National Audit Office

General Background: Digital transformation is fundamentally reshaping accounting practices globally through technologies including artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, and big data analytics. Specific Background: The Iraqi banking sector continues to rely on traditional manual processes and paper-based documentation, resulting in increased operational costs, effort, and time inefficiencies that hinder competitive performance. Knowledge Gap: While previous research has documented digital transformation's benefits in accounting, limited empirical evidence exists examining its specific impact on accounting automation within industrial banks in developing economies like Iraq. Aims: This study investigates how digital transformation contributes to enhancing accounting automation levels in the Industrial Bank Iraq, examining the relationships between digital transformation implementation, accounting practices, and automation outcomes. Results: Analysis of 42 accountants and auditors revealed a strong positive correlation (R=0.932) between digital transformation and accounting automation, with digital transformation explaining 86.9% of variance in accounting practices and automation performance, supporting both hypothesized relationships. Novelty: This research provides context-specific empirical evidence from Iraq's industrial banking sector, demonstrating quantifiable impacts of digital transformation on accounting automation in a transitioning economy. Implications: Findings suggest that industrial banks should prioritize digital transformation investments and provide comprehensive training programs to accountants and auditors, enabling them to leverage advanced technologies for improved financial reporting accuracy, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage.Keywords : Digital Transformation, Accounting Automation, Industrial Banking, Financial Technology, Iraqi Banking SectorHighlight : Digital transformation increases accounting automation efficiency by 86.9% in industrial banks. Strong positive correlation (0.932) exists between digitalization and automated financial processes. Modern technologies eliminate manual procedures, reducing costs and improving decision-making speed.

Abstract Background Timely reperfusion is critical in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to reduce mortality and adverse outcomes. Prior studies suggest gender-based disparities in STEMI care and outcomes, but contemporary data on time delays remain limited. This study examines gender differences in time from symptom onset to reperfusion using data from the Irish Heart Attack Audit (IHAA). Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of STEMI patients from the IHAA between 2017 and 2023. Key time intervals—symptom onset to first medical contact (FMC), FMC to positive ECG, positive ECG to reperfusion, and symptom onset to reperfusion—were compared by gender using unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Due to time variables being skewed to the right, log-transformed time intervals were used as dependent variables. Adjustments were made for age, prior coronary artery disease (CAD), risk factors for CAD and direct admission to primary PCI centre. Results Among 10,229 STEMI patients (table 1), females experienced longer times at all key time stages of care delivery, with median delays of 24.5 minutes from symptom onset to FMC, 6.5 minutes from FMC to positive ECG, 5 minutes from positive ECG to reperfusion and 36 minutes for total symptom onset to reperfusion time (all p<0.001). More men sought medical help within 90 mins of symptom onset (51.4% vs 43.9%) while more women sought help after >12 hours (12.7% vs 9.7%) (figure 1). Crude analyses found a significant difference in time from symptom onset to FMC (β = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.32; p<0.001), FMC to positive ECG (β = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.22; p<0.001), positive ECG to reperfusion (β = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.09; p<0.001) and total time from symptom onset to reperfusion (β = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.19; p<0.001). Although attenuated, these disparities remained significant after adjustment for age, prior CAD, risk factors for CAD, and direct admission to primary PCI centres. Adjusted analyses found a significant difference in time from symptom onset to FMC (adjusted β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.28; p<0.001), FMC to positive ECG (β = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.22; p<0.001), positive ECG to reperfusion (β = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.07; p<0.001) and total time from symptom onset to reperfusion (β = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.16; p<0.001). Conclusion In this large national STEMI cohort (IHAA 2017–2023), women experienced persistent delays at all key time-points from symptom onset, diagnosis to reperfusion compared to men. These findings suggest ongoing gaps in patient help-seeking behaviour and potential gender bias in provider symptom recognition. Targeted strategies are needed to improve public awareness of early symptom recognition, particularly in females, and to address possible systemic gender bias in emergency and healthcare responses to reduce treatment delay in women with STEMI. Addressing these disparities may contribute to improved outcomes in female STEMI patients.

