Auditing in Theory Assignment

Auditing in Theory
Instructions on Individual Paper and Presentation
(5hp)

• Assignment:
• The aim of the paper is to enable students to develop specialized theoretical knowledge of auditing, including tasks and roles of the auditor, the basic functions of auditing in society and the regulations as well as systems and structures that affect auditors and their work.
• The assignment is individual paper based on literature published on the selected topic. The paper must reference the selected articles from the reading assignment for the particular topic. Additional literature must be selected and referenced by the student.
• The length of the paper should be around 10 pages and no more than 15 pages, not including appendix and references.
• Conduct the review and writing the paper

All submissions much include:
Front page: including name/code of the course; name of the teacher; title of the assignment; the student’s first name, last name and e-mail address; date of submission
The name of the file should start with the student last name, first name and end with the course code.
Steps on writing the paper:

1. Identify the literature:
   1. Familiarize yourself with the online database (Google Scholar, HKR library system, etc.)
   2. Search for literature using the keywords for your topic. You will need to experiment with your search such as different combinations of keywords, or limiting your search results to only titles, abstract or expand to entire article.
   3. Identify 6-8 articles besides the assigned reading material. Try to get articles published in good journals and with high citation rate.

2. Organize the literature:
   1. General overview of the articles: skim through the articles and identify the research aim, theoretical lens and conclusions. At this stage, focus on reading the abstracts.
   2. Group the articles: categorize the articles based on subtopics, theories, methods and conclusions. Note that it will be useful here to use some sort of Excel or table system to help stay organized. It is most likely that each article will stride across multiple categories.
   3. Summarize the papers with your own understanding. Note the strength, weakness or any special emphasis you may identify.

3. Analyze the literature:
   1. Thoroughly read the articles.
   2. Define the key terms in the articles related to your topic. Look for possible differences in authors’ definitions.
   3. Identify trends (theory, methods, definitions, data, etc.), agreements or disagreements among the authors. This will require you to relate to other articles you selected as you read one of them, since the authors will not lay out the patterns for you.
   4. Identify gaps in the literature. This is where your own voice comes in. You can argue here why you think the gap existed.

4. Writing the review:
   1. Introduce the topic and its relevance to auditing
   2. Argue why the topic is important
   3. Describe some important landmark studies if you have them. Argue the influence of these studies.
   4. Then argue why rest of the literature are selected. Here you would want to avoid simply piling up the papers.
   5. Discuss the literature based on the hard work you have done. Provide an overviews of breakdowns for the review at the beginning. Separate the review based on your analysis such as the trend, agreements, disagreements, definitions, theoretical perspectives, research methods, gaps, etc. Use transitional phrases well between sections.
   6. Draw conclusions. The paper should land itself somewhere and it should be based on your analysis. It is important to check the coherence between your analysis and the conclusions.

• Presentations:

1. The presentation must be done via PowerPoint.
2. We cannot accommodate a presentation via Skype. (If you have to miss your presentation due to unforeseen difficulties, please let me know as soon as possible. We will make other arrangements)
3. The presentation is 30 minutes long. The opponents have 10 minutes to comment and rest of the time should be given to general audience.
4. Maria will be the facilitator for transition and time watching (and cooling down or heating up the discussions if necessaryJ.). The students will lead the seminars.