Thesis subject - Accounting or Auditing - Seeking Advice and Suggestions

[Josienne]

Hi
Currently i am following accountancy course and soon need to submit my thesis. Can you help me find any current interesting subject on accounting or auditing thanks

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Hello Josienne, and welcome to the Cove

Originally Posted by Josienne

Currently i am following accountancy course and soon need to submit my thesis. Can you help me find any current interesting subject on accounting or auditing thanks

Er... Just for the record: when you say accounting and auditing: Are we talking about financial stuff here? If so, I'm afraid few of us will be able to be of much assistance. It is true that we deal with auditing, but we usually audit Buisness Management Systems (i.e. Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety) rather than finances.

However, it has often been said that our lot and the financial people really need to understand each other better, so you are still very welcome to take part in the discussions here. Who knows: Maybe there is material for your thesis here after all?

/Claes

[Jennifer Kirley]

Originally Posted by Josienne

Hi
Currently i am following accountancy course and soon need to submit my thesis. Can you help me find any current interesting subject on accounting or auditing thanks

How about progression in accounting systems (which have traditionally not been recognized as focusing on costs) supporting the tracking, addressing, solving and ROI of quality cost measures?

[Wes Bucey]

Originally Posted by Josienne

Hi
Currently i am following accountancy course and soon need to submit my thesis. Can you help me find any current interesting subject on accounting or auditing thanks

I see an increased interest in the topic of FORENSIC ACCOUNTING/AUDITING. In light of the Sarbannes Oxley legislation in America, more and more public companies are concerned with the financial controls over ALL their processes. Forensic accountants are the ones who go in and unravel the tangled skeins of all the accounting systems in an organization to ensure there has been no fraud, mismanagement, or just plain incompetence anywhere in the organization.

Forensic auditing differs from standard practice auditing in using measures to PROVE conformance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles rather than just accepting an anecdotal statement from managers the organization adheres to GAAP. These measures are far more rigorous than mere "sampling" of a section of the account books.

For Quality folk:
In a sense, Forensic Auditing is what many wish as the rule for third party audits to International Quality Standards. No more "pass the audit as soon as the check clears" registrations would silence a lot of critics of the third party registrar system.

[Craig H.]

Some good ideas here so far! Jennifer hinted at this, I think, but might I suggest a thesis that looks at managerial (cost) accounting systems and how to design them so that quality costs (good and, especially, bad) are easily (even automatically) reported?