17 “Requirements. Ensuring the protection of information not constituting a state secret.” Currently, there are many international and domestic recommendations and practices to conducting cybersecurity audit of information systems, but they do not meet the existing and emerging requirements in the field of cybersecurity of SO CII of the Russian Federation and cannot be applied without significant improvement. The authors consider the issues that need to be solved in order to develop an audit methodology, analyze existing legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation and Federal Executive bodies authorized in this area, methodological documents (MD) and standards, as well as possible reasons for the current situation. An algorithm of possible actions for conducting a cybersecurity audit in the course of state control is proposed. The algorithm is a result of compiling international practices (standards) and requirements adopted in the Russian Federation, as well as requirements to the necessary tools - vulnerability analysis systems and support software (database management systems).

Experience in applying the effectiveness audit methodology in order to save budget funds for the purchase of medicines in the UK

The article examines the experience of the national audit office of the United Kingdom in conducting an audit of the effectiveness of budget funds aimed at providing medicines to English citizens. The reasons for the sharp increase in budget expenditures for providing the population with reproduced medicines in 2017—2018 are described in detail.The article analyzes the shortcomings of the system of regulation of drug pricing procedures and the resulting risks to the budget of the national health system in United Kingdom.It is concluded that the effectiveness audit has allowed us to identify not only the reasons for significant overspending of the NHS budget to provide the population with medicines, but also to assess the actions of organizations authorized by the UK Government to address issues of regulation of the pharmaceutical market.

A Proposed Performance Audit Methodology for Lean 6S Applications

Bir yalın üretim tekniği olan 6S; sınıflama, düzenleme, temizlik, standartlaştırma, disiplin ve iş güvenliği olmak üzere 6 adımdan oluşan ve sürekli iyileştirme felsefesine dayalı bir yöntemdir. 6S uygulama performansının denetimi için literatürde farklı denetim araçları önerilmiştir; fakat bu denetim araçlarına ait kontrol listelerinin ve puanlama sistemlerinin geçerliliğini gösteren bir çalışma yoktur. Ayrıca, bu denetim araçları iş güvenliğine ilişkin gözlem kontrol maddeleri açısından oldukça yüzeyseldir. Diğer yandan, iş güvenliği aşamasındaki iyileştirmelerin verimliliği artırıcı etkileri olduğu, benzer şekilde verimlilik artırıcı çalışmaların da iş sağlığı ve güvenliği (İSG) konularında iyileşmelere yol açtığı bilinen bir gerçektir. Elmeri yöntemi İSG denetiminde bilimsel anlamda geçerliliği gösterilmiş, kontrol listelerine dayalı bir yöntemdir. Bu çalışmada, Elmeri yöntemi baz alınarak, tüm imalat sanayinde kullanabilecek, uygulanabilirliği basit ve hızlı bir performans denetim yöntemi önerilmiştir. Yönteme 6S-Elmeri Bütünleşik Performans Denetim Yöntemi (6SE) adı verilmiştir. 6SE yöntemi, 18’i Elmeri yönteminden 22’si literatürde 6S için önerilen denetim unsrularından olmak üzere toplam 40 maddelik gözlem kuralı içeren yeni bir kontrol listesi sunmaktadır. Yöntemin uygulaması Kırıkkkale’de kurulu büyük ölçekli bir mobilya fabrikasında 5 atölyede yapılmıştır. Toplanan gözlem verileri üzerinden fabrikanın hem genel bazda hem de atölye bazında 6SE ve Elmeri endeksleri hesaplanmıştır; bu endeks değerlerine göre performanslar değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca Dikişhane atölyesinde yapılan sürekli iyileştirme çalışmalarının endeks değerlerine nasıl yansıdığı analiz edilip yorumlanmıştır. Sonuçlar önerilen 6SE yönteminin atölyedeki sürekli iyileşme düzeyini belirlemede yetenekli olduğunu göstermiştir.

Auditing and design evaluation of building automation and control systems based on eu.bac system audit – Danish case study

Abstract Improving the energy performance of buildings will prove vital for countries worldwide to reduce their energy consumption and emissions. A key player in reaching this goal is building automation and control, as having well-designed and operated building automation and control systems (BACS) provide large capabilities in optimizing the energy performance of different systems. In this regard, building owners and planners must be able to assess and evaluate the current status of their BACS and identify potential improvements. While there has been a large block of work done in Denmark along with regulations aiming to audit the overall building performance and individual systems characteristics, very little has been done in the field of auditing the building automation and control system and evaluating its structure and operation patterns. This lack of systematic BACS auditing and evaluation in Danish buildings is addressed in this work with the first implementation and evaluation of the eu.bac System methodology in a university office building. The building was found to comply with the lowest automation and control class E. Two BACS retrofit packages were proposed and evaluated, and energy savings up to 28.5% are reported. The preliminary assessment results reported demonstrate the potential of building automation and control retrofit measures in a combined holistic improvement package alongside building envelope upgrade. In addition, the impact of the eu.bac System improvements and labeling on the building's classification based on the recent Danish building regulation BR18 is evaluated. The study discusses the feasibility of eu.bac System tool implementation in Danish buildings and suggests improvements. It also correlates and compares the eu.bac System audit to the upcoming European SRI instrument. In light of the huge efforts to digitalize the Danish energy sector, ensuring proper design and operation of BACS is of great importance. Thus, a systematic and methodical BACS auditing and evaluation methodology will be a crucial part of buildings’ initial and retro-commissioning platforms.

