The Experts below are selected from a list of 20934 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Paolo Perego - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements an international investigation
    Business Strategy and The Environment, 2008
    Co-Authors: Ans Kolk, Paolo Perego
    Abstract:

    This paper explores the factors associated with voluntary decisions to assure social, environmental and sustainability reports. Since the market for assurance services in this area is in its formative stages, there is a limited understanding of the demand for this emergent non-Financial Auditing practice, which is evolving rapidly across different countries. Drawing from extant literature in international Auditing and environmental accounting, we focus on a set of country-level institutional factors to explain the adoption of sustainability assurance statements among an international panel of 212 Fortune Global 250 companies for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005. Consistent with our expectations, our results provide evidence that companies operating in countries that are more stakeholder oriented and have a weaker governance enforcement regime are more likely to adopt a sustainability assurance statement. Further, the demand for assurance is higher in countries where sustainable corporate practices are better enabled by market and institutional mechanisms. Our exploratory findings also indicate that the likelihood of choosing a large accounting firm as assurance provider increases for companies domiciled in countries that are shareholder oriented and have a lower level of litigation. We conclude the paper by suggesting three directions of research in the area of sustainability assurance that have relevant academic and practical implications

  • determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements an international investigation
    Social Science Research Network, 2008
    Co-Authors: Ans Kolk, Paolo Perego
    Abstract:

    This paper explores the factors associated with the voluntary decisions to assure social, environmental and sustainability reports. Since the market for assurance services in this area is in its formative stages, there is a limited understanding of the demand for this emergent non-Financial Auditing practice, which is evolving rapidly across different countries. Drawing from extant literature in international Auditing and environmental accounting, we focus on a set of country-level institutional factors to explain the adoption of sustainability assurances statements among an international panel of 212 Fortune Global 250 companies for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005. Consistently with our expectations, our results provide evidence that companies operating in countries that are more stakeholder-oriented and have a weaker governance enforcement regime are more likely to adopt a sustainability assurance statement. Further, the demand for assurance is higher in countries where sustainable corporate practices are better enabled by market and institutional mechanisms. Our exploratory findings also indicate that the likelihood to choose a large accounting firm as assurance provider increases for companies domiciled in countries that are shareholder-oriented and have a lower level of litigation. We conclude the paper suggesting three directions of research in the area of sustainability assurance that have relevant academic and practical implications.

Xuemi She - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • parq a privacy preserving range query scheme over encrypted metering data for smart grid
    IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, 2013
    Co-Authors: Kua Zhang, Jingsheng Lei, Xiaohui Liang, Xuemi She
    Abstract:

    Smart grid, envisioned as an indispensable power infrastructure, is featured by real-time and two-way communications. How to securely retrieve and audit the communicated metering data for validation testing is, however, still challenging for smart grid. In this paper, we propose a novel privacy-preserving range query (PaRQ) scheme over encrypted metering data to address the privacy issues in Financial Auditing for smart grid. Our PaRQ allows a residential user to store metering data on a cloud server in an encrypted form. When Financial Auditing is needed, an authorized requester can send its range query tokens to the cloud server to retrieve the metering data. Specifically, the PaRQ constructs a hidden vector encryption based range query predicate to encrypt the searchable attributes and session keys of the encrypted data. Meanwhile, the requester's range query can be transferred into two query tokens, which are used to find the matched query results. Security analysis demonstrates that in the PaRQ, only the authorized requesters can obtain the query results, while the data confidentiality and query privacy are also preserved. The simulation results show that our PaRQ can significantly reduce communication and computation costs.

