Auditors And The International Financial Reporting Standards

The liability of auditors to third parties has been the subject of much litigation. Litigation claims against accountancy firms have increased dramatically in the last thirty years. Previously, such cases were rare and were viewed with great interest. Nowadays, whereas still treated with great interest they are becoming all kind of common. The specific area of auditors ' liability to third parties is an extremely complex area. As there is no contractual claim for recovery of losses, third parties take action in tort. Some time ago it was believed that recovery of losses

The auditor needs to state explicitly whether the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework, and this may be GAAP or IFRS.

Even if uniformity were to be reached, the IOSCO disclosure standards do not encircle all of the information required of an easy access to cross-border capital markets.

Legitimacy in accounting practices is ensured by the check and balance of having independent auditors from registered public accountant firms reviewing financial practices. The report features eleven sections and these sections pertain to accounting overview, independence of auditors to reduce interest conflicts, corporate responsibility, financial disclosures, tax returns, criminal fraud and various elements of white collar criminal activity (107th Congress

It highlights the importance of auditors applying sensitive and ethical judgments in all their engagements. Members have the responsibility to collaborate with each other to improve the art of accounting, as well as to maintain the public’s confidence. The auditor’s responsibilities are essential to an effective audit process because through planning, auditors should to communicate with each other, be very organized and discuss what and how to do things in order to serve the public. One of the most important parts in auditing is planning, for that reason responsibility is a must.

In light of the strict principles and rules of the AICPA, accounting ethics has been deemed difficult to control as accountants and auditors must consider the interest of the public which relies on the information gathered in audits while ensuring that they remained employed by the company they are auditing. They must consider how to best apply accounting standards even when faced with issues that could cause a company to face a significant loss or even be discontinued. Due to several accounting scandals within the profession, critics of accountants have stated that when asked by a client "what does two plus two equal?" the accountant would be likely to respond "what would you like it to be?". This thought process along with other criticisms of the profession 's issues with conflict of interest, have led to various increased standards of professionalism while stressing ethics in the work environment.

Sec. 206. Conflicts of interest, aims to protect clients by making it unlawful for their top management personnel (CEO, CFO, CAO or similar) to hire auditors which employed them in the year preceding the audit of the same client.

Part two, entitled auditor independence, helped create a statutory code of ethics for public accounting firms. New, specific regulations were set up to dissuade ethic violations. A list was created of consulting services that audit companies cannot perform for companies that they audit and senior management conflicts were resolved by not allowing audit firms to audit if a senior manager was a former employee of the audit company. Auditors were required to rotate the companies that they audit every five years and auditors must report to an audit committee. Laws and regulations for accounting firms were encouraged. (Jennings, 2012)

My three-years of studying at HKU afforded me with the knowledge of financial accounting and now, as a senior, I am able to consolidate complex financial statements. However, after spending an internship working with auditors, I begin to realize the many potential pitfalls inherent in the auditor/client relationship. Facing a huge amount of pressure from their clients, who, of course, are paying the bills, auditors who should be independent commonly bend the rules to curry favor with clients and

The auditor required to providing a reasonable assurance about the financial statements that they are free of error or fraud by planning and performing audit work in conformity with GAAS (AU-C 240). According to AU-C 240, fraudulent financial reporting and misappropriation of assets are the two main category of fraud. The auditor should consider the incentive or pressure upon the employee, evaluating the environment or the opportunities to commit the fraud and looking at the justifications to committing fraud when he assessing a likelihood of fraud (AU-C 240). However, in the case they were incentive and pressure by management to meet the Wall Street expectations, opportunities to acquire companies in the future, and weakness of the internal control.

Identify factors contributing to an environment conducive to accounting fraud . Understand what factors may inappropriately influence the client-auditor relationship and auditor independence Understand auditor legal liability issues related to suits brought by plaintiffs under both statutory and COmmonlaw

An auditor is requested to convey an opinion on whether the financial statements are fairly stated, be it through a voluntary audit or a statutory audit. Before embarking on an audit of the financial statements the auditor is obligated to follow certain steps; this is called the Audit Process. The Audit Process allows the auditor to perform a high level service to the client, ensure that the auditor complies with the auditing standards and limits the auditor’s risk of legal liability or reputational damage. The audit process is subdivided into four phases which is:

The presence of an external auditor allows creditors, investors or bankers to use financial statements that have been prepared with confidence. Although it does not guarantee the accuracy of a financial statement, it provides users with some reassurance that a company’s financial statements give a true and fair view of its financial position and its business operations. It also provides credibility, where in business, is a major asset. With credibility, the willingness of investors, bankers and others to relate and undertake business projects with a company increases. Credibility is also important to build positive reputations.

An important function of the accounting field is to provide external users of financial statements with assurance that the financial information being presented is both reliable and accurate. This basic function of accounting is so important that there is an entire field of experts, called auditors, dedicated to assuring its proper performance. Throughout history there have been many instances in which the basic equilibrium between an institution and current/potential investor has been threatened due to a lack of accountability and trust between the two parties. This issue has been the catalyst for many discussions regarding the proper procedures a firm should follow in order to provide

A company prepares financial statement to provide information about its financial position and performance. This information is in turn used by a wide range of stakeholders (such as investors, banks, customers, suppliers etc) in making economic decisions with respect to respective economic interest in the company. Typically, in terms of ownership by investment in shares of the company, shareholders though own the company but do not manage it. Therefore, the shareholder and other such stakeholders to get comfort in taking sound decision need independent assurance from the auditors that the financial statements reflect true and fair view of the company affairs in all material respects. Hence, in order to enhance the level of