Audit Activity, Audit, And Agency Theory

The global market has shown exemplary contribution to the growth of the world's development until recently where financial crisis have been bombarding most economies. As a result, the cost of livelihood had been unaffordable to many who live below the dollar. The monetary crisis has led to the lowering of many currencies against the dollar, hence advancing the economy crisis to most worldwide nations. This turn of events has been attributed to the lack of exercise of business and management ethics in many multinational companies, firms and investments. Financial scandals have been the order of the past twenty years leading to the sweep over of the flourishing global market. The scandals, especially in larger companies and multinational, are spurred by inter and intra-conflicts in their organizational structures.

Our textbook defines an agency problem as a “conflict between the goals of a firm’s owners and its managers” (Megginson & Smart, 2009). It then defines agency costs as dollar costs that arise because of this conflict. In the corporate structure, stockholders are the owners of the firm, and they elect a board of directors to oversee the firm and help protect their investment. The board then hires the right corporate managers to run the firm with the goal of maximizing the wealth of the

This research paper analyzes the degree of an auditor's liability to clients and third parties under applicable law.

An auditor’s role in an audit is very important. An auditor must be able to collect enough evidence to supports their finding, and also be on the lookout for fraud. Company’s may or may not know the law, but it is the job to know the law, and be able to educate and report findings properly. Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, there have been provisions that have directly affected auditors. This paper will include the details of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, how ethics and independence have affected auditors, as well implementation of new standards based on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The ?Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? was enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled on January 23, 2002. The act aims to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws. The act has made amendments to some sections of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and arranged them in sections over eleven titles. Title II has nine sections that regulate independence of auditors of registered public accounting firms.

Arens, A. A., Elder, R. J., & Beasley, M. S. (2006). Auditing and Assurance Services (11th Ed.). Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prestice

In 2009, the research done by Ghosh and Palewicz designnd for analyzing the auditing cost from 2000 through 2005. They collected 23,273 firm’s year observation (Ghosh and Palewicz 181) and the results indicates that the sample’s average audit fees in pre-SOX is $533,360 but after SOX it went up to $1,185,322 over two years, The increase in audit fees is $651,962 which is approximate 122 percent.(Ghosh and Palewicz 185).

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.

The auditing profession by nature entails a person to be as trustworthy as they can possibly be since the need to be free from “undue influence” is not only expected but should exceed all expectations. The need for an auditor to have a clear mind, free from all distractions, can be compared to a surgeon attempting to perform a high-risk surgery where his actions would ultimately determine whether the person undergoing the surgery lives or dies. Saving lives is a universal principal and almost everyone acts upon it and so we have more lives saved than lost. Similarly stakeholders’ trust that auditors will act with integrity and honesty, which will enable them to see beyond the greed of money, therefore, act in the appropriate manner that will sustain the livelihood of the stakeholders. Relating to the importance of honesty, the authors highlighted Immanuel Kant theory, ‘Kant’s first categorical imperative, the universalizability principle: ‘act so you can will the maxim of your actions to be a universal law.’ Which supports the notion that it is also in the best interest for auditors to be ethical and trustworthy in order to sustain the functions of auditing. For example, if every auditor was to engage in dishonesty and unethical practices, they run a high risk of undermining the confidence and trust that stakeholders have placed on them. Without this public trust, the whole institution of

The cause of the agency problem is conflicts of interest between the manager (the stockholder’s agent) and the stockholders. It is also results from the separation of management and the ownership of the firm. These problems may interfere with the implementation of the firm’s goals, which is to maximize the shareholder’s wealth. For instance, a large firm may be run by professional managers who have little or no ownership in the firm. Because of this separation of the decision makers and owners, managers may make decisions that are not in line with the goal of maximization of shareholder wealth. They may approach work less energetically and attempt to benefit themselves in terms of salary and perquisites at the expense of shareholders. We can try to address these issues in several ways. Managers can be monitored by auditing financial statements and managers’ compensation

Agency problem is a potential conflict between the agent and shareholders in the interest. It is shown that ownership is separated from management. This cause not only is the divergence of ownership and control, but also the information is asymmetrical. When ownership is separated

Agency Theory is tied up with analyzing and resolving any current issues that exist between their management team and owners. In Agency theory, way of think may

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of external auditing in promoting good corporate governance. The role of auditors has been emphasized after the pass of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a response to the accounting scandal of Enron. Even though auditors are hired and paid by the company, their role is not to represent or act in favor of the company, but to watch and investigate the company’s financials to protect the public from any material misstatements that can affect their decisions. As part of this role, the auditors assess the level of the company’s adherence to its own code of ethics.

The aim of this essay is to study the function of external auditors in order to analyze why it is important to be independent. The primary mission of external auditors is to review and evaluate all the financial records of a company or corporation. They provide an objective opinion on the organization’s financial statement and effectiveness of the accounting polices in order to help management to make decisions. If the independence of the external auditors is impaired, the public will doubt the quality of professional auditing services, and the consequence would be very serious, just like the bankruptcy of Enron led to the disorganization of Arthur Andersen, once a giant accounting company in the world. In order to maintain and increase

This paper critically analyses the independence of the internal audit function through its relationship with management and the audit committee. Given the growing role of internal auditing in contemporary corporate governance and independence has gained renewed attention.