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Ethical considerations and controls over technology

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Monday, July 1, 2024
10:00 AM - 10:25 AM

Presenter

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Dr Alison Fordyce
Head Of Accounting & Finance
University of Dundee

Ethical considerations and controls over technology

Abstract

Socio-technical theory highlights the interaction between individuals and technology (Geels, 2004). Using this theory overlayed with recent standards from the auditing profession (ISA 315 (revised)) that focus heavily on controls over technology, this paper draws on insights from two case-study organisations, one in Australia and the other in the UK. It examines the controls that are employed over systems and new technology and how humans control technology, technology controls technology and technology controls humans. Our findings show that there may be a bottom-up approach to controls where a dominant IT department maintains a tight reign over technology, and controls focus on technological system controls. By contrast, a top-down approach may be apparent whereby senior executives set policy and guidance for the whole organisation and the structure and controls are more flexible resulting in more human controls. Further, the more dominant and advanced the systems, the more autocratic and rigid the structure. From an ethical standpoint, there is a heavy reliance on trust- but trust may be at the individual level or group level with implications for socio-technical control systems. Finally, the results suggest that cyber-security is more important in highly connected organisations.

Biography

Alison is Head of Accounting and Finance at the University of Dundee, Scotland. She started her accounting career in practice with Ernst & Young in 1989 and became ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) qualified in 1993. Alison began teaching in 1995 and joined the University of Dundee in 2000. Since then she has taught mainly financial accounting subjects as well as tax and business law. She graduated with an MAcc in 2002 and her PhD in 2010. Between 2014 and 2020 Alison worked with the examining teams of ACCA (Strategic Business Reporting and Financial Reporting) to help develop their computer-based exams. She returned to the University of Dundee in September 2020 and is delighted to be working again in her home town. Research interests include: Financial Reporting, Corporate Governance, Accounting Education and Accounting Technology.

Chair

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Amanda White OAM
Deputy Associate Dean Education (learner Experience)
UTS


Discussant

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Sander De Groote
Lecturer
UNSW Sydney

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