The main directions of internal audit when checking the accounting of export transactions

Internal audit of foreign economic activity, in particular export operations, is one of the most difficult and time-consuming areas of audit. This is justified by a whole set of normative and legislative acts that regulate the accounting and support of export operations, as well as the absence of clearly regulated accounting rules for a number of business processes. The main goal of the study is to develop a methodology for internal audit of foreign trade operations. The article highlights the information base for auditing export operations, proposes an audit program, which defines the main areas of audit, including areas of increased risk of corruption of credentials. In the conclusion, it is concluded that the application of the proposed recommendations in practice will allow obtaining better audit results and will increase the reliability of the issued reporting.

Systematic literature reviews in software engineering—enhancement of the study selection process using Cohen’s Kappa statistic

Context:Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) rely on a rigorous and auditable methodology for minimizing biases and ensuring reliability. A common kind of bias arises when selecting studies using a set of inclusion/exclusion criteria. This bias can be decreased through dual revision, which makes the selection process more time-consuming and remains prone to generating bias depending on how each researcher interprets the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Objective:To reduce the bias and time spent in the study selection process, this paper presents a process for selecting studies based on the use of Cohen’s Kappa statistic. We have defined an iterative process based on the use of this statistic during which the criteria are refined until obtain almost perfect agreement (k>0.8). At this point, the two researchers interpret the selection criteria in the same way, and thus, the bias is reduced. Starting from this agreement, dual review can be eliminated; consequently, the time spent is drastically shortened. Method:The feasibility of this iterative process for selecting studies is demonstrated through a tertiary study in the area of software engineering on works that were published from 2005 to 2018. Results:The time saved in the study selection process was 28% (for 152 studies) and if the number of studies is sufficiently large, the time saved tend asymptotically to 50%. Conclusions:Researchers and students may take advantage of this iterative process for selecting studies when conducting SLRs to reduce bias in the interpretation of inclusion and exclusion criteria. It is especially useful for research with few resources.

Automation of scientific and technical expertise procedures in the methodology of technological audit of aircraft manufacturing

The work is devoted to issues of conceptual, informational and software problems of expert assessment of the current state, problems and development potentials of technological and production systems. The purpose of the research is to develop methods and tools for variative forecasting of operational characteristics of aircraft manufacturing facilities and automation of audit procedures for complex technological systems. The originality of this method is the use of the principles of technological inheritance of quality parameters of parts in the process of processing under the influence of technological energy and their relationship to performance characteristics. The advantage is the ability to define process controllers in the image of progressive technological operations of forming and modification of precision surfaces in order to ensure a guaranteed increase in operational efficiency by their flexible integration into production systems. A hierarchical model of the technological system implemented in the MatLAB Simulink visual modeling environment is proposed. The operation of the process controller is shown by the example of a diamond smoothing operation aimed at increasing the service life of precision friction pairs. The developed methods and tools are a tool for forming an evidence base for evaluating the technological potential, reliability, stability, and repeatability of technological processes in the total quality management system.

Continuous Monitoring and Audit Methodology for Medication Procurement

Continuous audit has presently been adopted by many public and private firms, despite different adoption levels (PwC, 2006; Vasarhelyi et al., 2012). Implementations of continuous monitoring and audit on government procurement analysis are rare, even though wastes and abuses easily occur during the process. This study analyzes medication procurement data from a Brazil city and establishes a continuous monitoring and audit system. The system aims to help internal auditors identify exceptions and anomalies in procurements for investigation and further achieve cost management in a more timely manner by introducing the comparison of exogenous data. The methodology embedded in this system will not only shed light on government procurement audit analysis but also give insights to armchair auditors to investigate open government data from different perspectives.