Ans Kolk - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements an international investigation
    Business Strategy and The Environment, 2008
    Co-Authors: Ans Kolk, Paolo Perego
    Abstract:

    This paper explores the factors associated with voluntary decisions to assure social, environmental and sustainability reports. Since the market for assurance services in this area is in its formative stages, there is a limited understanding of the demand for this emergent non-Financial Auditing practice, which is evolving rapidly across different countries. Drawing from extant literature in international Auditing and environmental accounting, we focus on a set of country-level institutional factors to explain the adoption of sustainability assurance statements among an international panel of 212 Fortune Global 250 companies for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005. Consistent with our expectations, our results provide evidence that companies operating in countries that are more stakeholder oriented and have a weaker governance enforcement regime are more likely to adopt a sustainability assurance statement. Further, the demand for assurance is higher in countries where sustainable corporate practices are better enabled by market and institutional mechanisms. Our exploratory findings also indicate that the likelihood of choosing a large accounting firm as assurance provider increases for companies domiciled in countries that are shareholder oriented and have a lower level of litigation. We conclude the paper by suggesting three directions of research in the area of sustainability assurance that have relevant academic and practical implications

  • determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements an international investigation
    Social Science Research Network, 2008
    Co-Authors: Ans Kolk, Paolo Perego
    Abstract:

    This paper explores the factors associated with the voluntary decisions to assure social, environmental and sustainability reports. Since the market for assurance services in this area is in its formative stages, there is a limited understanding of the demand for this emergent non-Financial Auditing practice, which is evolving rapidly across different countries. Drawing from extant literature in international Auditing and environmental accounting, we focus on a set of country-level institutional factors to explain the adoption of sustainability assurances statements among an international panel of 212 Fortune Global 250 companies for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005. Consistently with our expectations, our results provide evidence that companies operating in countries that are more stakeholder-oriented and have a weaker governance enforcement regime are more likely to adopt a sustainability assurance statement. Further, the demand for assurance is higher in countries where sustainable corporate practices are better enabled by market and institutional mechanisms. Our exploratory findings also indicate that the likelihood to choose a large accounting firm as assurance provider increases for companies domiciled in countries that are shareholder-oriented and have a lower level of litigation. We conclude the paper suggesting three directions of research in the area of sustainability assurance that have relevant academic and practical implications.

Kua Zhang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • parq a privacy preserving range query scheme over encrypted metering data for smart grid
    IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, 2013
    Co-Authors: Kua Zhang, Jingsheng Lei, Xiaohui Liang, Xuemi She
    Abstract:

    Smart grid, envisioned as an indispensable power infrastructure, is featured by real-time and two-way communications. How to securely retrieve and audit the communicated metering data for validation testing is, however, still challenging for smart grid. In this paper, we propose a novel privacy-preserving range query (PaRQ) scheme over encrypted metering data to address the privacy issues in Financial Auditing for smart grid. Our PaRQ allows a residential user to store metering data on a cloud server in an encrypted form. When Financial Auditing is needed, an authorized requester can send its range query tokens to the cloud server to retrieve the metering data. Specifically, the PaRQ constructs a hidden vector encryption based range query predicate to encrypt the searchable attributes and session keys of the encrypted data. Meanwhile, the requester's range query can be transferred into two query tokens, which are used to find the matched query results. Security analysis demonstrates that in the PaRQ, only the authorized requesters can obtain the query results, while the data confidentiality and query privacy are also preserved. The simulation results show that our PaRQ can significantly reduce communication and computation costs.

Mile Terziovski - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • quality audit roles and skills perceptions of non Financial auditors and their clients
    Journal of Operations Management, 2007
    Co-Authors: Damien Power, Mile Terziovski
    Abstract:

