Legislation and standards affecting IT auditing
The Audit Quality Forum was established with the primary purpose of reinforcing confidence in financial reporting. Statutory auditing promotes confidence because auditors are likely to give external and objective opinions on the presentation and preparation of financial statements. Auditors are required to be independent in opinions expressed, and their work is greatly based on real world. This is challenging in particular national settings. Recently, standard setters, audit practitioners, and regulators embraced significant steps in enhancing confidence within quality of financial statement audits, considering the challenges faced in leading capital markets. IT auditing is critical to any organization. The existence of legislations and standards has ensured that auditors offer independent opinions and that their work is greatly based on real world. This study however shows that this is challenging in some situations as seen in the comparisons provided.
Latest initiatives have focused on an international scope as there have been perceived failures in audits involving financial statements and operations in various countries. Therefore, initiatives have endeavored to promote consistency within nations in regards to what auditors must do and what users of financial statements must expect from an audit. The initiatives entail:
Widespread adoption and strengthening of international quality control standards and International auditing standards issued by the Assurance Standards and International Auditing.
Implementing and updating of the national statutory audit directive of the national commission
Establishing national independent audit oversight agencies like agreements that national regulators conquer to depend on each other's work
While it is crucial to acknowledge the significance of such initiatives in enhancing audit quality, there are deeply embedded national environment features that pose challenges for global consistency in audit quality. Evaluation of legal, economic, political, and cultural differences is challenging and prone to accusations of arrogance and misinterpretation. Regardless of the related sensitivities, understanding national differences is necessary in the appreciation of limits to the feasibility of auditing consistency and promoting global consistency in audit quality (Rittenberg, Johnstone & Gramling, 2012).
This study aims at achieving the following set of objectives:
Raising global awareness about the effects of national differences on audit quality and stimulating further research and studies on issues highlighted in this study
Identifying barriers to attaining global consistency in audit quality by taking into account how national differences affect the application of standards
Highlight the key risks that standard setters, audit firms, academicians, governments, and regulators think about and approaches to address them for the benefit of global businesses and investors (Bode, 2007).
Methodology
This paper utilizes both primary and secondary information identified with auditor independence regulation. The primary exploration depends on explanations from expert bodies from the nations. Information from secondary research literary works and published journals is also important. Subsequently, the primary research has empowered this study to analyze and distinguish distinctions around comments issued by professional bodies (Wright, Freedman & Liu, 2008). It is highly unlikely that articulations issued by the expert bodies may be broken down by utilizing secondary information. Data identified with auditing standards can just be obtained from the websites of professional bodies. Besides, optional information is likewise significant for this study to come a close the discoveries and comes about with the distributed literary works. This has empowered the researcher to give recommendations and conclusions of the research. The accompanying paragraph illustrates several explanations why the researcher favored not to utilize the other alternative methodologies (Gramling & Rittenberg, 2014).
The methodologies including directing interviews, surveys, and questionnaire may have been utilized for this thesis. Nonetheless, the researcher has prioritized the critical examination of information published and identified with auditor independence over the methodologies said above. Numerous elements influenced the researcher's decision for leading research. These components incorporate the nature of the study to be directed and detriments of methodologies specified previously (Weirich, Churyk & Pearson, 2012). The hindrances identified with these alternative methodologies are examined in the accompanying paragraph. The level of accuracy or interviews relies on the versatility of the interviewer overall precision of interviews can effectively be questioned. Directing interviews are extremely subjective in nature. Consequently, there will dependably be a peril of biases. Interviews are characterized by a few individuals but is extremely time consuming. This may be justified by the measure of time used by the researcher for every interview.
Questionnaires are ordinarily reputed...
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