Discussion of “ Comparing the Attitudes and Activities of Internal Auditors in Australia, Canada, and the United States Regarding Green IT,” by Glen Gray, Kyunghee Yoon, Won Gyun No, and Peter Roebuck 2015 UWCISA Symposium Toronto, Canada Uday Murthy University of South Florida

2 Agenda Research question Motivation/context for study Role of internal auditors in green IT Related literature Research method Results Contributions Unanswered questions….future directions

3 Research Questions Do the attitudes and activities of Australian internal auditors regarding green IT differ from those of Canadian and US internal auditors (IAs)?  Given that the Gray, No, and Miller (2014) study finds very low involvement of IAs in US and Canada Will Australian internal auditors be more involved in green IT, since…  Lower SOX internal control pressures  Mandatory (rather than voluntary) reporting of “green” issues  Greater awareness of environmental issues in Australia 6

4 Motivation/Context Informative that sustainability reporting is widespread; good motivation for study Need more on “greenwashing” (prevalence, consequences) Need more on the demand for assurance on sustainability/green IT reporting Extending Gray et al. (2014) to Australia: Need more on why we would expect differences

5 Role of IAs in Green IT Maintained assumption: IAs have the necessary expertise to be involved in green IT Is this assumption warranted? Gray et al. (2010) find minimal IA involvement in system development activities Why do we expect them to be involved in green IT? How do traditional IA knowledge and skillsets (used in financial and operational auditing) map to the green IT domain?

6 Role of IAs in Green IT Exactly what shape and form could IA involvement take in each of the four areas: 1. designing/developing specifications for green IT activities, 2. designing/developing controls to ensure compliance with green IT specifications, 3. monitoring controls to determine whether green IT specifications are being complied with, 4. providing assurance that the green IT monitoring controls are being used properly

7 Related Literature Higgins et al. (2015) J of Bus Ethics finds:  External verification of sustainability reports is “very expensive” (A$20k – A$60k)  Those that did not obtain external verification (unnecessary 32%; too expensive 21%, internal processes sufficient 18%) Moroney et al. (2012) Acct & Finance  Quality of voluntary environmental disclosures deemed higher when assurance provided  No difference in assurance quality between accountants and consultants!

8 Research Method Breakdown of respondents by country  Original US & Canada vs. “new” (Australia) Low response rate  3.1% overall; but only 1% for Australia?? Test for non-response bias  Early vs. late  Demographics of respondents vs. population Elimination of multiple respondents from same institution Details on deletion of questions from prior Gray et al. survey

9 Results Scale results by IIA membership size in each country How does breakdown of SIC codes in sample compare to population of all firms? 41% of respondents without “primary” background in accounting “Total N” column in tables is misleading Most important green IT driver in Australia?  Socially responsible thing to do, OR  Reducing operational costs?

10 Worth documenting that IAs in Australia are not involved to a significantly greater extent in green IT compared to IAs in the US and Canada (caveat: subject to building more “tension” for expecting different results) Highlights potential impediments to greater IA involvement in green IT and sustainability— areas expected to grow significantly Contributions

11 Are internal auditors not proactively pushing on management to have a broader part of green IT sustainability activities? And if they are not pushing, is it due to lack of skills (perceived or real), confidence, or time? Or is managing not pulling on internal auditors to have a broader part of green IT sustainability activities? What is the demand for assurance on green IT sustainability reporting? (Regardless of whether assurance is provided by external or internal auditors) Going forward, it will be important to theorize why cultural/governmental differences should influence “green reporting” practices, demand for assurance thereof, and provision of assurance in that domain by internal or external auditors Unanswered Questions / Future Directions