    Abstract A major development in Operations Management over the past two decades has been the use of quality audits to gauge the effectiveness of quality management systems in manufacturing and service organizations. Achieving optimal benefits from non-Financial audits will, however, require that auditors and their clients obtain a greater understanding of and appreciation for the appropriate roles, responsibilities and skills of the non-Financial auditor. This research uses data obtained from surveys of 126 practicing non-Financial auditors and 400 non-Financial audit clients in Australasia to test two propositions about the roles and requirements of non-Financial auditors. The results indicate that non-Financial auditors believe they are providing a style of Auditing that is strongly focused on developing continuous improvement of client's quality systems. Non-Financial auditors also appear to have a desire to meet what they perceive to be the requirements of certified organizations by emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement focused Auditing. However, their clients have the opposite perception believing that they are getting less continuous improvement focused Auditing than they would like, and more compliance Auditing than they need. The results show that client organizations are, in general, looking for a more balanced approach to non-Financial Auditing in terms of compliance and continuous improvement. The evidence also suggests that a major constraint identified relates to some fundamental issues of auditor independence. This dilemma created is apparent both in the understanding of what the appropriate role of the auditor is (in both the mind of the client and the auditor), and in the nature of the different roles each plays as a stakeholder in a quality system.

  • the process practice and outcomes of non Financial Auditing five australian case studies
    International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2005
    Co-Authors: Damien Power, Mile Terziovski
    Abstract:

    The growth of ISO 9000 quality systems certification has slowed down with many companies opting out from the ongoing certification process. The future role of the non-Financial auditor has been questioned, particularly in organisations with mature quality systems. Many studies have been conducted in the literature that tests the relationship between ISO 9000 certification and business performance. The results provide a 'snap shot' in time of the ISO 9000 benefits. There has been an accumulation of lessons learned from thousands of certified companies worldwide, particularly in Australia. This paper is based on five Australian case studies focusing on ISO 9000 certification and non-Financial Auditing practice. The results of the case studies indicated that ISO certification can act as a catalyst for change, and can provide benefits through formalised systems and the promotion of proactive problem solving. The need for the auditor of the future to develop organisation specific experience, along with the skills to be able to adapt to the requirements of specific organisations, was identified as critical if non-Financial Auditing was to remain relevant and effective. Inability of certification to differentiate between different types of organisations, the relevance of certification for organisations with mature quality systems, lack of grading for different organisations and the ongoing relevance of the external auditor for mature quality systems were the major limitations noted. The increasingly important role of internal (as against external) Auditing was also identified as a likely future trend, particularly for organisations with relatively mature quality systems. Based on the qualitative analysis we conclude that the need for the non-Financial auditor of the future to develop organisation specific experience, along with the skills to be able to adapt to the requirements of specific organisations, would be a critical factor for non-Financial Auditing to remain relevant and effective.

  • from compliance to continuous improvement focused non Financial Auditing a comparison of attitudes between auditors and their clients
    Proceedings 5th International and 8th National Research Conference on Quality and Innovation Management, 2001
    Co-Authors: Damien Power, Mile Terziovski, Amrik S Sohal
    Abstract:

    The purpose of this study is to compare the attitudes of non-Financial auditors with that of their clients regarding the conduct of these audits, and the Auditing process in general. The research involved the development and application of two survey instruments, one applied to a sample of 300 practising non-Financial auditors, the other to a sample of 1500 of their clients. The respective response rates from each survey were 42% for the auditor sample (126 responses) and 27% for the client sample (400 responses). The research study revealed the following key findings: The non-Financial auditor sample saw compliance focused Auditing as being of significantly less importance than did their clients. On the other hand, they saw Auditing focused on continuous improvement as being significantly more important. The client group appear to prefer an Auditing style that is a combination of both compliance and continuous improvement Auditing, whereas the auditors appear to be highly focused on continuous improvement. Non-Financial auditors believe they are providing a style of Auditing that is strongly focused on developing continuous improvement of client's quality systems. Their clients have entirely the opposite view, believing they are getting less continuous improvement focused Auditing than they would like, and more compliance Auditing than they need. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that there is a significantly different view as to the "ideal" Auditing style. The client group appear to see this as a combination of both compliance and continuous improvement Auditing, whereas the auditors see it as being entirely focused on continuous improvement. This analysis verified that significant differences in expectation of audit conduct and performance exist between non-Financial auditors and their clients. The main implication of our findings is that the Auditing fraternity needs to bridge the gap that seems to exist between themselves and their clients. The new ISO 9001-2000 standard may play a key role in this process.