Disciplinary practices in the French auditing profession

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cédric Lesage ◽  
Geraldine Hottegindre ◽  
Charles Richard Baker

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understand the role of the statutory auditing profession in France. The study is theoretically based on distinctions between a functionalist view of professions and a neo-weberian view. Prior research, conducted in Anglo-American countries has shown that the auditing profession has focussed primarily on protecting the private interests of the profession. Hence, there is a need to conduct research on this topic in a code law country where the state is expected to play a significant role in protecting the public interest. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involves a content analysis of 148 disciplinary decisions issued against statutory auditors in France from 1989 to 2006. This analysis identified 21 types of violations grouped into public interest or private interest offences. Because visible offences are public and are more likely to threaten the reputation of the profession, these types of decisions are also studied with respect to their visibility. Findings – The results reveal that in a code law country such as France the auditing profession tends to defend both the public interest as well as its private interests. The results also support the “visibility” effect. Research limitations/implications – The written disciplinary decisions have been anonymized so that the names of the auditors and the clients cannot be identified. Originality/value – This paper differs from previous studies conducted in the Anglo-American context which show an emphasis on protecting the private interests of the auditing profession. Moreover, this study reveals the existence of “mixed” offences and underlines that a profession primarily focusses on these cases. Thus, the work reconciles in part the functionalist and neo-weberian perspectives. Lastly, this paper confirms the importance of the visibility effect.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifa F. Fawaris

Purpose This study aims to clarify the role of Muslim women in managing their families during the corona pandemic crisis. To achieve this aim, the researcher applied the descriptive and analytical approach. Design/methodology/approach The Muslim women have had a prominent position consistent with the physical, psychological and mental characteristics that Allah has created them. This status is shown by: affirming their rights in all areas of life; affirming everything that preserved the dignity of women before Islam; and correcting all the conditions that detracted their dignity before the advent of Islam and making them responsible in public Islamic life on the level of: preserving Islam, spreading the Islamic call and achieving the civilization advancement of the Muslim nation. Findings The study resulted in many significant results. The most important one of the study results was that, in the context of woman rights and responsibilities she had assumed in Islam, the Muslim woman had a prominent position in Islam. In addition, the mother in the Muslim family had a significant role as a leader, who is capable of managing the family in corona crisis and supporting family members in all aspects such as faith, intellectual endeavors, psychological, social and health, so that they are real leaders. Originality/value The study recommends carrying out educational studies that identify and show the role of institutions other than the family in managing emergency crises.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-224
Author(s):  
Leonor Rodriguez ◽  
Pat Dolan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role of empathy in adolescents coping with maternal cancer to identify passive and active empathy forms and the role of these in adolescent coping at a challenging time. Design/methodology/approach This study was a secondary content analysis carried out on 15 adolescent interviews that were analysed to find the evidence of empathy in active and passive forms. Adolescents were between 14 and 20 years of age, their mothers were diagnosed with cancer in the previous 24 months to the interview. Findings The analysis identified more evidence of active forms of empathy than passive directed at ill mothers and their families as helpful behaviours and emotional support. Passive empathy was experienced by adolescents who did not have major changes in their daily routines because of maternal cancer. Both passive and active empathy were perceived as coping mechanisms. Maternal illness motivated adolescents’ empathy and encouraged actions to support their mothers, immediate and extended families. Originality/value Empathy is complex but can be important for adolescent development including their social skills and relationships; however, research has not evaluated the role of empathy in adolescents experiencing maternal cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Guthrie ◽  
Francesca Manes Rossi ◽  
Rebecca Levy Orelli ◽  
Giuseppe Nicolò

Purpose The paper identifies the types of risks disclosed by Italian organisations using integrated reporting (IR). This paper aims to understand the level and features of risk disclosure with the adoption of IR. Design/methodology/approach The authors use risk classifications already provided in the literature to develop a content analysis of Italian organisations’ integrated reports published. Findings The content analysis reveals that most of the Italian organisations incorporate many types of risk disclosure into their integrated reports. Organisations use this alternative form of reporting to communicate risk differently from how they disclose risks in traditional annual financial reporting. That is, the study finds that the organisations use their integrated reports to disclose a broader group of risks, related to the environment and society, and do so using narrative and visual representation. Originality/value The paper contributes to a narrow stream of research investigating risk disclosure provided through IR, contributing to the understanding of the role of IR in representing an organisational risk.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1094-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Martínez-Ávila ◽  
Richard Smiraglia ◽  
Hur-Li Lee ◽  
Melodie Fox

