Generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) is becoming increasingly popular. However, evaluating it with a multi-faceted, but easy-to-apply model remains a challenge. By cross-referencing findings from information systems (IS) success research, we elaborate on such a model. Taking a case study within a science technology company, we reveal five takeaways: (1) Gen AI often starts with conversational agents. Its benefits are best measurable by net present value; (2) Enhance “pure” efficiency evaluations with effectiveness criteria; (3) With an experience category take user’s learning curve into account; (4) Towards green IS, think about sustainability as a model’s fourth value category; (5) In a summary, multi-faceted evaluation models should take efficiency, effectiveness, experience, and sustainability criteria into account.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is disruptive, thus, backward-looking benchmarks are no longer sufficient. We performed a zero-quartile benchmarking towards enterprise performance management 2030. It is an idealized (collectively deemed best possible) future state that a company should seek by means of leveraging AI – finally to differentiate from peers. Based on a literature review, we conducted a survey with subject matter experts. We then applied the Rasch algorithm to finally discuss our results with executive managers towards their implementation. To drive future discussions, we reveal three design guidelines such as implementing predictive-analytics-based rolling forecasts instead of budgets.

This study examines how creative potential and loss aversion influence fraud risk assessments under uncertainty and outcome feedback. Because audit evidence is persuasive rather than conclusive, fraud detection inherently involves ambiguity, judgment, and professional skepticism. We argue that individual differences in creative potential may influence how auditors interpret uncertain information and maintain alternative fraud hypotheses, while loss aversion may shape fraud judgments through competing concerns about audit failure and false fraud allegations. Using a controlled experiment that systematically varies outcome probabilities in a Rock-Paper-Scissors task, we compare the judgments of 61 experienced auditors with those of more than 200 non-professional investors. The results show that realized outcomes are the primary determinant of fraud risk assessments, indicating that judgments are mainly evidence-driven. Among auditors, higher creative potential is associated with higher fraud risk assessments, whereas no comparable relationship is observed among non-professional investors. However, we find no evidence that creative potential moderates the integration of outcome information into fraud judgments. Loss aversion exhibits statistically significant but comparatively small effects across the analyses. Overall, the findings suggest that creativity functions as an individual-level cognitive resource that supports the interpretation of ambiguous information, while observable evidence ultimately dominates fraud risk judgments as more diagnostic information becomes available. JEL Classification: M40, M42, M48.

We investigate the impact of sustainability report assurance and assurance provider characteristics (i.e., Big 4, statutory auditor, and industry specialist) on the cost of equity in a setting in which reporting is mandatory and assurance is voluntary. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of peer behavior on these relationships, where peer behavior is defined as the proportion of other companies in the same industry and year that also opt for voluntary assurance or choose an assurance provider with the same characteristics. Our sample consists of German CDAX companies for the period 2017-2022. The results suggest that voluntary sustainability report assurance reduces the cost of equity, but this depends on peer behavior. Specifically, the cost-of-equity-reducing effect of voluntarily choosing assurance or choosing the statutory auditor as assurance provider is diminished as more peers choose assurance or choose their statutory auditor, respectively. Nous examinons l'impact de la certification des rapports de durabilit & eacute; et des caract & eacute;ristiques du certificateur (c.-& agrave;-d., membre des quatre grands cabinets d'audit, auditeur l & eacute;gal et sp & eacute;cialiste de l'industrie) sur le co & ucirc;t des capitaux propres dans un contexte o & ugrave; la production de ces rapports est obligatoire et la certification est volontaire. En outre, nous analysons l'effet du comportement des pairs sur ces relations, le comportement des pairs & eacute;tant d & eacute;fini comme la proportion d'autres compagnies du m & ecirc;me secteur qui, au cours d'une m & ecirc;me ann & eacute;e, optent pour une certification volontaire ou choisissent un certificateur ayant les m & ecirc;mes caract & eacute;ristiques. Notre & eacute;chantillon est constitu & eacute; d'entreprises allemandes composant l'indice CDAX durant la p & eacute;riode de 2017 & agrave; 2022. Les r & eacute;sultats portent & agrave; croire que la certification volontaire des rapports de durabilit & eacute; r & eacute;duit le co & ucirc;t des capitaux propres, mais que cela est tributaire du comportement des pairs. Plus pr & eacute;cis & eacute;ment, l'effet de r & eacute;duction des co & ucirc;ts des capitaux propres caus & eacute; par le fait d'opter volontairement pour une certification ou de choisir l'auditeur l & eacute;gal en tant que certificateur diminue & agrave; mesure qu'un plus grand nombre de pairs optent pour la certification ou choisissent leur auditeur l & eacute;gal comme certificateur, respectivement.

