Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers and case studies

This paper examines the role of connectors in a fraud and corruption-prone environment of the circular economy. A qualitative approach and critical perspective were adopted. In the same line of thought, this study drew on narratives of fraud experiences from the Criminalistica Symposium between 2017 and 2022, as well as interviews with forensic accountants, auditing experts, and police investigators, to foment discourse analysis derived from Machiavellian theory. Thematic coding was selected for the presentation of results. Our findings lead us to the conclusion that there are five identified connector roles in an organization. The connectors have the role of mainly influencing acts of corporate fraud and corruption, which have the characteristics of a double-edged sword. Connectors serve as team motivators and sometimes as manipulators, and they also have the role of spearheading negotiations in tumultuous times of employee disorder and employers’ disagreements, almost leading to uneasy truces. Additionally, in a bid to perpetrate fraud, the connector assists in the role of overriding controls. Inasmuch as it bears the trait of acting as an agent of knowledge building by facilitating learning and communication in organizations in a CE environment, this study contributes to the literature showing various roles of connectors in fraud schemes. Finally, bearing the originality, understanding the role of connectors in circular economy fraud and corruption schemes clarifies our path to expected wellbeing in the concept of sustainability in our ways of life in the coming decades attuned to policymakers and regulators.

The study investigates the understanding of the relationships between the adoption of the sustainability standards by the organisations, audit role and the effective communication based on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). The ESG has evolved over time in several countries and has attracted some concerns on the part of stakeholders. Thus, our research responds to the question of what the understanding of the relationship between audit communication and ESG risks is. Data was constructed from the Symposium organized by the Brazilian Central Bank addressing the future of sustainability and from interview of experts. We used the discourse analysis to work on the data corpus. Our results reveal that to comprehend the relationship between auditing and communication on ESG issue, understanding risk analysis and the matrices, planning and rules of effective communication turns sine qua non. De facto, a well written report and communicated in a timely manner instils confidence in the auditee by procuring response and giving remedies to weaknesses without fear or favour. Results also indicate that auditing will have a key role to play through their methodologies noting that they are competent to carry out the work. Overall, our study contributes to research on ESG, auditing communication and stakeholders' relationships.

A rotatividade do auditor independente/externo foi alvo de pesquisas e debatido entre pesquisadores, reguladores e empresas de auditoria, existindo uma norma em vigor, a Instrução CVM nº 611. Este artigo procura contribuir com o tema de rotatividade da equipe de auditoria interna, uma vez que há uma lacuna a este respeito, apontando vantagens e desvantagens desta prática. O artigo tem como objetivo analisar a percepção dos líderes de auditoria interna sobre a influência da rotatividade da equipe na qualidade dos serviços de auditoria interna. Para alcançar esse objetivo, foi realizado um estudo qualitativo por meio de um questionário online disponibilizado para os líderes de auditoria interna. Foram obtidas 114 respostas válidas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que, na percepção dos líderes de auditoria interna, a rotatividade da equipe influencia negativamente no valor/qualidade da auditoria interna e, consequentemente, no valor agregado desta para a organização e, portanto, deve ser evitada. A pesquisa demonstrou que, considerando-se o fator rotatividade do auditor interno, apenas 47% dos respondentes concordam que o valor/qualidade da auditoria interna tem influência positiva no valor da empresa, enquanto, sem o fator rotatividade, este percentual sobre para 87%. O artigo apresenta contribuições significativas a serem levadas em consideração no estabelecimento de estratégias pela alta administração (conselho de administração, comitê de auditoria ou presidência) ou acadêmicos.