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss and shed light on the following questions: What is an author? Is it a person who writes? Or, is it, in information, an iconic taxonomic designation (some might say a “classification”) for a group of writings that are recognized by the public in some particular way? What does it mean when a search engine, or catalog, asks a user to enter the name of an author? And how does that accord with the manner in which the data have been entered in association with the names of the entities identified with the concept of authorship? Design/methodology/approach – The authors use several cases as bases of phenomenological discourse analysis, combining as best the authors can components of eidetic bracketing (a Husserlian technique for isolating noetic reduction) with Foucauldian discourse analysis. The two approaches are not sympathetic or together cogent, so the authors present them instead as alternative explanations alongside empirical evidence. In this way the authors are able to isolate components of iconic “authorship” and then subsequently engage them in discourse. Findings – An “author” is an iconic name associated with a class of works. An “author” is a role in public discourse between a set of works and the culture that consumes them. An “author” is a role in cultural sublimation, or a power broker in deabstemiation. An “author” is last, if ever, a person responsible for the intellectual content of a published work. The library catalog’s attribution of “author” is at odds with the Foucauldian discursive comprehension of the role of an “author.” Originality/value – One of the main assets of this paper is the combination of Foucauldian discourse analysis with phenomenological analysis for the study of the “author.” The authors turned to Foucauldian discourse analysis to discover the loci of power in the interactions of the public with the named authorial entities. The authors also looked to phenomenological analysis to consider the lived experience of users who encounter the same named authorial entities. The study of the “author” in this combined way facilitated the revelation of new aspects of the role of authorship in search engines and library catalogs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-112
Author(s):  
Mary Eleanor Rawlings Wickersham ◽  
Robert Yehl

Purpose The tenuous financial viability of many of Georgia’s rural hospitals has driven increased scrutiny of the hospital authorities (HAs) that own and govern them. HAs are a type of “special district” established in state law to allow for specialization of function, while evading statutes that can limit local government borrowing and multi-year contracts. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a case example to introduce transparency and accountability in one local Georgia hospital and expands to include a descriptive analysis of transparency measures in 29 rural Georgia HAs. Findings Findings indicate that, like many other special districts in Georgia and the USA, Georgia’s rural HAs often act more like private entities than the public organizations they are. The lack of transparency demonstrated in this sector limits access to public information and reduces opportunities for citizen engagement, a necessary component of representative institutions. Research limitations/implications This case study is limited to Georgia HAs; however, the data support the lack of accountability and transparency found in many special district governments. Originality/value The lack of transparency in all of the organizations reviewed in this study demonstrates blurred lines between between public matters and private interests and raises questions of transparency, a key value in democracies.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aydemir Okay ◽  
Pedja Ašanin Gole ◽  
Ayla Okay

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the health ministries of Turkey and Slovenia use Twitter as government agencies obliged to communicate with the public.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a content analysis methodology to examine how Turkish (TR) and Slovenian (SLO) health ministries use Twitter for informing and encouraging behavior change in the public. A total of 662 “tweets” were analyzed. Drawing on prior studies, a coding scheme was developed and employed, and χ2 and t-tests were conducted for data analysis. Additionally, this study aimed at effecting a content analysis according to the “four models” method of Grunig and Hunt regarding efforts made to build communication with the public.FindingsThis study uncovered that the TR and SLO health ministries did not utilize two-way communication principles for Twitter communication, and their frequency of Twitter use is inadequate.Research limitations/implicationsThe sampled tweets were selected by using a scientific sampling method. However, this might not have been substantial enough to represent the entirety of tweets in the study timeframe. Analyzing tweets across a longer timeframe would be helpful in confirming this study's findings. This study was also limited to two countries and to publicly available tweets; the messages of health ministries' followers to the ministries themselves were not examined. The findings of this study may not be generalizable to other countries. Other potential studies, with a particular focus on this topic, may be able to measure individual perceptions of the credibility and usefulness of messages from health ministries and their willingness to engage in two-way communication.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to evaluate how the health ministries of Turkey and Slovenia communicate on Twitter and to apply the four models of Grunig and Hunt with regard to Twitter. This study also identified that noncompeting government agencies were not minded to communicate with their publics.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Galleli ◽  
Flavio Hourneaux Junior

