The novelty, ambiguity, and the lack of official guidance surrounding cryptocurrency transactions impose additional audit risks that should be considered during client-acceptance and retention and planning audit procedures. We develop a four-quadrant model to assist auditors in client-acceptance and continuance decisions and identify cryptocurrency risks that should be considered during audit planning and audit evidence gathering.

SUMMARY The novelty, ambiguity, and the lack of official guidance surrounding cryptocurrency transactions impose additional audit risks that should be considered during client acceptance and retention and planning audit procedures. We develop a four-quadrant model to assist auditors in client acceptance and continuance decisions and identify cryptocurrency risks that should be considered during audit planning and audit evidence gathering.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission's 2009 enhanced proxy disclosure requirements and the updated Committee of Sponsoring Organizations' (COSO) Internal Control Framework have caused organizations to increase their focus on risk management and consider the impact of information technology (IT) in enterprise risk management. Our study examines whether board involvement, board expertise, and top management's risk culture affect the maturity of IT risk management practices (maturity) in firms. We find that board involvement positively influences maturity while top managers' risk-taking behavior is associated with lower maturity. Even though board expertise influences maturity, board involvement is more important in explaining maturity. Maturity is higher in firms where risk oversight lies with a board-level, rather than a management, committee. However, the maturity of ITRM practices does not differ among firms whether risk oversight lies with the overall board, or any other board committee. The findings contribute to an under-researched area in IT governance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's enhanced disclosure rule on risk oversight, state laws requiring public disclosure of compromised customer information, and high-profile customer information breaches have caused Information Technology (IT) risk management practices to be a major concern for boards of directors and management. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission's (COSO) Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework emphasizes the importance of the board's oversight role while also bringing attention to the firm's reporting structure. Consequently, our study examines whether the maturity of IT risk management practices depends on Chief Information Officer (CIO) reporting structure and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chairman duality. We develop a scale to measure strategic and operational maturity under the larger auspice of IT risk management and distribute a survey to high-level IT professionals. Our survey also captures the reporting structure of their firms. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that the maturity of strategic IT risk management practices are higher when the CIO reports directly to the CEO. However, contrary to expectations, we do not find that operational risk management is more mature when the CIO reports to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Instead, operational risk management is higher when the CIO reports to the CEO. For public firms, the maturity of IT risk management practices are higher when the CEO is also the chairman of the board of directors. As C-level officers may have asymmetric access to the board, understanding reporting structures may inform firms, regulators, and interested stakeholders on how well IT risk is managed and factors that affect IT governance.

ChatGPT, a language-learning model chatbot, has garnered considerable attention for its ability to respond to users’ questions. Using data from 14 countries and 186 institutions, we compare ChatGPT and student performance for 28,085 questions from accounting assessments and textbook test banks. As of January 2023, ChatGPT provides correct answers for 56.5 percent of questions and partially correct answers for an additional 9.4 percent of questions. When considering point values for questions, students significantly outperform ChatGPT with a 76.7 percent average on assessments compared to 47.5 percent for ChatGPT if no partial credit is awarded and 56.5 percent if partial credit is awarded. Still, ChatGPT performs better than the student average for 15.8 percent of assessments when we include partial credit. We provide evidence of how ChatGPT performs on different question types, accounting topics, class levels, open/closed assessments, and test bank questions. We also discuss implications for accounting education and research.

During recent years, cryptocurrency has gained the attention of many large companies such as Facebook, Expedia, Apple, and Overstock to name a few. The acceptance and use of cryptocurrency in business transactions can have a major impact on a company's accounting system. However, accounting research exploring issues related to cryptocurrencies is sparse. Therefore, we identify research questions that the accounting profession should address concerning cryptocurrencies. We categorize these research questions using Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovation in an attempt to encourage and extend accounting research in cryptocurrencies to influence the design, development, adoption, implementation, and operation of the technology. We recommend that researchers take a more prescriptive approach to research, rather than a descriptive approach, given that cryptocurrency is in the infancy stage of development and adoption.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is poised to change the accounting and auditing workplace significantly.  RPA will likely shift the skillset needed by all accountants. Therefore, the accounting curriculum quickly needs to adapt to educate accountants of the future in this skillset. This paper presents a proposed course, focusing on the automation of accounting processes, to add to the accounting curriculum.