Purpose Voluntary sustainability assurance (SA) adoption decisions reflect complex interactions between strategic, structural and relational governance dimensions that prior research has examined in isolation. This study aims to examine voluntary SA determinants through a three-pillar governance framework encompassing the strategic pillar (sustainability strategy), the internal oversight pillar (sustainability committee) and the relational pillar (stakeholder engagement), addressing previously unresolved and contradictory findings within each pillar through a unified empirical framework. Design/methodology/approach Integrating signaling, legitimacy, resource dependence and stakeholder theories, the authors use multivariate logistic regression to analyze 2,142 firm-year observations from European companies spanning 2013–2022. Findings Sustainability strategy is the primary driver of voluntary SA demand, with each one-unit increase in sustainability strategy score raising assurance odds by 74.5%. Moderation analysis reveals a governance paradox: sustainability committees in isolation exhibit significant negative direct effects yet amplify the strategy–assurance relationship under strategic alignment. This contingency mechanism reconciles contradictory prior findings on committee effects. Stakeholder engagement shows a consistent substitution relationship: firms with robust stakeholder dialogue are less likely to demand SA, with this effect operating independently of strategy strength, positioning engagement as an unconditional functional substitute for formal assurance. Practical implications For managers, SA adoption depends on strategic integration rather than standalone governance structures. Investors should evaluate SA as a signal of strategic maturity and not interpret its absence among high-engagement firms as a governance deficit. Assurance providers should reframe their value proposition toward process-quality validation complementing existing engagement infrastructure. Regulators should account for the substitution effect – requiring targeted mandates for high-engagement firms – and the governance paradox, whereby mandating sustainability committees without strategic alignment requirements risks producing symbolic rather than effective oversight. Originality/value This study conceptualizes a three-pillar sustainability governance framework integrating strategic, oversight and relational dimensions. It establishes stakeholder engagement as an unconditional functional substitute for formal assurance, identifies a governance paradox in which sustainability committees function as strategic amplifiers rather than independent drivers and reconciles contradictory prior findings on committee effects through a contingency mechanism explaining divergent results across the existing literature.

Predictive analytics (PA) systems help in steering a company more proactively. However, managers often struggle in applying them. Focusing on a sociotechnical perspective from managers, we perform a morphological analysis to explore design dimensions of PA systems and their range of design options beyond “pure” IT approach. Based on findings from a literature review, we constitute essential design dimensions and complemented with results from cross-industry interviews we reveal designs options for each dimension. By means of a case study, we evaluate our artifacts’ utility and validity to finally discuss three lessons learned as follows: (1) Flexibility is key – PA systems are about creating new insights and becoming more flexible in turbulent times, in parallel relieve (local) controllers from their workload; (2) Simplicity beats complexity – start your project scope by applying time-series models. Then, if needed, upgrade toward more complex algorithms or even an ensemble of algorithms; (3) Corporate culture eats PA systems for breakfast – combine human experience and gut feeling with machine results, whilst internalizing the knowledge of consultants in your business department.

There is an increasing pressure on companies to provide nonfinancial information. An important element of related nonfinancial reports is information on combating bribery and corruption. This study examines the impact of voluntary assurance on such reports on financial analyst perceptions and decisions. Moreover, it investigates whether the type of assurance provider (financial statement auditor vs. another audit firm) and the assurance level (limited vs. reasonable assurance) exert an influence. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment with a 2 x 2 + 1 between-subject design and financial analysts from Turkey as participants. The extent of financial analyst reliance on the combating bribery and corruption report of a fictitious company, their likelihood to recommend the purchase of shares of the fictitious company, their related credit risk assessment and the likelihood that they purchase shares in the fictitious company served as dependent variables. The analyses are based on 116 responses after the elimination of manipulation check failures. Our findings indicate that assurance on combating bribery and corruption reports results in perceptions and decisions which are more favourable to the fictitious company. Moreover, they do not indicate a significant impact of the type of assurance provider. However, our participants' perceptions are more positive in the case of reasonable assurance.

