Amr Kotb

The Impact of E-Business on the Audit Process: An Investigation of the Factors Leading to Change

This study seeks to further understand the implications of e‐business for financial audit practice by exploring: the pressures leading to the adoption of new or different audit practices; the specific features of e‐business that affect the appropriateness of traditional auditing practices and techniques; and how technical audit work is changing in response to the increasing adoption of e‐business models. By using semi‐structured interviews and a postal questionnaire survey, the perceptions of financial auditors and information technology (IT) audit practitioners were sought. The findings identify factors affecting, and pressures leading to, audit change in response to e‐business as perceived by these auditors. Overall, the most obvious aspect of e‐business audit change was felt to be the extensive use of IT‐driven practices and techniques, and this change could not only be attributed to technical factors, but they also thought that competitive and professional factors were also important drivers of audit change.

E-Business in Accounting Education: A Review of Undergraduate Accounting Degrees in the UK and Ireland

Despite the rapidly growing importance of e-business and its impact on every aspect of the business world, including accounting practice and the accounting profession, little attention has been given to the e-business education provided to accounting students. This paper reports the results of a study into e-business education in undergraduate university accounting degree programmes in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. An analysis of 119 syllabi, representing e-business, information systems and auditing modules, was undertaken to investigate the scope of and content of e-business teaching within accounting degrees. It was found that e-business is, at best, only briefly covered in the typical accounting degree. Results of the study suggest that the UK and Ireland are lagging considerably behind the USA with regard to e-business education. They may also provide accounting educators, professional bodies, and researchers with insights into the teaching of e-business in order to better prepare accounting graduates for the Internet-based marketplace.

E-business internal audit: the elephant is still in the room!

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of technological change on the internal audit practices and skills requirements for internal auditors in an e-business environment. Design/methodology/approach – Generalist internal auditors and specialist information technology (IT) internal auditors were surveyed online in ten countries, including the USA and the UK which, together, provided the majority of responses. Findings – The results suggest a need for advanced IT-audit techniques in conducting the internal audit function, thereby increasing IT audit skill demands on generalist internal auditors. However, the results show a low confidence among internal auditors about their IT training and a continuing reliance upon IT audit specialists, rather than their own training/retraining. Research limitations/implications – The responses obtained in this study provide insight into both the status quo of the internal audit function, and to the changes that are needed to prepare generalist interna...

The use of generalized audit software by Egyptian external auditors: The effect of audit software features

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore: the actual usage of generalized audit software (GAS) features among Egyptian external auditors, through the technology acceptance model (TAM); how the conceptual complexity of GAS features impact its actual usage; and what factors influencing the GAS use by Egyptian external auditors. Design/methodology/approach - External audit professionals at 12 international audit firms, including the Big 4 and eight medium-sized firms, in Egypt were surveyed. Findings - The results show that the basic features including database queries, ratio analysis, and audit sampling were higher in GAS use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use among Egyptian external auditors than the advanced features: digital analysis, regression/ANOVA, and data mining classification. The structural equation modelling analysis by GAS features suggests that perceived ease of use has a stronger effect on GAS use when the conceptual complexity of GAS features is high. The analysis also support that the use of GAS by Egyptian external auditors is more affected by co-worker, supervisor, or organization through perceived usefulness, but not by job relevance, output quality, and result demonstration. Research limitations/implications - Although Egyptian external auditors participated in this study may limit the extent to which the findings may be generalized, the responses provide an insight into the actual usage of GAS features by external auditors and the impact of conceptual complexity of GAS features, which is consistent with the literature concerning the relatively low level of utilizing the advanced features of GAS by internal auditors, suggesting that the issues revealed should be of concern. Practical implications - The results reported in this paper are useful to audit software developers and audit firms in their understanding of factors influencing GAS usage in a different audit context. Originality/value - The study adds value to prior research by providing context-contingent insight into the application of TAM in an unexplored audit context.