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify how human competences are associated with sustainable strategic management (SSM) within organisations. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study in two phases: first, a theoretical phase is developed, resulting in a proposal for the role of human competences in organisational sustainability; second, an empirical phase including instrumental case studies of two large, sustainability-oriented Brazilian companies. Data were obtained from interviews and companies’ reports. The authors used Atlas.ti software to perform the thematic content analysis. Findings Despite the importance of human competences in SSM, the authors find evidence that this concept has not been developed, even for companies with a consolidated position in sustainability. Human competences are a requirement for effective SSM. Research limitations/implications Coexisting elements within an organisation, often referred to as elements of organisational and human behaviour, can influence the dynamics of the expected interrelationships between human competences and sustainability management, in addition to the influencing factors presented in this study. Originality/value In general, studies advocate that the relationships among organisational competences, human competences and organisational strategies must be aligned and reinforced. Nevertheless, these relationships are not that solid as they should be as stated in both the literature and the conventional discourse of practitioners.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norah Khalid Alsufyan ◽  
Monira Aloud

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way that Saudi universities are engaging their audience via social media platforms by means of the five meaningful themes: visibility, branding, authenticity, commitment, and engagement. The study will answer the questions: how do Saudi universities exploit social media platforms to engage their target audience? What are the recommendations for Saudi universities toward maximizing the value of social media engagement? Design/methodology/approach A content analysis approach was used to study all Saudi universities (26 public, 11 private). Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter were the anticipated social media platforms in this study. Findings The results showed that Twitter is the most frequently used platform to communicate with audiences. While visibility in the anticipated social media platforms was high, the engagement was lacking. On the other hand, authenticity and branding in the anticipated social media platforms were medium, while commitment was low except on Twitter. In general, the private universities exceed the public universities in terms of visibility, branding, authenticity, commitment and engagement in the anticipated social media platforms, which indicates their attention on gaining their audience’s satisfaction, a dynamic of trust which will lead to maintaining current relationships or building new ones. Originality/value Since there are few studies in the field regarding social media platforms usage by Saudi universities, this study aims to understand how Saudi universities are utilizing social media platforms to engage their audiences and propose recommendations for how Saudi universities can build value from social media platforms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Anne Denny

Purpose – Closed circuit television (CCTV) imaging is an increasingly used technology and it is now common place for law enforcement to access CCTV footage as an investigative tool to assist in the nomination of a person of interest, or to aid in the prosecution of an offender. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of imaging practitioners in the analysis and interpretation of CCTV images within a law enforcement context. It explores and addresses the limitations of CCTV imaging in evidence with a focus on the interpretation of changes in the visual representation of clothing items. Design/methodology/approach – This paper demonstrates the variations observed in four dark toned garments imaged using one CCTV camera with two different recording settings – visible light and near infrared. The device used was installed and operated in a manner comparable to that used in the public domain, the resulting images indicative of those experienced in casework. Findings – The results display a noticeable change to the tonality of each clothing item between the varied recording conditions. These inconsistencies highlight the limitations of layperson analysis and identify the importance of the inclusion of imaging practitioners when interpreting and analysing such images as evidence. Originality/value – With an abundance of images in the society, layperson interpretation has become common place. Recognising the value of trained imaging practitioners who can assist law enforcement in analysis and interpretation is paramount to ensuring CCTV images as evidence are used appropriately.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302
Author(s):  
Paulo Rogério Faustino Matos ◽  
Jaime de Jesus Filho

Purpose This paper aims to address the discussion on the credit disbursement of US$28.6bn from Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) to Brazilian state governments during the period from 2009 to 2014. They try to identify the main drivers of the credit allocation in both cross state and time. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a dynamic balanced panel to estimate the role of technical and socioeconomic variables. Findings The results suggest that the states’ need for financing via BNDES exhibits neither inertial nor explosive behavior. The authors find an efficiency elasticity of this resource of 0.20. In addition, the impact of a positive change in the state fiscal status leads to an increase of 2.5 per cent in the indebtedness capacity. Finally, they find that wealthier states are more successful in demanding credit from BNDES. Practical implications This analysis of resource allocation is useful for modeling the determinants of international financial institutions as central planners. The authors also invite researchers to discuss the decision-making processes that characterize the federative pact in Brazil. Originality/value Although a burgeoning body of literature has examined the role of BNDES as a creditor institution for firms, its relationship with the public sector, in special subnational governments, has been rarely studied.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document