Recent regulatory initiatives have expanded the auditor's report to increase its informative value and narrow the audit expectation gap. Some regulators have made disclosing materiality information in the auditor's report mandatory. In contrast, the European Union only requires a release of materiality thresholds in the additional report to the audit committee. Against this background, this study experimentally investigates the impact of materiality disclosure on the perceptions and decisions of German supervisory board members. Survey results indicate that they correctly understand the concept of materiality. Our experiment confirms the assumption that materiality disclosure matters. Furthermore, our findings suggest that perceived audit quality and the likelihood of reappointing the incumbent auditor increase and that the need for auditor's comments on the audit approach by the auditor at the annual balance sheet meeting decreases for lower materiality levels. The disclosure of the materiality threshold seems to signal audit quality. In contrast, the materiality benchmark does not have an effect as long as the materiality threshold is the same. Thus, the expectation that the use of an uncommon benchmark may cause cognitive dissonance is not confirmed. However, there is some evidence for an interaction between the materiality threshold and the benchmark, that is, an uncommon benchmark may result in stronger reactions to threshold variations. Supervisory board members may experience psychological discomfort when confronted with an unusual benchmark in combination with an extremely low or high threshold. These findings are mainly of interest to regulators debating mandatory materiality disclosure.

We investigate whether audit firm characteristics, potentially related to audit quality, affect the quality of forecast reporting in Germany. For this purpose, we use audit fees, the non-audit fee ratio, the audit firm’s tenure, and the audit firm’s industry specialization as indicators of audit quality. Our sample consists of German HDAX companies for the years 2017–2020. The results do not indicate a significant effect of audit fees on the quality of forecast reporting. However, we find a weakly significant positive relationship between the non-audit fee ratio and the quality of forecast reporting. Furthermore, we observe that a medium-length audit firm tenure (4 to 10 years) leads to significantly higher and a long audit firm tenure (over 10 years) leads to significantly lower quality of forecast reporting. Finally, our findings suggest a weakly significant higher quality of forecast reporting if the audit firm is an industry specialist. Our study extends previous research on the relationship between auditor characteristics and financial reporting quality by focusing on forecast reporting quality. Furthermore, we propose using forecast reporting quality as an alternative proxy for audit quality to overcome the weaknesses of the commonly used discretionary accruals.

ABSTRACT Organizations face severe cyber risks, which may lead companies to contract related insurance or to demand cybersecurity assurance services to signal risk management. This paper experimentally investigates how cybersecurity assurance and insurance against cyber risks impact nonprofessional investors. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 between‐subjects design with 100 UK nonprofessional investors and manipulated the assurance provision and insurance purchase to analyze their impact on willingness to invest. Our results suggest that cybersecurity assurance and cyber risk insurance positively affect willingness to invest. The results confirm the usefulness of measures to handle cyber risks and are of interest to managers, auditors, regulators, and academics.

Above and beyond Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, which are prevalent in the home, in offices gen AI apps are gaining traction. Compared to keyboard, mouse, or touch, we argue that especially managers would benefit from voice-first assistants as they provide information faster than click-by-click navigation and minimize cognitive effort. This article presents a voice-first assistant that supports managers in navigating as naturally as possible in management reports. We opted for Design Science Research in Information Systems as our research approach and chose an energy utility as our reference company. Combining findings from the human-computer interaction (HCI) literature with lessons learned from a design cycle in practice, we provide an IS architecture and five takeaways to drive future discussions. (1) Our research is grounded in theory by extending the knowledge about task-technology fit (TTF) theory from HCI literature with the topical use case of management reports. (2) We use a rigorous method mix that entails a case study and interviews within and beyond the reference company so that they are balanced and more widely applicable. (3) For practice, our artifact should assist companies in assessing voice-first use cases for managers more balanced – outweighing human, task, and IT criteria.

Stricter regulatory requirements and increasing stakeholder demand for sustainability information have prompted companies to rework their reporting systems. By making a virtue out of this necessity, this article aims to develop design principles (DPs) for a harmonized ESG reporting platform – fulfilling both compliance with external regulations and driving sustainability management accounting. We opted for Design Science Research in Information Systems as our research approach and chose a science and technology company for our case. Combining findings from the management accounting and control system (MACS) literature with lessons learned from two design cycles in practice, we provide ten DPs to drive future discussions. Their contribution is as follows: (1) They are grounded in theory and extend the knowledge about the levers of control from MACS literature with the technical implementation of ESG reporting at the intersection of MACS and IS literature. (2) To be widely applicable, we evaluated our DPs with experts within and beyond our case company. (3) For practice, the DPs should serve as an easy-to-apply blueprint for standardizing, storing, and sharing sustainability data across a company.

