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The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on audit fees and the reporting of key audit matters (KAMs). Additionally, this study also looks into potential differences in the behavior of male and female audit partners during this period, adding to the existing research on gender's effect on different elements of the audit process.

This study used a sample of all FTSE 350 firms from before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic. It analyzed the data using Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis to test its hypotheses.

This paper provides early evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on audit fees and KAM disclosures in the UK. The results of this study show an increase in audit fees during the pandemic and greater detail in the reporting of KAMs, with no significant difference between male and female audit partners. These findings will be of interest to audit firms and regulators as they assess the performance of auditors during the pandemic and evaluate the expanded audit report's effectiveness in providing sufficient information to financial statement users.

This study provides first-of-its-kind empirical evidence on how auditors in the UK reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study will be of interest to audit firms, regulators, such as the Financial Reporting Council, and other stakeholders as they evaluate the performance of auditors during the crisis period. The results will help regulators assess the effectiveness of the expanded audit report in providing sufficient information during a time of heightened risk and scrutiny.

This paper aims to empirically analyse specific characteristics of an audit committee that could be associated with the likelihood of corporate fraud/scandal/sanctions.

The sample includes all firms that were investigated by the Financial Reporting Council through the audit enforcement procedure from 2014 to 2019, and two matched no-scandal firms. It uses logistic binary regression analysis to examine the hypotheses.

Results based on the logit regression suggest that audit member tenure and audit committee meeting frequency both have positive associations to the likelihood of corporate scandal. Complementing this result, the authors find negative but insignificant relationships amongst audit committee female chair, audit committee female members percentage, audit committee qualified accountants members, audit committee attendance, number of shares held by audit committee members, audit committee remuneration, board tenure and the likelihood of corporate scandal across the sample.

The results should help regulatory policymakers make decisions, which could be crucial to future corporate governance. Additionally, these results should be useful to investors who use corporate governance as criteria for investment decisions.

The authors extend, as well as contribute to the growing literature on the audit committee, and therefore, wider corporate governance literature and provide originality in that it is the first, to the knowledge, to consider two characteristics (i.e. remuneration and gender) in a UK context of corporate scandal. Also, the results imply that the structure and diversity of the audit committee affect corporate fraud/scandal/sanctions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate Egyptian auditors’ ethical reasoning, to understand whether auditors’ ethical reasoning is influenced by audit firm size and/or auditor’s position.

This paper draws on 178 questionnaires that include six different ethical scenarios. This paper also uses the accounting ethical dilemma instrument that is developed by Thorne (2000) to measure the ethical reasoning of Egyptian auditors.

The findings are threefold. First, this study finds that the general level of deliberative ethical reasoning of auditors working in the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) and small firms are categorized in the post-conventional level, while auditors working in big and medium firms are categorized in conventional level. Second, the result suggests that there is a negative relationship between ethical reasoning and audit firm size in Egypt. Finally, the results show that ethical reasoning levels decrease when the position of auditors increase except for auditors working in CAO.

This study adds to the scarce literature in developing countries that measure auditors’ ethical reasoning. The findings suggest that auditors’ ethical reasoning depends on auditor’s firm size and the position the auditor holds within the firm. These findings will aid policymakers and regulators, especially in developing countries, to avoid any potential risk regarding professional misconduct and in evaluating the adequacy of the current code of ethics.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a booming sector that has profoundly influenced every walk of life, and the education sector is no exception. In education, AI has helped to develop novel teaching and learning solutions that are currently being tested in various contexts. Businesses and governments across the globe have been pouring money into a wide array of implementations, and dozens of EdTech start-ups are being funded to capitalise on this technological force. The penetration of AI in classroom teaching is also a profound matter of discussion. These have garnered massive amounts of student big data and have a significant impact on the life of both students and educators alike.

Purpose: The prime focus of this chapter is to extensively review and analyse the vast literature available on the utilities of AI in health care, learning, and development. The specific objective of thematic exploration of the literature is to explicate the principal facets and recent advances in the development and employment of AI in the latter. This chapter also aims to explore how the EdTech and healthcare–education sectors would witness a paradigm shift with the advent and incorporation of AI.

Design/Methodology/Approach: To provide context and evidence, relevant publications were identified on ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar using keywords like AI, education, learning, health care, and development. In addition, the latest articles were also thoroughly reviewed to underscore recent advances in the same field.

