audit reporting and corporate governance: links and implications

Financial scandals of the last decade have had a negative effect upon the trust and perception of investors regarding auditor responsibility and their part in fraud and error detection. As a result of legal conditions and regulations, audit firms in some jurisdictions have recently started to compile transparency reports, which contain information regarding corporate governance compliance of audit firms. This study aims to investigate if corporate governance has a significant effect on audit reporting and audit quality. Thus, our starting point is the definition of corporate governance, with an emphasis on the transparency principle for efficient corporate governance. We aim to analyse how this principle influences the quality level of the audit report, through a qualitative study. Keeping in mind that corporate governance in audit firms is considered to have a noteworthy effect on audit quality, we expect to find that regulatory bodies expect more transparency from these firms, therefore increasing competitiveness among audit firms concerning audit quality.