This paper reviews the experimental literature on fraud detection by external auditors. We conduct a systematic literature review that includes 37 experimental studies on fraud detection from the JSTOR, EBSCO, and WoS (Web of Science) databases and from SSRN. We present a theoretical background on fraud models and common fraud detection methods. Our review covers results of studies on fraud brainstorming and fraud risk assessment, on fraud detection from interviews, inquiries, text, and speech. We also reveal the outcome of studies focusing on the effect of attention, accountability, and the evaluation of audit evidence on fraud detection. These studies show that interventions like priming, and additional instructions on fraud consideration or game-like elements enhance auditor awareness of fraud cues, thus improving brainstorming, risk assessment, and the evaluation of audit evidence. Finally, the paper considers the limitations and criticisms of the presented studies, and future research avenues in fraud detection.

Organizations face severe cyber risks, which may lead companies to contract related insurance or to demand cybersecurity assurance services to signal risk management. This paper experimentally investigates how cybersecurity assurance and insurance against cyber risks impact nonprofessional investors. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 between-subjects design with 100 UK nonprofessional investors and manipulated the assurance provision and insurance purchase to analyze their impact on willingness to invest. Our results suggest that cybersecurity assurance and cyber risk insurance positively affect willingness to invest. The results confirm the usefulness of measures to handle cyber risks and are of interest to managers, auditors, regulators, and academics.

Zusammenfassung Genossenschaftliche Prüfungsverbände sind zur Transparenzberichterstattung verpflichtet, sofern sie Genossenschaften von öffentlichem Interesse prüfen. Ihre Transparenzberichterstattung wurde in der Forschung bislang noch nicht untersucht. Inhaltsanalysen zeigen auf, dass die gesetzlichen Anforderungen größtenteils erfüllt sind. Die Lesbarkeit der Berichte ist vergleichsweise hoch. Allerdings unterscheiden sich die Transparenzberichte im Zeitablauf wenig. Die Transparenzberichte sind des Weiteren durch ein hohes Maß an Selbstvertrauen und Kompetenz gekennzeichnet sowie eher pessimistisch und vorsichtig formuliert.

Corporate Governance (CG) reporting receives increasing attention. This study examines the impact of voluntary CG statement assurance on financial analysts' and bankers' decisions. An experiment with a 2 x 2 + 1 between-subject design was conducted. The independent variables comprise the assurance provider (Big Four statutory auditor vs. another Big Four audit firm) and assurance level (limited vs. reasonable). Additionally, a control condition without assurance provision is used. The participants' reliance on the CG statement, their likelihood to recommend an investment in shares of the fictitious company, their credit risk assessment, and the likelihood to purchase shares of the fictitious company themselves served as dependent variables. Our results indicate that CG statement assurance increases the likelihood for investment recommendation. Moreover, they do not indicate a significant impact of the type of assurance provider. Reasonable assurance predominantly results in decisions of financial professionals which are more favorable for the fictitious company than limited assurance.

Auditors fulfill a crucial societal role by increasing the credibility of financial reports, which requires that appropriate audit quality be provided and auditors are factually independent and perceived as such. So far, regulators and researchers have focused on a few measures for improving independence, namely the prohibition of non-audit services (NAS), audit firm and audit partner rotation, and joint audits. Despite these regulatory initiatives, accounting scandals still happen, and the independence of the auditors involved is questioned. Therefore, this explorative study aims to identify alternative measures that may strengthen auditor independence. Non-professional investors and auditors participated in a survey to identify promising independence-enhancing measures.Surprisingly, not only non-professional investors but also auditors support the implementation of many instruments. Non-professional investors rate measures related to oversight, controls, and sanctions as particularly useful. Likewise, auditors perceive measures for oversight and control as helpful but rank most sanctions lower than non-professional investors. They also support a stricter civil liability and rank some direct independence-improving measures as highly useful. Overall, the participants perceive a greater need for improving the independence of public interest entity (PIE) auditors.This explorative study widens the research horizon by adding alternative measures for improving independence in appearance. Thus, researchers may identify promising avenues for future research. Also, the paper is of interest to regulators and potentially helps in setting independence standards. Auditors and audit committees can identify opportunities for taking voluntary actions to ensure factual and perceived auditor independence.

Companies struggle to exploit the value of their data. Data strategies define the scope and provide a roadmap for a company’s data management. However, most companies remain behind the curve. Based on structured expert interviews, we provide six design guidelines for implementing data strategies. They are applicable across industries and at all levels of a company’s data management: (1) Define effectiveness as the overarching project goal. In doing so, focus on better insights by leveraging advanced analytics for big data. (2) Implement data strategies across the company, ideally with a board member’s commitment. (3) Create diverse project teams. IT should not be the sole project leader. (4) Follow a top-down project approach, supplemented by quick wins covering a company’s current pain points. (5) Ensure data quality, integrate your data then, and assign roles and responsibilities. (6) There is no one size fits all. Accordingly, consider digital technologies and align them with your information system backbone.