Results: The implementation of AI in the learning, development, and healthcare sector is rising steeply, with a projected expansion of about 50% by 2022. These algorithms and user interfaces economically facilitate efficient delivery of the latter.

Conclusions: The EdTech and healthcare sector has great potential for a spectrum of AI-based interventions, providing access to learning opportunities and personalised experiences. These interventions are often economic in the long run compared to conventional modalities. However, several ethical and regulatory concerns should be addressed before the complete adoption of AI in these sectors.

Originality/Value: The value in exploring this topic is to present a view on the potential of employing AI in health care, medical education, and learning and development. It also intends to open a discussion of its potential benefits and a remedy to its shortcomings.

This chapter provides a look at the experiences of two Teacher Educators in the Field (TEFs) as they work to shift writing instruction in suburban districts across the Houston metroplex. A review of the literature on most promising practices for literacy educators is provided along with narrative interspersion of restoried enactments of TEFs in public education systems serving students in grades 6–12. Our planned and lived experiences were often dissonant due to the complexity of increasingly diverse demographic populations in fast-growing districts who struggled to shift the focus of instruction in correlation to audience. Our stories present focused reflection on the need for additional supports geared toward teacher development, TEF retention, and consistent engagement from campus and district-level administrators.

We develop and validate measurement instruments for the business partner, watchdog, and scorekeeper roles of controllers. This study addresses calls to enhance the quality of survey research in management accounting by devoting more attention to scale development and especially to construct validity. By focusing on the activity sets of the controllers’ roles, we provide a theoretically and empirically grounded picture of their current roles. The measurement instruments presented in this study enable systematic research progress on controller roles, their relationships, antecedents, and performance outcomes.

This chapter reports on findings from a study that explored the experiences of African American young men who graduated from Du Bois Academy, an all-boys public charter secondary school in the Midwestern region of the United States. The chapter considers issues of African American male persistence and achievement and how they are impacted by school culture. Specifically, the author discusses how school culture can help shape these students’ educational experiences and aspirations. Using student narratives as the guide, a description of how Du Bois Academy successfully engaged these African American male students is provided. The students articulated three critical components of school culture that positively shaped their high achievement and engagement: (a) sense of self, (b) promotion of excellence, and (c) community building. The student narratives provided a frame for promoting positive school culture that enhances the educational experiences and academic aspirations of African American male students.

This work aims at investigating how different governments, and political contexts, perform public service organisations as hybrid organisations in the case of health social assistance care services. Run using qualitative methods (interviews and direct observation), it presents a descriptive comparative study upon five local PSOs, from five European countries, engaged in delivering services for people with autism. Analysing their developmental paths in the light of neo-institutional theories, the study points out that the trigger for the development of hybrid organisations lies in the users and governments have the crucial role of being the enabler of the process, within an evolving complex relationship between public sector and third sector, as well as society at large.

Scant attention has been paid to the influence of professors on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students' learning and lives at the tertiary level. To fill this void, this chapter examines the influence of professors on students' entering and remaining in the STEM disciplines and pursuing STEM careers within the context of six funded STEM grants in the southern United States. We examine professor–student interactions using the students' storied experiences as the fodder for our narrative inquiry. We present narrative exemplars from which the following themes emerged: (1) agency as a student and agency as a human being, (2) development of students' multilayered identities, and (3) professors' engagement of themselves in their interactions with students. A discussion of learner-centeredness and professors' professional development in higher education concludes this study of professors' influence on students' learning and intended careers.

Anti-bullying legislation has been adopted in every state to prevent the victimization of youth, but the focus on deterring and criminalizing individual behavior can obscure the contextual factors that contribute to aggression. This theoretical paper engages sociological literature to understand the impact of recent anti-bullying legislation on students’ experiences.

We discuss stigma and account-making theory to theorize the ways students become particularly vulnerable to victimization and may or may not be sufficiently protected under the law. We also engage criminological theories to understand how punishment may not be sufficient for preventing aggressive behavior but may instead lead students to employ strategies to avoid being caught or punished for their behaviors.

We argue that the majority of current anti-bullying definitions and protocols in use are ambiguous and insufficient in protecting vulnerable groups of students, particularly students with disabilities, overweight students, and LGBT +  students.

Our findings suggest that schools should seek to understand and alter the school-wide cultures and norms that permit aggressive behavior in the first place, in turn creating more inclusive school environments.