Title: Graiciunas principle and hyperlinks in the prevention of audit failures. A challenge for auditors and ICT audit supports

Authors: Massimo Bianchi; Laura Tampieri

Addresses: School of Economics, Management and Statistics Forlì, University of Bologna, Piazzale della Vittoria, 15, 47121 Forlì, Italy ' School of Economics, Management and Statistics Forlì, University of Bologna, Piazzale della Vittoria, 15, 47121 Forlì, Italy

Abstract: This paper aims to analyse and discuss the structural methodologies of organisational design that companies with fraudulent governance could use to avoid audit controls. The study aims to answer two main questions: the first, theoretical one is to demonstrate that the Graicunas span of control and hyperlinks are two different expressions of the same phenomenon concerning obstacles of information control. The second question, more operative refers to the feasibility of an algorithm that by using the Graicunas span of control and hyperlinks this could detect areas where organisations are more vulnerable to fraud, owing to the emergence of structural obstacles within audit activities. The research outlines that these two basic concepts in managerial theory, if correctly applied, can streamline and accelerate audit activities to detect danger areas, where internal controls could be weak and organisational structures create obstacles to external controls.

Keywords: Graicunas principle; span of control; hyperlinks; auditing; fraudulent governance; audit failures; audit controls; information control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAUDIT.2013.057728

International Journal of Auditing Technology, 2013 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.261 - 276

Received: 29 Jan 2013
Accepted: 28 Jun 2013
Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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