Cyanobacterial algal blooms (cyanoHAB) are toxic, posing severe environmental and health risks. It is also common to find trace amounts of antibiotics in the water, thus posing a dual threat to public health. This study developed a sonosensitive nitrogen-doped nanodiamond (N-ND)/Microcystis aeruginosa hybrid system to simultaneously remove cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) and a typical antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Positively charged N-ND formed flocs with negatively charged M. aeruginosa, enhancing localized cavitation under 40 kHz ultrasound. After 30 min of treatment, the system achieved 81.8% algal removal and 60% degradation of 5 mg/L SMX. The localized cavitation near algal cells maximizes radical transfer efficiency, contributing to cell oxidation and SMX degradation. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of leveraging cyanoHABs as a biodegradation agent for high-concentration SMX in a sonochemical process. The results offer a dual-functional solution for mitigating cyanoHABs and antibiotic pollution in water, with potential for scalable applications. Life cycle assessment (LCA) showed that the integrated ultrasonic treatment and nitrogen-doped nanodiamond (N-ND) technology have advantages in environmental sustainability, particularly in water conservation. Future research should explore cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative sonosensitizers to optimize the environmental performance and engineering feasibility of integrated pollution control systems.

The study examines job performance and evaluates the influence of job rotation, transformational leadership, and ethical climate on job performance. Moreover, the study also aims to examine the moderating influence of gender. The results of this study were obtained through the distribution of questionnaires to respondents. All responses from 181 respondents were processed and analyzed using SPSS to evaluate percentage, frequency, correlation, and hierarchical linear regression. The results show that civil servants' performance at the National Audit Department is at a high level. Job rotation, transformational leadership, and ethical climate significantly influence job performance. The results of the regression study show that gender moderates the relationship between job rotation, ethical climate, and work performance. Conversely, it does not moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and work performance.

Abstract Do employers seek to attract individuals with more education because it enhances human capital or because it signals higher levels of pre-existing traits? We experimentally vary master’s degree completion rates on applicant résumés and examine how this influences candidates’ desirability and employer perceptions of their productive characteristics. Our findings show that while a completed master’s degree increases desirability, an incomplete master’s degree is perceived by human resource managers as less favourable than a bachelor’s degree. This suggests that employers prefer candidates with higher education mainly because they view the degree as a signal of pre-existing productive traits. Consistent with this, employers perceive both cognitive and non-cognitive traits as stronger in master graduates, but non-cognitive traits as weaker in master dropouts compared to bachelor’s degree holders. Overall, perceived cognitive and non-cognitive traits play a larger role in determining a candidate’s attractiveness than expertise. This paper thus provides causal evidence on the origins of the education premium.

SUMMARY We investigate the relationship between audit partners’ trait skepticism and their skeptical actions in the form of going-concern (GC) reporting decisions for financially distressed client companies. We use a unique research design whereby we link a psychometric measurement of partner trait skepticism with publicly available data on companies’ characteristics and audit opinions. Our main results reveal a positive association between partners’ trait skepticism and their skeptical actions (the likelihood they issue GC opinions to financially distressed clients). In supplemental analyses, we investigate nuances of this association with respect to both partner competence and independence. We find that partners’ competence and independence moderate the relationship between trait skepticism and skeptical actions, in that competence and independence help auditors to act on their skeptical disposition. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.

The study provides the empirical analysis of the impact of disruptions in accounting on the financial paradigms of 20 large Ukrainian companies for 2019-2023. The aim of the research is to analyse and explain how these disruptions affect financial performance indicators, such as Return on Assets (ROA), company stability, and market value. The research employed a panel data model, where the dependent variable is the financial performance of the companies and disruptions in accounting are the independent variables. The data were collected from publicly available financial statements, audit reports, and macroeconomic indicators. The study applied a fixed-effect and random-effect regression model to measure the relationship between disruptions in accounting and financial indicators. Company size, industry type, and other macroeconomic conditions (e.g., Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth) are control variables. Disruptions in accounting have a significant negative impact on financial performance, including restatements, reporting delays, and qualified audit opinions, which causes a decrease in ROA. GDP growth is a macroeconomic factor that positively affects financial performance, while company size mitigates the negative impact of accounting accuracy on performance. The results show that accurate and timely financial reporting is important for maintaining investor confidence and financial stability. This study is one of the first studies to examine how disruptions in accounting affect Ukrainian companies, provides an up-to-date conceptual understanding of the relationship between financial reporting practices and financial performance in a transformational economy.