Chuleeporn Changchit

Transferring auditors’ internal control evaluation knowledge to management

Abstract Due to both regulatory and competitive forces, attention to an organizations internal controls has increased significantly in the 1990s. Although management is ultimately responsible for ensuring internal controls are adequate, managers often lack knowledge of internal control concepts. This study reports on an experiment testing an expert system developed to facilitate the transfer of internal control knowledge to management. Experimental results indicate that expert systems are viable aids for transferring internal control knowledge to managers whose work experience is outside of accounting and control systems.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR MANAGERIAL EVALUATION OF INTERNAL CONTROLS

SUMMARY Both practitioners and researchers have devoted significant effort to the study of decision aids, especially expert systems, to assist auditors in internal control evaluations. In addition to being used as a decision aid, researchers have long contended that expert systems could be used to train non-expert users. Even though the professional accounting literature makes it clear that responsibility for maintaining an effective internal control system rests with management rather than auditors, the focus to date has been on expert systems aimed at assisting/training auditors, not an organizations management. In contrast, this study focuses on management as users of an expert system for internal control evaluation. We describe the development process, explain how the resulting system was evaluated, and discuss results of that evaluation. These results suggest that such a system gives a new way to help managers increase effectiveness and efficiency of a critical organizational process: the evaluation of internal controls. Copyright

Positive impacts of an intelligent system on internal control problem recognition

Establishing and maintaining proper internal controls is an essential, ongoing, and complex process for todays organizations. Even though managers are ultimately responsible for ensuring internal control, they are typically not well versed in internal control principles. The literature contains no example of an intelligent system deployed to assist managers in recognizing potential problems in internal control systems. Yet, an intelligent system of this kind might prove to be highly beneficial. This study reports on the development of an intelligent system to assist managers, who do not have specific backgrounds in internal control concepts, evaluate potential weaknesses in internal control systems.

Data Protection and Privacy Issue

This is the third issue of the Journal of Information Privacy & Security (JIPS) for 2008. This issue includes three articles, one interview, and one book review. In the digital age of today, we are concerned with many security and privacy issues. As this digital age continues to affect our daily personal, financial, and corporate activities; confidentiality, usability and safeguarding our information play an ever increasing role in our everyday lives. The concern for privacy and security will continue to be a topic of many discussions fiom data security, to the risks of cyber crime, to the development of electronic voting systems that can assure voters privacy and security. In this issue, each article discusses privacy and security related concerns from different perspectives.

Online or Traditional: A Study to Examine Course Characteristics Contributing to Students' Preference for Classroom Settings

Technological advancements currently penetrate society, changing the way that some courses are taught. It has become more apparent in higher education institutions that all classes are not as adaptive to an online format as others. Since many institutions of higher education further incorporate online courses into their curriculum, it is important to understand the characteristics of courses that affect students’ preferences for either traditional classroom environments or online environments. Indications of this can be seen in the attrition and retention rates of classes offered online. This study explores the characteristics of courses that affect students’ preferences towards online and traditional classroom settings. These results should help providing guidelines to institutions considering courses to offer online.

Students' Perceptions of the Laptop Program: What Factors Should be Considered Before Implementing the Program?

Due to a rapid increase in the usage of information technology, several companies are demanding that graduates have more than just the basic computer skills when they graduate. This has prompted many universities to initiate a campus laptop program in order to increase their students’ computer experiences and skill sets. The success of a laptop program relies heavily on the extent to which the laptop environment is accepted and wholeheartedly implemented by students and faculty. Defining the conception factors necessary to successfully implement a laptop initiative becomes a critical issue to the success of the program. This study examines university students’ perceptions of a required laptop program to determine what factors that they think are crucial for the success of such a program. By understanding what factors encourage students to support a laptop initiative, such a program can be made more useful to students as well as more beneficial to universities.

Factors encouraging the internet banking adoption in Thailand

Although the number of internet banking users has grown rapidly in recent years, not all customers are ready to accept these banking services. It remains a challenge for the banks to figure out how to attract more customers to adopt the use of banking services via an internet channel. This study aims at examining the factors that impact the acceptance of the use of internet banking in Thailand. A total of 697 subjects participated in this study. Data were collected via both interview and survey. The findings suggest factors that banks should consider when implementing internet services, thus allowing them to design an internet service that meets the needs of their customers.

Classroom Preferences: What Factors can Affect Students' Attitudes on Different Classroom Settings?

Advances in technology have enabled instructors to design online courses that better meet the needs of students. Online courses generally are adaptations of traditional courses; some courses are more suitable for such online instruction. As the trend of online course offerings continues, universities must understand factors that lead to students’ preferences since online courses can be costly to develop and implement and inappropriate online courses can lead to lower student retention rates. This study focuses on students’ perceptions of online courses. The results identify issues that affect students’ perceptions and this study concludes by suggesting ways for universities to design online programs that better suit the desires of students.

Cloud Computing: Should it be Integrated into the Curriculum?

Cloud computing has become increasingly popular among users and businesses around the world, and education is no exception. Cloud computing can bring an increased number of benefits to an educational setting, not only for its cost effectiveness, but also for the thirst for technology that college students have today, which allows learning and adopting to these new technologies easier for them. This study aims at investigating how cloud computing is perceived by college students and which factors have a tendency to encourage or discourage them to accept the cloud computing as part of their course curriculum. The results in this study reveal that all five factors, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, perceive speed of access, and perceived cost of usage are factors that play an important role in encouraging students to accept cloud computing as part of their core curriculum.

System Privacy and Protection

This is the first issue of the Journal of Information Privacy & Security (JTPS) for 2008. This issue includes three articles, one interview, and one book review. The sensitivity associated with the protection of information and data systems continues to point to the importance of privacy and security. An organization needs to define necessary elements that can guarantee the continuance of operations in both private and governmental entities. Each article in this issue discusses this main concern from different perspectives.