Cloud storage offers online storage services to back up data and enables easy access to real-time data at any time and on the fly. The primary issue of security arises as the data is outsourced to... Show More

Cloud storage offers online storage services to back up data and enables easy access to real-time data at any time and on the fly. The primary issue of security arises as the data is outsourced to remote servers that cause data loss and modifications to occur. Data corruptions or misbehaviours in the cloud service providers (CSP) have to be detected at low cost and promptly. The data outsourced to CSP by the data owners might suffer from cloud service provider misbehaviour, in particular unauthorized deletion of data by CSP to save storage space towards attracting potential clients. Adapting continuous sampling of random blocks as batches reduce the computation workload on the servers, thus detecting the modifications or corruptions if any without time delays. The corrupted data blocks are located with continuous sampling methods and the probability of detection is high.

This study examines the skill development factors influencing Information Technology (IT) competency in respect of external auditors. It applies the human capital theory (HCT) as the underpinning... Show More

This study examines the skill development factors influencing Information Technology (IT) competency in respect of external auditors. It applies the human capital theory (HCT) as the underpinning theory to develop the research framework. A questionnaire is administered to 328 external auditors in public and private audit companies in Yemen. Data are analysed via the partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to examine the posited research hypotheses. The PLS-SEM approach reveals that self-direct learning is the strongest factor that influences the IT competency of auditors. This is followed by accounting education that records a significant positive effect on IT competency. The originality of this study is the application of the quantitative method to investigate the factors that influence IT competency among external auditors in developing countries, such as Yemen, who are facing the issue of low level IT competency in doing their tasks. The results underpin new and extensive inputs into skills and enlarge the emergent literature related to skills and competency development in IT.

This paper studies the food waste problem in private and public collective catering units (CCU), served by a Portuguese catering company. The main objective is to develop data analysis and decision... Show More

This paper studies the food waste problem in private and public collective catering units (CCU), served by a Portuguese catering company. The main objective is to develop data analysis and decision tools that may contribute to the waste control and to the operational planning of CCU. A set of novel key performance indicators (KPIs) are settled and evaluated to characterize food waste over time. For these indicators, several representations were studied, tested, and validated to create a dashboard intended to be clear and intuitive, regarding the food wastes. Operating practices require simple, objective, replicable, and ideally inexpensive data collection procedures. So, the proposed solution accounts for the trade-off between the details of the created data model and the associated data synthesis and visualization. The proposal (indicators and dashboard) was submitted to four weeks of tests, in six CCUs. The organizational validation achieved allows the conclusion about the interest of this contribution.

Measuring total performance of prospective alternatives in decision making (DM) needs aggregation of their noncomparable properties which often have different scales of measure. In order to address... Show More

Measuring total performance of prospective alternatives in decision making (DM) needs aggregation of their noncomparable properties which often have different scales of measure. In order to address this, scale transformations and normalization are applied, but problems of validation of such additive models and interpretation of the physical sense of the result arise. In this paper, a multiplicative performance aggregation of properties' values is suggested for DM. Application of the approach enables consistent and unambiguous ranking of the alternatives allowing values of all their properties of interest. A realistic example of DM related to audit activity planning is considered where several competing control areas should be selected into an audit plan. Beyond audit planning, the approach is generalizable to other DM problems in corporate management and governance where one needs to rank alternatives compared in multiple dimensions.

This article explores the purpose for which GAS, as a data analytics tool, is utilised by internal audit functions in Australia. A quantitative research method was applied, and the data was analysed... Show More

This article explores the purpose for which GAS, as a data analytics tool, is utilised by internal audit functions in Australia. A quantitative research method was applied, and the data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The total number of online questionnaires returned was 50 (i.e., a response rate of 15.53%) from the total research population of 322 chief audit executives of internal audit functions of organisations that are registered members with the IIA-Australia. The purpose of descriptive statistics is to describe what the data looks like and to compare variables numerically; therefore, no inferences or extrapolation of the data results were made. The results of the study can be used as a benchmark that may enable CAEs to identify whether they are staying abreast of current best practice in the area of technology-based tools and techniques for tests of controls.