Трансфертне ціноутворення в системі оподаткування

Трансфертне ціноутворення в системі оподаткування

Metabolismo en los edificios. Estudio de medidas para el ahorro del consumo de agua en tres centros docentes en Madrid

Estudios previos han investigado sobre el desempeño energético de centros docentes. Sin embargo, no parece haberse explorado suficientemente la relación entre consumo de energía y consumo de agua en este tipo de edificios. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio empírico, basado en la metodología de la auditoría energética operativa, realizado en tres centros docentes ubicados en la Comunidad de Madrid. Los resultados sugieren que las medidas de ahorro en el consumo de agua, como implantar perlizadores, temporizadores o doble pulsadores, son relevantes en cuanto a la mejora de la eficiencia energética, suponen inversiones moderadas y obtienen unos periodos de retorno simple de la inversión atractivos para los gestores de los edificios. Se abren nuevas vías de investigación que apuntan a realizar el análisis de otros flujos de materia e información, de manera que se establezca la relación entre dichos flujos y el consumo de energía que llevan aparejados.

A Synthesis of Information on Regulation, Organization and Methodology of Audit in the EU Countries

The paper sums up documents on the legal and practical framework for the regulation of audit, quality control of audit services and public oversight audit all countries of EU. For more than a quarter of a century, an understanding and approval practice of providing audit services has been formed in Ukraine. As an important element of the market mechanism, an audit involves expressing the reasoned opinion of an independent, qualified professional about the entity's financial statements. The time requirement is the use by regulators of new, modern audit techniques. Audit development in Ukraine always goes hand in hand with the study and use of positive audit experience in market economy countries. The main components of such techniques are certain procedures for auditing, quality control of audit services and public oversight bodies. The paper on legal acts and literary sources summarizes the legal and the best practices of audit regulation, quality control of audit services and public oversight bodies in all EU countries (currently 28). The tendencies of organization and regulation of audit activity, variants of influence on the quality of audit services, as well as application of state and non-governmental levers of forming the body of public supervision are indicated. A critical attitude to the regulation of audit, organization and methods of audit in Ukraine is justified. Conclusions are drawn and prospects for further research are outlined.

Разработка методики аудита кибербезопасности ГИС, относящихся к объектам критической информационной инфраструктуры Российской Федерации

Разработка методики аудита кибербезопасности ГИС, относящихся к объектам критической информационной инфраструктуры Российской Федерации

IMPROVEMENT OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT AUDIT METHODOLOGY FOR IMPROVING THE ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

IMPROVEMENT OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT AUDIT METHODOLOGY FOR IMPROVING THE ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

Agency and Workplace Diversity: Evidence from a Two-Sided Audit

Firms increasingly delegate job screening to third parties. Outsourced recruiters introduce agency issues that can distort worker/employer matching. We present a simple model illustrating the tension between recruiters' use of private information about candidate preferences, and reputational incentives to impress employers. We then execute a novel two-sided audit experiment by directly engaging recruiting intermediaries. We show that agents' career concerns strongly shape selection decisions. Recruiters over-interview employer-favored candidates unlikely to reciprocate interest, while under-select candidates with stronger mutual interest. By changing outside offers, recruiters' career concerns affect candidates' negotiating leverage. We conclude by discussing extensions of our audit methodology.

МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД К ОЦЕНКЕ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ РЕСУРСОВ МЕДИЦИНСКИМИ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯМИ

The article reveals methodological approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of the use of resources of medi-cal organizations in order to improve the availability and quality of medical care based on the application of the methodology of performance audit; a methodological approach to the use of individual elements of the efficiency audit methodology for evaluating the performance of medical organizations and the effectiveness of the use of available resources is proposed.

ФОРМУВАННЯ МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНОЇ ОСНОВИ АУДИТУ ЗОВНІШНЬОЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ПОВ’ЯЗАНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The specific postulates of the audit of the foreign economic activity of related enterprises have been determined. The proposed structure of the audit methodology of foreign economic activity of related enterprises takes into account the interests of audi

Gender audits: An approach to engendering energy policy in Nepal, Kenya and Senegal

Gender audits are an approach for putting gender on the policy agenda and are an alternative to gender budgets being less dependant on experts in government finance.This paper explores the effectiveness of gender audits as an approach to mainstreaming in the energy sector which has lagged other sectors in mainstreaming gender. The assessment takes the experiences of an international network on gender and sustainable energy that aims to get gender onto the energy policy agenda. Since there is no standard audit methodology, the network developed its own.The paper uses an analysis of qualitative data, reviews of audit reports and key informant interviews to answer two questions. As a result of gender audits, have gender issues or attending to women's particular interests been incorporated in energy policy? Did participation in an audit build the capacity of national actors to contribute to gender mainstreaming in the energy sector? Detailed data comes from network countries conducting audits: Kenya, Senegal and Nepal, with supporting evidence from 8 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.The gender audit methodology used is partially effective in integrating gender issues into government energy policy. Pragmatic, conceptual and political barriers to gender mainstreaming continue to operate. Adopting gender-aware policies occurs rapidly in organisations that participated in the audits. Male employees more readily accept gender policies when they see that policies also benefits men. In the audit countries, a group of national gender and energy experts has been established able to contribute to mainstreaming gender in the energy sector.